January Thaw, Round 3: The Dark Horse

In the third round I was paired with the dark horse of the tournament. Two rounds previous, in his very first tournament game, he executed a flashy checkmate against one of the high seeds. In the second round he took an 1800+ player to the brink, having a better position and three minutes to two on the clock, but mismanaging his time in the final frenzy and losing. Against a potential rating bomb, having no rating but apparently playing at around high 1700s strength, I proceeded carefully.