My son William and I played in the Denton Sunday Frolics #16 yesterday. William was the top-rated player in the intermediate (under 1300) section, and he won 3-0. Now he is rated 1318. I was the top-rated player in the Open section. After winning my first two games, I played the following game against 1884-rated Jonathan Cearley inthe last round. In the final position notated, I offered a draw because I was going to have less than five minutes to complete the game.

The time control was game/30, no delay. I had a half-pawn advantage, according to Fritz, before my less-than-ideal draw offer move (21. Nd5). But the position was still a very slight advantage to me after that move. My opponent turned down the draw. I fell apart in time trouble and lost. Still, I liked this game the best in my tournament. I enjoyed spending a lot of time in the opening on the questionable 10. d5 advance. It wasn't a good move, but I had fun calculating all of its ramifications. And after 12….Kh8 (black should have played 12….Rxf7), I had a great position. And I had calculated beyond 12....Rxf7 when I went into a deep think before move 10. My evaluation of the post-Rxf7 position was that I would have enjoyed playing that position because of my piece activity. Note that enjoyment does not necessarily equal winning. This loss was a fun game to play.

(27) Root,A (2000) - Cearley,J (1884) [D26]
Denton Sunday Frolics #16

1.d4 c5 2.e3 d5 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.c4 cxd4 5.exd4 dxc4 6.Bxc4 e6 7.Nc3 Be7 8.0?0 0?0 9.Re1 Nbd7 10.d5 Nb6 11.dxe6 Nxc4 12.exf7+ Kh8 13.Qe2 Bg4 14.Qxc4 Bxf3 15.gxf3 Rc8 16.Qe6 Bc5 17.Be3 Rc6 18.Qb3 Bxe3 19.Rxe3 Rc7 20.Rd1 Qb8 21.Nd5 0-1