Last night I was up against Daniel Miller for the third time this season; this time our game was in the club championship. I managed to win, but only after a long struggle.
I had the Black pieces. My opponent started with 1.Nf3 rather than 1.e4, which he had played in our previous game where he was White. The game soon transposed into a Catalan Opening. Following inaccuracies on both sides, White emerged with an advantage from the opening, due to Black’s continuing troubles in developing his queenside. However, White made some inaccurate moves and allowed Black to free his position and equalise. Then, in a tense position, White miscalculated when attempting a combination; the result was that he ended up with a rook and pawn against two minor pieces. In the play that followed, as both players ran short of time, both sides committed inaccuracies; as a result, the assessment of the position swung between equality and winning for Black. In the end, with both players down to close to a minute, plus the 30 second increment, White unwisely forced the swap of queens, which gave Black an easily winning endgame; he converted this without any drama.
I give the game below with some notes.