Mick Norris wrote: ↑Mon Sep 24, 2018 1:51 pm
Jonathan Rogers wrote: ↑Mon Sep 24, 2018 1:32 pm
It would have been a somewhat radical solution to what is England's biggest problem (board two), time after time.
As far as I can see, the registration order is Mickey, Luke, David, Gawain, Nick
I can't say that was what I was expecting, not that I have given it much thought
Would that have been your chosen board order?
It is very hard to know what should be done about board two. You do want someone solid, but we have only a selection of time trouble addicts and players who lose more often than they might with White, and thus a serial record of underperformance on board two which might well be self-fulfilling, and making everyone a bit reluctant to take it on. Maybe that plays a part in explaining why the baton has now fallen to Luke.
I've said before that whom we really want on board two is Sadler, but we are where we are. Nor am I sure how much even he wants it - he would want to take off work oceans of time to prepare. Luke, as we know, tends to trust that he can play himself into form.
But since you ask, I would not have picked Luke, who has most consistently underperformed when playing for England out of all of them, unless perhaps there is some unusual reason, eg if he has had taken a month off work to prepare, which I assume he has not.
Maybe the best answer would be Gawain, who at least proved solid enough wth White at Wijk aan Zee. It is not the most inspiring reasoning, I know. But think of it like this - our most difficult matches are those where Adams is Black on 1, and it is of primary importance that we do not come under pressure and risk losing on board two (where we will be White). In these matches, we might rather just look for the full point with White on board four.
