Glad to hear you are going with 1.e4 and narrow things down a bit. I like the universal appeal of different openings and find going through other openings fun from time to time, I don't have to concentrate that hard on them, but the 1.e4, you bet I'm paying attention. I'm also happy to hear you share my sentiments about the Najdorf as Black, cutting out the Dragon due to the Maroczy Bind. Now, if I could only convert you to the KID

You're not alone on the performance issue when you have a cold. Many outside factors creep into the game; lack of proper sleep from time zone differences, colds, work (mostly for us weekend warriors), smells (I'll never get that out of my mind when I was in Paris, Frankfurt and Berlin, the air was acrid - car exhaust I think), food from new places has an effect. There are many things. Don't get down because of these things. You did what you could, no one could ask for more.

Funny game in that he played ...Bh6. I played that as Black in a game back in '75 against a 1900 (I was 1400 at the time). I played it because I didn't know any better. It was a G/60 and I showed up with 8 minutes left and was down to 7 when I played Bh6. My opponent went into the tank and suddenly we were both pretty close in the time situation. The funniest thing is that in the end I won on time.

Looking forward to the next game.

Thanks for your thoughts as always Steve. I'm happy you continue to enjoy this series, and I always look forward to your comments,

- Greg

Hey Greg, I'm really excited that you decided to permanently switch to 1.e4 and the Najdorf, both of which I also play. I am curious though as to how you suddenly decided to play the Grunfeld, because I thought you had a strong connection to the Nimzo/Bogo and you always use to rave about how fine you thought they were for black. Do you think the Grunfeld is more solid than those now? Maybe I should look into switching also...

They are all good, I'm just good at open positions like the Grunfeld. Also I know how many people just hate to play against it.