This year the club is running a rapidplay competition across the season. The basic format is a round robin, with most of the club members entering. Each player may play up to two games, one with each colour, against each other player. However, there is no requirement that all the games be completed for the resolution of the competition; the winner will be the player with the most points at the end of the season, irrespective of the number of games played.
I played my first couple of games of the competition on Tuesday 6th February. In this post, I’ll consider my first game, with the White pieces, against Thomas Lynn. The game started with my opponent looking to head for the tricky Cambridge Springs defence when I played the sharp 5 Bg5 against his Semi-Slav. However, I decided to go into the Exchange Variation of the Queen’s Gambit instead. This worked well, as I soon built up a strong position; then my opponent blundered, allowing me to establish a winning position. However, I didn’t follow up in the most accurate way, giving him some chances. Fortunately for me, he didn’t make best use of his opportunities, and I was able to find my way to a win, despite running short of time.
I give the game below with some notes.