Summary
I finally turned in something besides a loss to my 4545 team! Hoo. Ray. I was black and opted for a Sicilian defense, something I don't really play but I'm trying to keep my opponents from doing any prep work--maybe not the best idea. I briefly looked at the najdorf and dragon, openings I'm vaguely familiar with just because I watch a fair amount of the Super-GM tournaments and I've at least seen some of the general ideas play out in those games. The problem with just "trying stuff" in my opening is that I don't really have a reliable opening repertoire. I think so far in almost all my 4545 and Lonewolf games this season, I've got out of the opening down a pawn or in an awkward position. I can't recall a feeling of "I'm solid here" at all.
In this one, my opponent played an unexpected bishop move pretty early and we never went down any kind of classical open Sicilian type game I was thinking. I ended up castling pretty late because my opponent rightly opened the position while my king was in the center. Then I got a weak c-pawn that I ended up losing. After some trades I then lost another pawn to some intermezzo tactics and then the endgame I had to chase down two outside connected passed pawns with my king. I'm sure that was completely losing but I gave it a go because we both had one knight and I knew if I could collect the outside pawns and get my king and knight back over without losing too many of my pawns, there were promises of getting it down to rook-pawns which are very hard to promote. That's what happened and we ended up drawing after a nearly 3-hour game.
I think the most telling fun fact of this game was that 8 of my first 9 moves were pawn moves. After 9 moves I had 3 pawns out, my structure was weird and all my pieces were on their original squares. White had one piece out, they were castled, and their structure was better. A totally winning opening for white I think. My 4th, 6th, and 7th moves were the most careless.
My annotations without engine assistance:
Copy and Paste this into a lichess study or the ChessTempo PGN Viewer. My opponent also informed me they added a lot of "whisper" notes into the spectator room so I'll try to track those down when I'm home and add them in!
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ { B51 Sicilian Defense: Canal-Sokolsky Attack } Nc6 {I'm okay with doubled c-pawns, it'll help with my center. Plus I didn't want to allow bishop trade with Bd7} 4. O-O {Safe king. I wouldn't castle until move 16, lol} a6 {I should've developed a kingside piece instead. If 4. ...Nf6 I didn't like 5. e5 dxe5 6. Nxe5 hitting c6 twice but 6. ...Qc7 should work there, and if Qf3, I have Bd7 if I need more support.} 5. Bxc6+ bxc6 6. c3 e5 {Not sure why I played this, I don't think e5 from white would hurt, and my move only delayed my kingside development. At this point, AKA move 6, I have five pawns off their original squares and no pieces developed (one traded off)} 7. d4 {probably correct from white to open up the center} exd4 {Bg4 might be best here. I shouldn't let the center open up. Bg4 gets a piece out, slows white down some, and protects the queen in case a queen trade ever happens.} 8. cxd4 cxd4 9. Nxd4 c5 10. Nf3 Ne7 {10. ...Nf6 11. e5 dxe5 12. Qxd8+ Kxd8 13. Nxe5 with a good knight for white and Nxf7 threat} 11. Nbd2 {I didn't see 12. Nc4 idea} g6 {11. ...Be6 12. Ng5 so perhaps Nc6 is okay with Be7 and 0-0 to come} 12. Nc4 d5 {12. ...Nc6 protects d6. I feel like I'm just reacting with no attack of my own but I think d5 isn't the right move. I recall being worried about e5 at some point but d5 would work in response I think.