We split the point after an enjoyable game, and both of us produced our best chess in the second round to smash up the best juniors in the country. Once you get past his slightly ginger and bearded exterior, James is one of the nicest blokes in the game, and a pretty good chess player as well.
He only played in the last weekend, and his score of 0.5/3 is not a reflection of his general playing standard. His first game, a cagey 39 move draw with Ola Winfridsson (2038) looked drawn right out of the opening, but his game with Robert Heaton (2132) was an altogether more explosive affair, with Foster trying to capitalise on some stereotyped opening play by the Richmond junior. As Heaton used the KIA against the French, he built up a hefty offensive on the kingside, and evidently failed to notice that the black king had stayed in the centre. Foster took a few liberties which went unpunished, retaliated on the kingside with a piece sacrifice, before calmly tucking his king away on the queenside.
Heaton's king was under severe pressure, and when Foster snared two pieces for a rook, leaving him an exchange down but with strong pressure down the h-file, the game looked in the balance. However, the kingside became blocked, and Foster's inventive plan of transferring his king to the blocked side of the board proved too slow, and Heaton caught him in mid-flight.
The last game against Jack "The Lad" Rudd (2171) of Bristol has just come through, and it gives the impression of a somewhat carefree game, with Foster throwing everything at Rudd's king, abandoning his queenside to the tune of an exchnage and a pawn, but ultimately, despite more sacrifices, Foster had to admit it had all come to nothing.