Last Saturday, I played in Sussex’s home match against Kent at Hassocks. Sussex put in a good effort, but ended up losing narrowly 7.5-8.5.
I was White on board six against Mike Roberts. I had an early chance to gain a serious, probably winning advantage, but let this slip and play ended up in a roughly balanced position after nineteen moves. My opponent offered a draw, but I declined as I considered my position better and the match situation suggested that I needed to play for a win. I looked to improve my position gradually over the next few moves, but lost my way and made some errors that left me in big trouble. Fortunately, my opponent ran very short of time and I found a way to mix things up. With little time left on the clock, my opponent was essentially playing on the 10 second increment; it was therefore no surprise that he allowed me to force a threefold repetition. There was a way for Black to get a big, probably winning advantage, but this was very hard to find under such time pressure. The game therefore ended as a draw.
I give the game below with some notes.