Last night, Horsham progressed to the final of the McArthur Cup, with a hard-fought 3.5-2.5 win at home against Chichester. The two sides were well-matched on the top three boards, but Horsham clearly outgraded Chichester on the lower boards. This proved ultimately decisive, as Horsham won 3-0 on boards 4 to 6, while Chichester scored 2.5-0.5 on the top three boards.
My game was frustrating, as I fairly soon established a good position by exploiting my opponent’s inaccurate opening play. However, I then spoiled my position through some flawed calculation of variations, which led to me first frittering away my advantage, then to me stumbled into a very poor position. Although I attempted to complicate matters, ultimately my opponent held things together, and I ended up resigning before losing on time.
I give the game below with some notes.