- I am doing well in the league (2/2) and thought it'd be a good chance to remain undefeated--which I guess I technically still am? I'm in the U1800 category and I'd like to place in the top three.
- My opponent this week was rated 250 points lower than me. I even knew going in to not let that bother me but I'm sure it did. I remember thinking I SHOULD WIN THIS and when I felt like it was even or I didn't have a plan it bothered me more than it should have.
- I didn't like my position out of the opening. I knew it was a closed strategical position but I struggled to find the right plan (like what pieces to try to trade, or whether to trade at all), then I panicked and couldn't find a plan at all. I recall thinking I wasn't worse, just that I wasn't used to this position.
- After a weird blunder/dubious trade, I was in what seemed like a winning endgame but again I was inactive and couldn't find a plan, then got low on time and had to settle for a draw in time pressure. I hate not converting an endgame, but it's much worse when I'm up a piece for a pawn.
- My opponent ended up with more than 30 minutes on their clock which shouldn't matter but it only makes me assume they were barely thinking and I should have been able to come up with plans throughout the game that were better than theirs on which they never spent more than a minute or so. I took long thinks and didn't find the right moves.
My Analysis (no engine or analysis board, i.e. all visualization)
(2) My brief "prep"--if you could call it that--for my opponent showed that he has played the Old Benoni before. Not always but enough times that I thought I should get a handle on what to do. I saw the computer recommended to push past so that's what I did. Probably without that knowledge, I would have taken and not tried too hard to hold onto the pawn. 2. dxc5 e5 3. e4 Bxc5 4. Nf3 or Nc3 (and white can consider castling long), or another line I didn't consider: 2. dxc5 e5 3. b4 (prepping Bb2 for a nice diagonal) a5 4. bxa5 Qxa5+ 5. Nd2 Qxc5 and black is even material and white has bad queenside structure. If white plays 4. a3 instead they might be okay, with Bb2 coming as long as they get castled kingside quickly.
Black blocks the pawn.
(4) ...h6 is slow from black. Bd7 and b5 look more obvious.
(6) Nd2, dunno about this move from me. I wanted e4 but I'm violating opening principles to try to get it (moving same piece twice is one of them). Probably something like e3 to prep Bd3 and try to trade my piece that's gonna become very bad (the light-squared bishop) is the better idea. I must have seen this but I didn't like my queen out there on d3...it looks like it'd be just fine though.
(7) I play e4, and now I have a lot of center pawns on light squares which makes my light-squared bishop bad. The remedy for a bad bishop is to try to trade it off hopefully for your opponent's best minor piece, get the center pawns off that color, or get the bishop outside the chain. I actually recall thinking to trade it off but I didn't stick with that plan well. ERROR! I also should have had a better follow-up to black simply retreating via Bg6, which he did.
(10) Bf3? I think I wanted to protect e4 and play Ne2-f4 to try to get that bishop. But again, he can just play Bh7 if he wants (probably should have done that on move 7.) Many piece moves that don't accomplish much. 10. Re1 is better which still protects e4 so I can sort my pieces out. 10. ...e5 and my bishop is awful. I think at this point I should kick off Operation: Trade Bishops. That's another reason why Re1 would be nice. It frees up the square for Nf1-g3 maneuver.
(11) Again, just Re1 here, instead I play on the wing where black has his pawns pointing.
(12) If I'm going to go forth with this plan, I think Rb1 would be a nice touch in some lines.
(13) I just take, don't know what else to do, just seeing how he'll take back. Not really good chess and I think I was taking a lot of time here.
(14) So many single-square bishop moves. I was watching c4 in case of Nb6 I guess? But that's ghosts. I remember wanting f4 break too so that's probably what this was for. Best plan I see though, is 14. Ne2 and then Ng3 threatening either Bh5 to trade, and if ...Bh7 from black to save, then Nf5 threatening the dark-squared bishop
(17) ? Not sure what this was...looks bad. I gotta get my pieces more active, they're so sad! 17. a4 allowed Qb4 and my pieces would have started to look weird. Probably I'd have to play Qb3. I think I still need to play 17. Re1 here then Nf1 to g3. I had f4 on my mind and that's why I was struggling to play Re1. I should have found a solid plan and stuck to it but I was panicking a small amount.
(18) That light-squared bishop! Such a confused and bad piece. I guess this was giving a space for Ne2 now in case Ba5 comes from white. But, geez, if I want to try the Bh5 move, I'd have to play Ne2-g3 and THEN play Be2 again which is laugh-ably slow, all just to try to trade off my bad bishop for black's better one. Yet again Re1 I like more, with Nf1-g3 and Bh5 coming.
(19) Even here I could have played Be2 to see if they'll trade on their own accord.
(20) A break move, finally. Bb2 might be better so if black takes (which they do in-game), I can take back with the bishop. But in the game, black trades his bad bishop for a (inactive) piece of mine. I never considered black giving his bishop up and so I didn't pay attention to the 21. ... Qb4 move which allows a passed pawn for black.
(23) fxe5? and dxe5?, giving me two connected passed pawns. Looks like 23. ...Nxe5 is better for black because it forces Bc2 (or Bb1). Pretty inactive for white and black has a great central knight. I think fxe5 is bad for white. What's better? The light-squared bishop is still bad and black's is good so trading them off is a good idea. 22. Rf2? Ng4. So 22. Nf3 with ideas of Bb2?
