Slow Swiss #10: Rounds 4 & 5

So, after 3 rounds of Slow Swiss #10, I am 2/3 with 2 rounds to play! The penultimate round saw me paired with Lavner, and it was a very interesting game, where we got into a situation I have often played before in blitz via a particular variation of the Hyper-Accelerated Dragon Sicilian, that leaves me (Black) with a mobile pawn centre to try and push through the centre. Though that confers Black an advantage, it can be very difficult in quick time controls to avoid tactical traps and pins from White's major pieces attacking my centre - however, in this 45|45 encounter, I was more comfortable and managed to convert my central pawn mass into a point.

I was quite pleased with this game - think I convincingly refuted White's concept of attacking my weak centre.

Round 5 - Unfortunately, this was during a very busy week for me, the last week of university term. As such, there weren't many acceptable times for me to play my final game! I eventually settled on a time I thought would be ok - unfortunately, something further came up unexpectedly and I was forced to forfeit the game (I did manage to give prior notice). Such things happen and chess cannot be the first priority!

So that meant finishing the Swiss with a disappointing 3/5 score - not my best! But I will be making up for that in Slow Swiss #11! So stay "tuned". Thanks for reading!