After our great start it was back down to earth with a wallop for the Cork B team in the last three rounds of the Munster League. First a 5-0 hammering at the hands of Cork A (our top scoring team member Walkover didn't show up for this match). Then a 4-1 loss to CCYMS followed by another 5-0 beating to Limerick A. We're in a bit of a precarious position after the first half of the league but hopefully can grab a few more points after the Christmas break.
For me personally it was a very mixed bag of results. I had a good position in my game against Cork A. After twenty moves I was thinking that this was the best I'd ever played against a higher rated opponent - I actually understood the ideas in the position and what I could do. Then I missed a move to grab a pawn or two and it all fell to pieces after that :) No margin for error against 1700-1800ish opponents.
Still I took positives from that game into my next game against a similarly rated opponent. I was a bit fortunate here as he achieved a really good position against me. Then however I think he pressed to much for an attack and his pieces became uncoordinated. I was lucky to trap his rook and ended up winning.
My last game was against someone slightly higher rated than me and we reached a level enough endgame with a slight edge for white due to more centralised pieces. I think I could have repeated the position or offered a draw here but instead I kept going. Whenever I see Magnus Carlsen he always presses in positions where he has a slight advantage with little chance for him to lose - playing for two results. So I decided to try that approach, committed an absolute howler and lost! Still the only way for me to learn about endgames is to play them and I certainly learned a great deal in that loss.
Back to club action for the next few weeks and the leagues resume for us in February.
→ posted on November 13, 2016chess