After the disappointing result away against Surrey in the first match of the season, Sussex got back on track with a fine home win against Middlesex. Despite going three wins down after six games had finished, they pulled back to score a decisive 9.5-6.5 win. On a personal note, I was pleased to score the first win for Sussex which started the turnaround.
I was White against Jonathan Rubeck. The game started as a King’s Indian, where I soon managed to establish a comfortable advantage out of the opening. My opponent soon made a mistake which led to him losing a pawn. I managed to consolidate my advantage fairly well; then my opponent dropped the exchange. However, rather than grabbing the exchange at once, I took the opportunity to force play into an endgame, where my opponent was in any case unable to avoid further material losses. I then managed to finish the game efficiently enough.
I give the game below with some notes.