} 13. exd5 Qxd5 {Trying to take off some attacking pieces to get my king safe} 14. b3 {Unexpected. I was expecting the queen trade and calculating, I like black's position if 14. Qxd5 Nxd5 15. Rd1 Bb7 16. Ne3 Rd8 or 0-0-0. so maybe that's why white didn't go down that. Black's c-pawn is a weakness though.} Bg7 {Trading queens just gives white the d-file and I didn't see another move that'd prevent Bb2 from white which would be sadness.} 15. Bb2 Bxb2 {15. ...0-0 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Re1 Qxd1 18. Rxd1 and that must be losing for black.} 16. Nxb2 O-O 17. Rc1 {Simply attacking the weakness. I didn't give white much trouble in the opening. They dictated play well and I mis-played a few moves. It's equal material but white is centralizing rooks and has targets whereas I am not fully developed and my pawn structure is bad. Seeing how the game played out and the c-pawn weakness, I think one of my biggest errors was 12. ...d5} Rd8 {I don't see how to save the pawn so my strategy will be to get pieces off the board and trade off pawns. I'm playing for a draw at this moment.} 18. Rxc5 Qxd1 19. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 20. Nxd1 {Here is the endgame. The obvious imbalance is material, white has two connected queenside pawns to my one. White's rook is also more active but I do like that I have a bishop. I feel okay about holding this.} Nf5 {if Be6 21. Nd4} 21. Nc3 Be6 {Looks like a good square. I missed the next simple move though. I guess ...h6 was better} 22. Ng5 {Oh. Shit.} Rc8 23. Nxe6 {Missing tactics now.} Re8 {I felt I was getting clever, noticing the knight is pinned to stop back-rank mate. I am, however, not looking ahead to 1 and 2 move tactics.} 24. Rc6 Nd4 {Played quickly, thinking I had cool tactics with the back-rank mate issue. I attack a pinned piece a second time, but I was getting too cutesy with trying to just get the piece back. Best is Rxe6 which trades rooks or 25. Rc8+ Kg7 26. f3} 25. Rxa6 {Another missed intermezzo} Nxe6 {Rxe6 forces the rook trade but I'm now down two pawns so I play to keep the Re1# threat open. It is hope chess though, a good player will see that in a long time-control game.} 26. Ne4 Nc5 27. Nf6+ {This forces consolidation and was completely missed by me. My goal was to get pieces off the board and hopefully draw a pawn-down endgame but I dropped a second pawn and this should be losing.} Kf8 28. Nxe8 Nxa6 29. Nf6 {A bumpy road to get to a losing endgame. I have to corrall the connected passers. White likewise should have raced his king over there.} h5 30. Nd7+ Ke7 31. Nb6 Kd6 32. f3 Kc5 33. Nd7+ Kb4 {I'm getting close to gobbling} 34. Ne5 Ka3 {I have to sac the f-pawn for these two pawns, they were white's big threat.} 35. Nxf7 Kxa2 36. g4 {White must find some maneuver to capture black's two pawns while black's king and knight are so far away: 36. h4 (one pawn freezes two) Kxb3 37. Ne5} Kxb3 37. g5 Nc5 38. Ne5 Ne6 39. f4 Nxf4 40. Kf2 Nh3+ 41. Kg3 Nxg5 42. Nxg6 Kc4 {42. ...Ne4+ 43. Kh4 Nf6+? 44. Kg5 losing the pawn} 43. h4 {white did well not to play Kh4 here. This must be a draw.} Nh7 44. Kf4 Kd5 45. Kf5 Kd6 46. Nf4 Ke7 47. Nxh5 Kf7 48. Ng3 Nf6 {If black can keep his knight here, white can never play h5} 49. Kg5 Nh7+ {Still drawn, but there is no need for me to move my knight. I can just hover with my king to keep it protected and white never can safely advance the pawn. These plans are hard to come up with in time pressure but they're essential in endagmes.} 50. Kh6 Nf6 51. Nh5 Nxh5 52. Kxh5 Kg7 53. Kg5 Kh7 54. h5 Kh8 55. Kg6 Kg8 56. h6 Kh8 57. h7 { Draw by stalemate. } 1/2-1/2
Here's the raw PGN:
