Last round win
Entering the last round of the Douglas chess championships, I was a point back after getting dusted in round 2 in an opening I didn't know well enough. 2 straight wins had put me back in contention, and the last round saw me on board 1 vs the only master in the IOM, Keith Allen sitting in clear first at 3.5. He took up a passive position but one I had real troubles breaking into, until finally getting some queen penetration going. However, my king was also pretty exposed and there was grave perpetual check danger. With a massive time edge (about 1hr to 2 mins with 10sec increment) I finally found the key idea in this position:
finding the seemingly paradoxical idea of 53. Ka3! Qa1+ 54. Kb4 Qxb2+ 55. Kc5 Qxb6+ 56. Kxb6, and he resigned, realizing that 56...f4 57. gxf4 h4 58. f5 h3 59. fxe6 hxg2 60. e7 g1=Q was going to be met with e8=Q#,
So, I end up with 4/5. Two other players with 3/4 were playing when I left. One is the one who beat me in round 2, so if he wins, he takes the title on tiebreak. If the other wins, we have some sort of rapid playoff at some undetermined time.
finding the seemingly paradoxical idea of 53. Ka3! Qa1+ 54. Kb4 Qxb2+ 55. Kc5 Qxb6+ 56. Kxb6, and he resigned, realizing that 56...f4 57. gxf4 h4 58. f5 h3 59. fxe6 hxg2 60. e7 g1=Q was going to be met with e8=Q#,
So, I end up with 4/5. Two other players with 3/4 were playing when I left. One is the one who beat me in round 2, so if he wins, he takes the title on tiebreak. If the other wins, we have some sort of rapid playoff at some undetermined time.