Horsham 1 completed its league season with a good win away at Lewes. The final score was 3-1 in our favour, as we won on the bottom two boards and drew on the top two.
My game against Alex van der Becke went pretty smoothly from my perspective, as I was able to build up my position methodically, then break through in the centre. Funnily enough, I was able to make some use of the preparation I had done for my previous game against Paul Carpenter in the Eastbourne match. There I had guessed that Paul might play the Caro-Kann, but he choose the Najdorf Sicilian instead! In the more recent game, my opponent did choose the Caro-Kann, and although his plan soon deviated from anything I had looked at directly, I did benefit from some general familiarity with the line.
I give the game below with some notes.