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ { B51 Sicilian Defense: Canal-Sokolsky Attack } Nc6 4. O-O a6 5. Bxc6+ bxc6 6. c3 e5 7. d4 exd4 8. cxd4 cxd4 9. Nxd4 c5 10. Nf3 Ne7 11. Nbd2 g6 12. Nc4 d5 13. exd5 Qxd5 14. b3 Bg7 15. Bb2 Bxb2 16. Nxb2 O-O 17. Rc1 Rd8 18. Rxc5 Qxd1 19. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 20. Nxd1 Nf5 21. Nc3 Be6 22. Ng5 Rc8 23. Nxe6 Re8 24. Rc6 Nd4 25. Rxa6 Nxe6 26. Ne4 Nc5 27. Nf6+ Kf8 28. Nxe8 Nxa6 29. Nf6 h5 30. Nd7+ Ke7 31. Nb6 Kd6 32. f3 Kc5 33. Nd7+ Kb4 34. Ne5 Ka3 35. Nxf7 Kxa2 36. g4 Kxb3 37. g5 Nc5 38. Ne5 Ne6 39. f4 Nxf4 40. Kf2 Nh3+ 41. Kg3 Nxg5 42. Nxg6 Kc4 43. h4 Nh7 44. Kf4 Kd5 45. Kf5 Kd6 46. Nf4 Ke7 47. Nxh5 Kf7 48. Ng3 Nf6 49. Kg5 Nh7+ 50. Kh6 Nf6 51. Nh5 Nxh5 52. Kxh5 Kg7 53. Kg5 Kh7 54. h5 Kh8 55. Kg6 Kg8 56. h6 Kh8 57. h7 { Draw by stalemate. } 1/2-1/2
Friday, December 6, 2019
Lichess4545 Game Analysis 6
Hey I won another Lonewolf 30|30 game! I'm on 3.5 out of 4 so I'm doing well in the U1800 division. This was an Italian Opening where I played a few slow pawn moves and had to end up dropping a piece in less than 10 moves and my king was still in the center, ugh. But right as I was saying goodnight to my girlfriend and saying it'd probably be a quick game, (the game started at 10pm local time), my opponent developed his pieces and I was able to get his bishop trapped ad things got interesting. There were some tactical fireworks, probably mis-played, and then I ended up a pawn up. Endgame went okay. I'll be the first to admit that I benefited from some big blunders from my opponent and it wasn't perfect by any means on my end but I played better than my opponent and took the win.
https://lichess.org/qr4dEy8b
I was the black pieces. Please note that these are all my thoughts sans engine and sans analysis board. So i'm evaluating on my own and with my own visualization. I go through the whole game like this and write down my thoughts and lines I see. Then I go back a second time with an engine on and with the ability to play out lines on the board and add notes in. So anytime you see "The engine/stockfish/SF says...." that's only my notes after I've seen the engine eval and lines.
(4) Evans Gambit. Pretty sure it's okay to take the pawn. If 4. ...Bb6, white can play for c3 and d4 and have a big center. If 4. ...Bb6 5. c3 Nf6 6. Qe2 maybe then d4 coming for white.
If 4. ...Bb6 5. b5 Na5 and white has to address the bishop attack and also the lonesome b-pawn. As an aside, just because I used to have problems with this line, if 4. d3 Nf6 5. Ng5 d5 6. exd5 Na5 is the move to play here!
(5) ...Ba5 is only move yeah? If 5. ...Bc5 then 6. d4 is strong, giving white a big center. I think black is okay so far.
(6) White is castled and black plays a slow ...d6. I was paranoid about the fried liver attack coming, and now that a5 was occupied by my bishop I didn't have that important Na5 move. I wanted my light-squared bishop handy and ...d5 just loses a pawn. But ...d6 must be bad too. I wanted my kingside knight out and to castle, but the line I was fearing was 6. ...Nf6 7. Ng5 d5 8. exd5 and here I don't have the Na5 move-ENGINE SAYS SIMPLY CASTLING. Hmm but after 8. exd5 I do have Nxd5 which blocks the bishop's action. Granted, that d5 knight is now pinned by the bishop to the weak f7 square but the important distinction is that 9. Nc3 is not possible. Therefore, 6. ...Nf6 is probably best move here to help me castle. I played ...d6 to hope for Be6 bailout if necessary to trade off white's light-squared bishop and I had time for it because Ng5 wasn't playable yet. I over-looked the d4 push, giving white a big center. 6. ...Nf6 7. Re1 0-0 8. d4 isn't as potent for white because the c-pawn is pinned to the rook. So 7. d3 is probably necessary. NO, ENGINE SAYS D6 IS GOOD!
