I played my first round game in the quickplay knockout last night. I was up against Alex Taylor. While my results in this event have been good over the years, this time I was defeated in the first round of the main competition, meaning that I go into the plate for once.
While my results have been good against Alex over the years, it has to be said that I have enjoyed a fair deal of luck, so the bare scores haven’t told the whole story. This time things definitely did not go my way.
In the first of the two games, I was White and soon managed to build up a strong position. Alex defended with determination, but I still had a couple of chances to establish a winning advantage, which I failed to take; the game ended in a draw when it was clear I couldn’t break through.
In the second game, I gained a decent position with Black, but then a couple of weak moves followed by an outright blunder left me a piece down; I decided to resign at once as my opponent had plenty of time on the clock, while there was no sensible way to continue.
I therefore lost the match 0.5-1.5 and will now continue in the plate competition.
I give the games below with some notes.