County Match (Open) 2022-23: Surrey – Sussex

I played for Sussex in the away match against Surrey yesterday, and the result was disappointing both on a personal level and for the team. Surrey lost the match decisively 5-11, which was not surprising perhaps given the difference in strength between the teams.

In my game, I was White against Graham Keane, whom I have played a few time in county matches before, without much success. The game ended up in a version of the Old Indian, which developed in my favour. In a tricky position, my opponent played an unwise break on the queenside, which accelerated my initiative there. However, I soon went wrong myself, as I decided to make a break on the queenside myself, without properly analyzing the consequences. The move was not in itself terrible, although it did dissipate my advantage somewhat and complicate things, but I was unnerved by my realization of what I had missed. This resulted in my rather careless next move, which was an outright blunder; my opponent exploited my mistake, leading to a winning position. I tried to wriggle out for a while, but my opponent held firm, and in due course I resigned.

I give the game below with some notes.

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