(7) My failure to play ...Nf6 last move and castle my king lets white strikeout in the center, correctly opening lines while my king isn't safe. Shoulda been calculating this. I can't take on d4 and allow that pawn duo which will be annoying to develop around. White is threatening d5 and if I move my knight, Qa4+ will come. Unfortunately, I was still paranoid about the fried liver attack and so my reply is egregiously slow. Taking on d4 doesn't look good: 7. ...exd4 8. Nxd4 Nxd4 9. Qxd4 hitting g7 and also threatening Qa4+. I think 7. ...exd4 8. Nxd4 Nge7 might hold for black, but if 7. ...exd4 8. cxd4 and then 9. d5 is coming. Perhaps the bailout move for black is 7. ...b6 to protect the bishop, then 8. d5 Nce7 and it's probably better for white but I'm not dropping a piece.
(8) the threat I didn't see. 8. ...Nce7 9. Qa4+ picking up the bishop. I save it the best way I can find by trying to get a good square for my bishop and now i'm considering castling long. ENGINE SAYS THIS IS NOT A THREAT, I KEP MISSING THAT PUSHING C6 WOULDA BLOCKED THE CHECK AND GUARDED A5
(10) White is up a piece, but because of the gambit line, he is down two pawns. He proceeds by trying to trade and threaten Qa4 (If I allow 11. Bxc6 bxc6 12. Qa4 I don't see how I save the a5 bishop and c6). I like my tenth move but I'm still not castled, sheesh. 10. ...Ne7 may have been better so I can castle next move hopefully, and if bishops are traded, Nxc6 guards a5. My game move preps castling long, guards f7 and if trading bishops, I'll take back with queen and hit c3 twice. There's also a Ba4 follow-up idea maybe. I considered 10. ...Bb5 as black here to hit the rook, but I see a line in which white gives the piece back but gains a pawn and makes black's king very exposed. 10. ...Bb5 11. c4 Ba6 (idea 12. ...c6 bishop trap) 12. c5 dxc5 13. Bxf7+ Kxf7 14. Nxe5+ and there are some trouble squares for black's king. I didn't see that in-game. Hard to see and not sure if that's best for black to go down that line because of king safety.
There's also this easier-to-see line: 10. ...Bb5 11. Bxb7 Bxf1 12. Bxa8 Qxa8 13. Qxf1 and black loses a pawn in that exchange because 13. ...Qxe4? 14. Qb5+ will lose the bishop.
(11) Ahh, missed this move from white. He's developing with tempo and I'm behind because my king in the middle. A principle violated! I now can't castle long
(12) ...0-0 praise the lord! I saw the queen and rook on the same diagonal immediately but c4 shuts that down. I tried calculating for tactics for a bit but decided to finally castle. ENGINE SAYS I MISSED A TACTIC HERE. QUEEN AND KNIGHT ARE FORK-ABLE BY THE PAWN SO IF BXD5 EXD5 E4 WINS A PIECE
(13) I go for some active play. I was actually close to resigning here, expecting c4 but maybe there's some complications with that after c6 from black to trap the bishop. There's also 13. ...Ng4 hitting the other bishop
(14) White pins the knight. I was expecting either c4 or Bc4.
(15) White takes some time here, I was deeply calculating a desperado 15. Bxf7+ Qxf7 16. Nxd6 Bxd3 17. Nxf7 Bxf1 18. Kxf1 Rxf7. I saw that in-game, The trick is to continue on and take the rook at the end! I somehow forget or look past that while this combo plays out. White plays Nxe5, importantly leaving his bishop under attack. So white attacks my queen but willingly chooses to open up the attack on his queen and also leave his bishop hanging. So I'm on move and I should see we each take the other's queen, then we each take the other's rook but then once again I'm on move and there are two of white's pieces hanging. I can take the bishop and his knight is actually trapped. The line after white's in-game move is: 15. ...Bxd3 16. Nxd7 Bxf1 17. Nxf8 cxd5 and white can't save his knight.
(16) I don't play the rook capture for whatever reason. I think I see that I can take the knight and white will have two pieces hanging still but that's not the case.