(24) Nb3 opening my bishop finally (hasn't moved all game!). Seems like that's the tale of the opening and middlegame for me, a tale of a bad bishop making tiny moves that don't improve it at all and waste tempos while my better bishop--as defined by general rules of bishops--sits on its home square until the 28th move! My 24th move blockades the pawn and stops a5 to defend it. I wonder if 24. Bb2 is better, and swing rook over to c1. Rook on f1 isn't doing as much as I thought it would be
(26) a5 was to stop Nb6 which is what I thought black's plan was. Don't think a5 is important anyway since if I let black play Nb6 I can play Na5.
(30) After 29 moves, I have two connected passers while black has one. I have the bishop pair too. I saw this Bd6 move hitting the backwards pawn. Black can defend it but plays a move that surprised me so I had to make sure it wasn't some tactic. Black just hands me the advantage as far as I can see.
(36) Rxe4 Rxa6. Some odd plays by black then a simplification and white is up a piece for one pawn
(37) Re8+? Converting endgames.... Hmm. Do I save the bishop or check first? I play Re8+ and I think this is my first poor move. It lets the king move and get active. It forces the king out. Where to move the bishop though? Bd4 keeps an eye on the a1 square I like that, bishops in the middle of the board make sense.
(38) Now I play the centralizing Bd4, but the key difference is that my rook is on the back-rank, doing nothing. Except maybe black will blunder into a mate in one with g6....unlikely. Ra2 from black, nice, restricts my king and it's on a light-square.
(39) Rf8? Not sure what that is. I remember thinking they'd play f6 but even that is okay for black I think. Better is to keep my rook more active (it's so passive now!) and play Kf1 and threaten Re2 to trade and go into a winning endgame. I have a bishop and I should be able to get my king active and try to force my h-pawn to get passed since it'd promote on a dark square.
(40) h3 to get some space, maybe I bring my king to h2 to get it out.
(41) g4? Not sure again, I was not getting a plan ready. Perhaps Kh2 is better here. I'm reaching out with my pawns and making it easier for black to trade them off. I think the pawns are my insurance here because if I can trade rooks and still have pawns that can promote with the help of my bishop, I win. As he trades off pawns, it's more likely to draw. g4 is bad.
(42) I take because I see a rook check, yay! Doesn't do much really though. I feel like in endgames I often just play right into the opponent's hand. It's weird and annoying. I lose command of the game.
(45) Rh5+ is a good try to get the rook back in the game. If Ke4 then Bc5 I think works to start to threaten the pawns from behind. I don't think I can trade rooks now though with the lack of pawns. Anyway I play an inactive move that lets him get closer to my pawn.
(46) Rg8? I guess trade pawns now... I think I was very low on time. No idea what's going on.
(47) I missed the check so I was getting nervous about some major error into a checkmate.
(49) Black is threatening to take the h-pawn and hit my bishop. Perhaps h5 is a good try? 49. h5 Rxh5 50. Rxg7. It's something at least, and if my opponent was playing so fast (they averaged just under 30 seconds per move) maybe some complications would have worked. Instead I take on g7 and they take.
(50) Bxf6 lets black take a draw. Some other bishop moves could have pro-longed the game but I imagine it's a computer-draw at this point.
Conclusion
So there were plenty of questionable moves by me, including several in the endgame. 37 Re8+ isn't great but it's not the worst. I think 39. Rf8? and 41. g4? are worst. The opening and middlegame were mis-played in that I never was able to trade off my bad bishop and even worse, I wasted a lot of time with trying to figure out where it goes.
COMMENTS WITH ENGINE ANALYSIS
(2) Indeed, after my second move, I have a +0.7 advantage. Although my suggested lines for if i try dxc5 aren't really great. Black will play e6 to stay solid and attack the bishop.
(3) c4 is maybe a little slow from me. It solidifies my space in the center I guess but closes down the pawns. It wasn't one of the top 3 suggested moves. e4 makes sense here and it's teh second recommended move. c4 isn't a really big loss in advantage anyway.
(4) ...h6 is bad, but SF recommends a6 to prep b5 which also makes sense. My Bd7 and b5 idea for black is't good because the obvious Nc3 covers that square.
(6) my e3 and Nd2 ideas are both okay. Nd2 isn't as bad as I thought in analysis.
(7) My idea for e4 (as I played in-game) was a good one!
(10) Yep my analysis that Bf3 is a dubious move is correct. Went from a +1.1 to 0 eval.
(11) Re1 is okay, also h4 to start prying on blacks' light-sqaured bishop. But yeah, Re1 followed by Nf1 is good.
(13) Yeah just a bad move. No real idea behind it.
(18) Re1 in this case like I was thinking is bad after Ba5. Bd3 is a sad looking move but it keeps the advantage at 0 at least.
(23) SF wants me to play Nb3 immediately. Makes sense to blbockade, but I thought I had time.
(30) I played well through here, 23. ...dxe5 was not a good move for black and I held the advantage up through this point. 30. ...Bxe4 was actually black's best move.
(37) Re8+ isn't super-bad actually. I was at +2.8 here and Re8+ is fine
(39) Again, the rook move is fine but it comes with no real plan and that's why i don't like it. Kf1 I like more and SF says it's good with no real advantage difference from my less-active rook move I played.
(40) g4 is indeed the first really bad move from me. It's a mistake
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