It was Sunday afternoon and the final game. Having played 1.e4 as White I realised of course, that Black had the opening choice. He chose 1. ..c6 The Caro-Kann. Again, I'm not sure of the theory but I'm very aware that the standing joke in chess is that many Caro-Kann battles lead to draws! There is a sharpish line that I have been advised to play by an IM in the London Chess Centre and that is the 'Advanced Variation' (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.h4 h5 5.c4). Whilst I have had a lot of success with this variation in Blitz I wasn't confident enough to play it at this tournament. Not sure why? - Instead I elected to play the 'Classical Variation'. I made one or two beginner's errors - For instance, taking the Knight on f6 wasn't entirely necessary - I could have simply played 6.Bd3 instead.
Interestingly I thought I had the game completely wrapped up with a passed 'b' pawn that I considered unstoppable! - Not the case :( It turned out that I completely overlooked his 'unstoppable' capture of my pawn on d4 and his own threat of queening the 'd' pawn. He ends up with a passed pawn and a won game.
"Chess is a form of intellectual productiveness; therein lies its peculiar charm, and intellectual productiveness is one of the greatest joys of human existence".
Dr Siegbert Tarrasch (1862-1934), The Game of Chess, 1936, translated by G.E. SMITH and T.G. BONE.
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