(17) Ahh right, white finds the move. 17. ...Bxc3 18. Rc1 and I think white's losing one of the bishops and I'd actually be giving him a choice. So I'm now one pawn ahead when I shoulda been slightly more but okay. At least I turned it around but not as much as I could. I see 17. ...Be2 is interesting, if complicated. ENGINE SAYS 17. ...BE2 IS THE IMPORTANT MOVE TO SEE!
(20) I saw this whole line from move 18, getting the c-pawn all the way to f3 and I thought it was fine in my head, white is getting a rook on the 7th though, and I didn't see that it was hitting b7 until it was played in-game. I recall being low on time and this gave me some minutes back at least. I did know that white would have 4 pawn islands after it, whereas mine would be strong. I was worried it wasn't as good for me as I thought, see notes on move 21
(21) I was expecting 21. gxf3 Bxc3 22. Rc1 Rc8.
(22) After Kxg2, white indeed has 4 isolated pawns while black has 2 solid pawn groupings
(24) I was somewhat close to playing 24. ...Bd2 forcing a bishop trade but I'd cry with 25. Rd1. I think 24. ...Bb4 was played with Bc5 in mind
(25) Get king over to help with white's dangerous-ish pawns
(26) Strong move from white. If ...Bc5 27. Bxc5 bxc5 28. Rb5. Maybe I wasted my time on move 25 and I should have played ...Bc5 then. Instead my 26th move is a blunder because 27. Rd1 as mentioned before. Tears.
(28) Yay for mutual blunders. White misses it too.
(29) a5 comes from white, probaly not good to just give me a pawn, even though he gets a passed c-pawn.
(30) white gets behind his passer but my rook should shut his king off and my king will march over. I start to feel better at this point finally.
Conclusions
I'm happy I fought back after dropping a piece in yet another bad opening. I have to be WAY more vigilant in my openings. I'm not getting good positions.
https://lichess.org/qr4dEy8b
I was the black pieces. Please note that these are all my thoughts sans engine and sans analysis board. So i'm evaluating on my own and with my own visualization. I go through the whole game like this and write down my thoughts and lines I see. Then I go back a second time with an engine on and with the ability to play out lines on the board and add notes in. So anytime you see "The engine/stockfish/SF says...." that's only my notes after I've seen the engine eval and lines.
(4) Evans Gambit. Pretty sure it's okay to take the pawn. If 4. ...Bb6, white can play for c3 and d4 and have a big center. If 4. ...Bb6 5. c3 Nf6 6. Qe2 maybe then d4 coming for white.
If 4. ...Bb6 5. b5 Na5 and white has to address the bishop attack and also the lonesome b-pawn. As an aside, just because I used to have problems with this line, if 4. d3 Nf6 5. Ng5 d5 6. exd5 Na5 is the move to play here!
(5) ...Ba5 is only move yeah? If 5. ...Bc5 then 6. d4 is strong, giving white a big center. I think black is okay so far.
(6) White is castled and black plays a slow ...d6. I was paranoid about the fried liver attack coming, and now that a5 was occupied by my bishop I didn't have that important Na5 move. I wanted my light-squared bishop handy and ...d5 just loses a pawn. But ...d6 must be bad too. I wanted my kingside knight out and to castle, but the line I was fearing was 6. ...Nf6 7. Ng5 d5 8. exd5 and here I don't have the Na5 move-ENGINE SAYS SIMPLY CASTLING. Hmm but after 8. exd5 I do have Nxd5 which blocks the bishop's action. Granted, that d5 knight is now pinned by the bishop to the weak f7 square but the important distinction is that 9. Nc3 is not possible. Therefore, 6. ...Nf6 is probably best move here to help me castle. I played ...d6 to hope for Be6 bailout if necessary to trade off white's light-squared bishop and I had time for it because Ng5 wasn't playable yet. I over-looked the d4 push, giving white a big center. 6. ...Nf6 7. Re1 0-0 8. d4 isn't as potent for white because the c-pawn is pinned to the rook. So 7. d3 is probably necessary. NO, ENGINE SAYS D6 IS GOOD!
