Boy oh Boy what a day! There were some interesting and amusing games from today, not least of which was my own comical loss which has an interesting story to it. Basically I had very little time to prepare and when I had a look at the games of Mark I noticed that as White he had a fantastic score against players of all strengths, but that most striking of all was that he very rarely losses at all. His repertoire is not particularly dangerous as such but very hard to play against if you want to have some serious winning chances. I had only ever played him once before in an Open tournament in France, but then I had White and after gaining a winning position I messed it up and only drew.

Now that I was Black and needed a win I was keen to try to get two things. An equal position, and a dynamic position with active counter play that would lead to chances for both sides. I felt that I could have played my more normal options against 1 D4 2 Nf3 3 Bg5 or Bf4 lines and had every chance of making a draw without too much to fear. [The case of Brian losing in the last round with a defensive approach has to be seen more in the context of what was at stake and the pressure he would have been under- normaly speaking Brian would draw with Mark most of the time] But crucially it would be a joyless and long drawn out game that would have little or no prospects of winning.

When I had a look at the game Mark lost to Gerry O Connell I noticed that his move Qd2 was relatively new for him. I figured the reason for this was partly because he did not like the other main move in that position anymore, E3 and indeed he had lost a game with this. I looked at an offbeat variation of the Qd2 line in which Black takes early on h6 for quick queenside counter play. A good idea in of itself but something that should ideally be looked at in detail.

As it happened I had little sleep and little time so I somewhat lazily put the position into Fritz 9 for about ten minutes and it came up with the assessment that the position was equal and that White should play 10 Kb1. From my point of view this was ideal. I would have an equal position plus the element of surprise and winning chances owing to the double edged nature of the position [castling on opposite sides] Well this all sounds great but it only serves to show that good preparation should be more detailed and better researched. What happened instead was that the play became very sharp and very forced very quickly.We reached the position below and I had a long think for over 40 minutes I think.

White has just played Ng5 and not after too much thought either. I knew this was already a critical moment but now spent far too much time trying to see everything as I knew that the position was now going to lead to many forced moves. The funny thing is how I got so immersed and engrossed in the position that I forgot the basics of practical play. By which I mean I became genuinely fascinated by the possible variations and somehow lost a certain sense of reality in that I now had to move!

The key factor here which went right over my head at the time was of course that while I was having a very very long think so could my opponent think, in my time, and have his reply ready. That the moves were also forced meant that it was quite stupid of me to waste so much time and get so flustered. Anyway I played the correct moves a mere two times more and then inexplicably went into crash and burn mode with my 12th move.

The previous moves had seen me play 10...d4 and the natural reply from White of Ne4 not being any use on account of Qa2 when Black is very happy indeed. Instead White played the only move 11 e4 after which I again was not distracted with tempting alternatives and played the correct 11...dxc3 which again forces White to play 12 Bc4. Now the rest of the game was to be decided by what my next move was.

At the end of the game Mark pointed to my clock and said "your gone" to which I replied yes in every way possible (or words to this effect) and then I said I was a bit confused! Well that seems to have been a very good summary of why on earth I played my absurd 12th move which effectively ends the game. More confusing given the fact that again I spent lots of time considering it and then after having seen so many variations somehow decided to hell with it anyway? After I played 12...Nc6 I only played the game on further because, to be honest, I was too embarrassed to resign so early and have such a short game on my record. Better to drag it out and at least avoid it being a miniature such was my shocked state of mind and bruised ego.

So what should have happened in this game? Well lets have a look at the position after the correct move has been played and a few forced moves played -12...Be6 13 Be6 Rd1 14 Rd1 fxe6 and White has a choice between E5 and Nxe6.

The ultimate verdict on the position must be judged from the positions that result from one of the two options mentioned above. Two possible resulting positions to consider.

Regardless of what the correct evaluation of the positions above are, it is fair to say that this would have been an interesting starting point. I think the position is advantage White but by how much is not clear.After the game we had concluded that it was winning for White but this was just wrong and we missed ...Kg8 in the line ...Kf7 Nd8 check. I might repeat the variation if I need a draw but not for much else. On balance however I think it was not a good choice to play the opening the way I did. Still 12... Be6 would have been interesting whereas what I played was just plain silly and lost instantly.

Other key games of interest in this round saw Stephen Brady demolish John Redmond in a similar vein to my own game and set himself up for a good recovery in the last round. Nick Perth took full advanatge of the tactical problems created for Stuart Conquest and so assured himself of a chance to fight for first place in the last round.

The games from this round are now publicly available for download as pgn files