Playing Above My Class

Last night I went to chess club again. I got their before the others so I got to test my mettle against the Class A head of the club. He asked me which color I wanted and I chose black because I wanted to work on that part of my repertoire. I got a lot of pressure on his kingside. He was really scrambling trying to avoid a loss. As it was, I missed the win (we analyzed it together afterwards), but I did manage to draw. This is the highest rated player I have managed to draw since I came back to chess.

Part of the reason I'm going to chess club is to gain experience again with over-the-board play. Another reason is to gauge how I'm doing before I play tournaments. The draw against a class A, when I used to be  Class C was very gratifying. Perhaps all my study is paying off.

Speaking of study, I finished Yusupov chapter 8 on centralization of pieces. I ended up passing. In one exercise, 8-8 I pushed e4 and got zero points on a three point problem. I was somewhat mystified since I thought it was a very good move. Furthermore, several solutions get 2 points because they prepare e4. I didn't think it needed preparation. I put it on some chess engines (Stockfish 9 and Komodo 12.1.1), and sure enough e4 evaluates better than the 3 point solution. Depending on the depth it sometimes came in first! I didn't give my self any points for it, but I did feel a little robbed.