(7) My failure to play ...Nf6 last move and castle my king lets white strikeout in the center, correctly opening lines while my king isn't safe. Shoulda been calculating this. I can't take on d4 and allow that pawn duo which will be annoying to develop around. White is threatening d5 and if I move my knight, Qa4+ will come. Unfortunately, I was still paranoid about the fried liver attack and so my reply is egregiously slow. Taking on d4 doesn't look good: 7. ...exd4 8. Nxd4 Nxd4 9. Qxd4 hitting g7 and also threatening Qa4+. I think 7. ...exd4 8. Nxd4 Nge7 might hold for black, but if 7. ...exd4 8. cxd4 and then 9. d5 is coming. Perhaps the bailout move for black is 7. ...b6 to protect the bishop, then 8. d5 Nce7 and it's probably better for white but I'm not dropping a piece.
(8) the threat I didn't see. 8. ...Nce7 9. Qa4+ picking up the bishop. I save it the best way I can find by trying to get a good square for my bishop and now i'm considering castling long. ENGINE SAYS THIS IS NOT A THREAT, I KEP MISSING THAT PUSHING C6 WOULDA BLOCKED THE CHECK AND GUARDED A5
(10) White is up a piece, but because of the gambit line, he is down two pawns. He proceeds by trying to trade and threaten Qa4 (If I allow 11. Bxc6 bxc6 12. Qa4 I don't see how I save the a5 bishop and c6). I like my tenth move but I'm still not castled, sheesh. 10. ...Ne7 may have been better so I can castle next move hopefully, and if bishops are traded, Nxc6 guards a5. My game move preps castling long, guards f7 and if trading bishops, I'll take back with queen and hit c3 twice. There's also a Ba4 follow-up idea maybe. I considered 10. ...Bb5 as black here to hit the rook, but I see a line in which white gives the piece back but gains a pawn and makes black's king very exposed. 10. ...Bb5 11. c4 Ba6 (idea 12. ...c6 bishop trap) 12. c5 dxc5 13. Bxf7+ Kxf7 14. Nxe5+ and there are some trouble squares for black's king. I didn't see that in-game. Hard to see and not sure if that's best for black to go down that line because of king safety.
There's also this easier-to-see line: 10. ...Bb5 11. Bxb7 Bxf1 12. Bxa8 Qxa8 13. Qxf1 and black loses a pawn in that exchange because 13. ...Qxe4? 14. Qb5+ will lose the bishop.
(11) Ahh, missed this move from white. He's developing with tempo and I'm behind because my king in the middle. A principle violated! I now can't castle long
(12) ...0-0 praise the lord! I saw the queen and rook on the same diagonal immediately but c4 shuts that down. I tried calculating for tactics for a bit but decided to finally castle. ENGINE SAYS I MISSED A TACTIC HERE. QUEEN AND KNIGHT ARE FORK-ABLE BY THE PAWN SO IF BXD5 EXD5 E4 WINS A PIECE
(13) I go for some active play. I was actually close to resigning here, expecting c4 but maybe there's some complications with that after c6 from black to trap the bishop. There's also 13. ...Ng4 hitting the other bishop
(14) White pins the knight. I was expecting either c4 or Bc4.
(15) White takes some time here, I was deeply calculating a desperado 15. Bxf7+ Qxf7 16. Nxd6 Bxd3 17. Nxf7 Bxf1 18. Kxf1 Rxf7. I saw that in-game, The trick is to continue on and take the rook at the end! I somehow forget or look past that while this combo plays out. White plays Nxe5, importantly leaving his bishop under attack. So white attacks my queen but willingly chooses to open up the attack on his queen and also leave his bishop hanging. So I'm on move and I should see we each take the other's queen, then we each take the other's rook but then once again I'm on move and there are two of white's pieces hanging. I can take the bishop and his knight is actually trapped. The line after white's in-game move is: 15. ...Bxd3 16. Nxd7 Bxf1 17. Nxf8 cxd5 and white can't save his knight.
(16) I don't play the rook capture for whatever reason. I think I see that I can take the knight and white will have two pieces hanging still but that's not the case.
