All About That Bass - Conclusion

THE lessons from my first five defeats against John Bass have a somewhat repetitive message: "decided by tactics," "JB showed better tactical control," "calculation issues ... still glaring," "a series of tactical errors," "blunders."

In our sixth game, I escaped with a lucky draw, but even so "I was first outplayed positionally, and then tactically."

Finally, I lost again, mainly due to " sub-optimal tactics."

LESSON: positional errors can sometimes be overcome by better tactical control, but tactical errors, especially when they come in bunches, are rarely cancelled out by positional niceties.