Played in the last round of the Major at the Bury Rapidplay. Clegg was on 5/ 5, and I was one of three players with a chance to catch him. Before the game, my opponent told me that he had played in 50 events this year and won 20 of them. He was lying second in the Grand Prix and was a recovering 170! If he was trying to intimidate me, that wasn't going to work. I needed the win - end of story.

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. a3 Nh6 7. b4 My book on the French Advance was written by Tim Harding in 1978 (!) and doesn't have an antidote for Nh6. Fritz rates b4 as the best response (Bxh6 Qxb2 and the a and c pawns are going as well), but after 7... cxd4 8. cxd4 Nf5 Harding's assessment (after Ne7-f5) is -+. I don't really see why. Fritz gives it as equal, and I'd be reasonably happy to play this position again. 9. Bb2 Bd7 10. Be2 Rc8 11. Kf1 Preparation for Nc3. White wants to maintain the defence over d4 with Na4, driving away the queen. He can't achieve this with the king on e1 or g1 as the Nf3 can be captured by a Kt on d4 with check. White can always fianchetto the king later if needs be, although the rooks tend to operate effectiovely on their own in this line. 11... Be7 11... Na5=/+ 12. Nc3 O-O 13. Na4 Qd8 14. Rc1 f6 15. exf6 Bxf6 16. Nc5 Rc7 17. Qd2 Nh6 18. b5 Ne7 19. a4 Ng6 Around about here my opponent proposed a draw. It was my fourth draw offer of the day, all in fairly level positions. ( I eventually had to give up two of them, but not the others). I try to make it my policy to play on in such positions, unless my opponent has a clear advantage, or I am playing for a team which needs the half point. Chess is a beautiful game with three interesting phases. I don't see why it makes sense to stop half way through just because the honours have been shared so far. ( I drew a rapidplay game with Mike Bramson recently with king vs king!). 20. g3 Be7 21. Kg2 Kh8 22. h4 Bd6 23. Qe3 An error. It was my intention to induce ... 23... Ng4 24. Qg5 Qxg5 but only then realised that the Kt is pinned to f2. Still if we open the h-file there could be some tactics around... 25. hxg5 e5 26. Nxd7 Rxd7 27. dxe5 N4xe5 At the time I thought Bxe5 was probably a better idea. White's dark-squared bishop hasn't done much so far, and maybe black had forgotten about it. Suddenly it is controlling a lot of squares - and pointing right at the black king... 28. Nxe5 Nxe5 29. f4 I have always found it fascinating that a chess position can fall apart so quickly. Two moves ago, black was fine. He has made an apparently minor error of judgement, and now his position is falling apart. I assumed he had to play Ng6 now, when I planned Bd3, followed by doubled rooks on the h-file, win the h-pawn and white is cruising! It's possible to analyse this in a bit more detail of course, even with a 30 minute time control, but that can wait until the move has been played, not least because... 29... Nf7?? often you don't need to bother! Now black is busted. 30. Bd3 h6 31. gxh6 Nxh6 32. Rxh6+ Kg8 33. Rxd6 Rxd6 34. Ba3 Rff6 35. Bxd6 Rxd6 36. Rc7 Now white's only concern is the clock, but I'd managed my time well throughout the day and had more than 5 minutes left. Two of my opponents lost on time (in very poor positions) after spending too long planning in the early middle game. 36... a6 37. Rxb7 axb5 38. axb5 d4 39. b6 Rc6 40. Rb8+ Kf7 41. b7 Rb6 42. Be4 Ke7 43. Rg8 In rapidplay games, it's never over til its over (in Round 5, one of the eventual winners came through as black with a solitary pawn on b5 (not passed!) against queen, rook and two pawns and his opponent's flag fell with a single move to mate. So I was relieved that black cannot even sac the d-pawn to extend the game: 43. Rg8 d3 44. Bxd3 Rxb7 45. Rxg7+ 1-0 [School of]