(17) Ahh right, white finds the move. 17. ...Bxc3 18. Rc1 and I think white's losing one of the bishops and I'd actually be giving him a choice. So I'm now one pawn ahead when I shoulda been slightly more but okay. At least I turned it around but not as much as I could. I see 17. ...Be2 is interesting, if complicated. ENGINE SAYS 17. ...BE2 IS THE IMPORTANT MOVE TO SEE!
(20) I saw this whole line from move 18, getting the c-pawn all the way to f3 and I thought it was fine in my head, white is getting a rook on the 7th though, and I didn't see that it was hitting b7 until it was played in-game. I recall being low on time and this gave me some minutes back at least. I did know that white would have 4 pawn islands after it, whereas mine would be strong. I was worried it wasn't as good for me as I thought, see notes on move 21
(21) I was expecting 21. gxf3 Bxc3 22. Rc1 Rc8.
(22) After Kxg2, white indeed has 4 isolated pawns while black has 2 solid pawn groupings
(24) I was somewhat close to playing 24. ...Bd2 forcing a bishop trade but I'd cry with 25. Rd1. I think 24. ...Bb4 was played with Bc5 in mind
(25) Get king over to help with white's dangerous-ish pawns
(26) Strong move from white. If ...Bc5 27. Bxc5 bxc5 28. Rb5. Maybe I wasted my time on move 25 and I should have played ...Bc5 then. Instead my 26th move is a blunder because 27. Rd1 as mentioned before. Tears.
(28) Yay for mutual blunders. White misses it too.
(29) a5 comes from white, probaly not good to just give me a pawn, even though he gets a passed c-pawn.
(30) white gets behind his passer but my rook should shut his king off and my king will march over. I start to feel better at this point finally.
Conclusions
I'm happy I fought back after dropping a piece in yet another bad opening. I have to be WAY more vigilant in my openings. I'm not getting good positions.
Thursday, December 5, 2019
Weekly Chess Schedule
In a recent Perpetual Chess podcast, J.J. Lang mentioned an example of a 15 hour per week schedule for chess study for the 1500 rated-player.
J.J. Lang's Recommendation
6 Hours on Openings - Lang says don't spend six hours memorizing things. For the 1500-rated player, you moreso want to get a grasp on general ideas, plans and resulting pawn structures.
3 Hours on Endgames - This will be some memorizing of certain endgame techniques but also some study of techniques new to you.
3 Hours on Hard Tactics - The problems that you spend ten to twenty minutes per tactic!
3 Hours on Easy/Medium Tactics - Better for pattern recognition and morale as well.
I'm fortunate enough to have some free time at work to tackle a lot of this stuff. I like to spend time with my partner during the evening so it's hard for me to spend hours and hours at night studying. I think having a defined schedule will help me better fill out my free time at work. I'm not good at following extremely specific schedules like "Do 1000-1200 tactics for 45 minutes on Wednesdays" and "Practice 2 pawns vs 1 endgames for 75 minutes on days beginning with a T." Instead, I'll set it up so each weekday gets a different area of study and I can choose on that day how to fill the time.
Monday - Openings
Tuesday - Endgames
Wednesday - Tactics
Thursday - Strategy
Friday - Game Analysis
J.J. Lang's Recommendation
6 Hours on Openings - Lang says don't spend six hours memorizing things. For the 1500-rated player, you moreso want to get a grasp on general ideas, plans and resulting pawn structures.
3 Hours on Endgames - This will be some memorizing of certain endgame techniques but also some study of techniques new to you.
3 Hours on Hard Tactics - The problems that you spend ten to twenty minutes per tactic!
3 Hours on Easy/Medium Tactics - Better for pattern recognition and morale as well.
* * * * * * * * * *
My Plan
This got me thinking that I need a slightly more structured approach. I don't do well with extreme structure but I came up with a generalized plan that'll still allow for my own customization depending on what I feel I need to work on any given day. My plan at least serves as a guideline to ensure I'm covering the main areas of study every week.
