Position after 38. Qb2-d4??
I'm in the Czech Republic, playing in the Prague Summer Open: I won in the first round last night, not without a large slice of good fortune. The game itself was not very good (visible here if you must).
Having wasted tempi on a grand scale as well as advantages of material and position, I then bucked up, turned down a draw offer I had no objective reason to refuse and played some good moves before arriving at the following position, in which I am winning after White's 38th, prior to which I was no worse.
Anyway it's a funny thing, but after she played her thirty-eighth, which wasn't the move I expected and after which I had about ninety seconds on the clock (thirty second increments, time control and an extra half-hour at move forty) although I have an easy win I am not totally sure I would have seen it. But there was something strange about her reaction just after she played her move - something so small that I can't even be sure it was there, but maybe was a slight hesitation, a slight uncertainty, something that seemed to say oh - have I missed something?.
So I looked for something and took no time at all to find it. But, you know, maybe a poker face gets her a draw.
