CCF World Cup Match

Monday was chess club night again. We have a new competition there, the CCF World Cup, which is an individual event in rounds. On Monday, that is what I was playing in. I knew that my opponent was tricky, although I had managed to swindle a win against him the previous time that we played. I was sure that he would be out for revenge for that. I was black, but knew that I would need to prepare for our match if I was to stand any chance. I carefully learnt a response to his opening that would give me equality going into the middle game, when I knew that we would both be relying on our chess ability rather than our knowledge of openings. He varied on move 10, which gave me a lot of confidence about my position. I think I lost my way for a few moves after that, but soon was able to treble his pawns on the g file. A rather nice, though I say so myself, tactic and I was also a pawn and the exchange up. We played on a little more, before an error by my opponent enabled me to pin his queen to his king. He resigned, but even without the error, I think I probably should have won. So, I am at last feeling a little more confident about my ability to play this game!