I'm fortunate enough to have some free time at work to tackle a lot of this stuff. I like to spend time with my partner during the evening so it's hard for me to spend hours and hours at night studying. I think having a defined schedule will help me better fill out my free time at work. I'm not good at following extremely specific schedules like "Do 1000-1200 tactics for 45 minutes on Wednesdays" and "Practice 2 pawns vs 1 endgames for 75 minutes on days beginning with a T." Instead, I'll set it up so each weekday gets a different area of study and I can choose on that day how to fill the time.
Monday - Openings
- Review my chess openings spreadsheet. Find some I haven't studied yet and learn about the general plans. Find youtube videos/articles on any given opening and take notes.
- Find 10 exemplary master games in those openings (use Lichess) and study them.
- Chess Structures by Flores.
- Pawn Structure Chess by Soltis.
Tuesday - Endgames
- Go over notes from Silman's Endgame Course and practice those things on a board. Do tests at the end of the chapters.
- Chess Endgame Training by Rosen.
- Capablanca's Best Chess Endings by Chernev.
- Practice endgame positions on Lichess's board editor.
- Review my excel spreadsheet of pawn opposition positions (see "Building Blocks for Opposition" blog entry).
- Use the Chess Endgame Training mobile app.
Wednesday - Tactics
- Work to mix in tactics nearly every day.
- For 'hard' tactics, complete the five free chess.com tactics every day. Minimum 10 min/puzzle.
- One hour of ChessTempo puzzles.
- Winning Chess Exercises for Kids by Coakley.
- Woodpecker Method by Smith and Tikkanen.
- Practical Chess Exercises by Chang. This supposedly has tactical and positional puzzles.
- 5334 Chess Problems by Polgar.
Thursday - Strategy
- Review notes on Amateur's Mind by Silman. Work on the 25 tests in the back of that book.
- Reassess your Chess by Silman.
- My System by Nimzowitsch.
- Can you be a Positional Chess Genius? by Dunnington.
- Annotated Master Games--play through books.
- Chess Structures by Flores.
- Pawn Structure Chess by Soltis.
- World's Most Instructive Amateur Game Book by Heisman.
Friday - Game Analysis
- Analyze my games from the week.
- Play through master games with annotations.
- Kasparov v Karpov
- Games of the Young Grandmasters
- Understanding Chess Move by Move by Nunn
- Any other books recommended in this blog entry.
Monday, November 25, 2019
Lichess4545 Game Analysis 5
This is game three from the 4545 League. My team is doing well despite my best efforts. Yep, another loss. Yeesh. My team had won the match at this point so the pressure was off. I still tried to win but ended up resigning in under 25 moves. I dropped a pawn (yet again, I saw it 10 seconds after I played it...) and then missed a tactic and mis-played another thing. Rough. Just not seeing stuff really well and I'm not being completely careful.
https://lichess.org/Odq3HLPv
I was the black pieces and my engine-less comments follow.
My Comments
(1) I decided to play the sicilian. I almost never play it so I decided to go for it in case my opponent had any prep for me.
(2) d4? what the hell...oh yeah the smith-morra gambit. Didn't expect this in game. So I take the center pawn with my c-pawn.
(3) White plays natural move, I try to defend the pawn although it has 2 attackers on it. Nc6 seems like best move though.
(4) We trade, which I obviously saw, and white has his queen in the middle of the board which I thought wasn't great since I could set up so I could develop with tempo on it
(5) Qxd4 and white's best piece is in the middle. 5. ...Nf6 6. e5 so I play slow with d6 to set up e5
(6) Nc3 makes sense. Black plays e5 but what about Nf6. It develops and helps guard d5 which is made very weak after my game-move of 6. ...e5. My pawn move allows more development from white with a check.
(8) Qd5 threatening b7. I remember seeing some bad lines for black like 8. ...b6? 9. Bxd7 Kxd7 (Qxd7 10. Qxa8+) 10. Qxf7+. If 8. ...Nf6 9. Qxb7 As for ...a6, well, maybe a6 is the move here.
(9) I don't remember if I spot the very simple 10. Bxa7 threat yet but I get tempo on the queen for a move...finally. I thought Qxd4 was bad for white on move 5 but I couldn't get tempo on it until move 9.
(10) I play Be7 and immediately see the dropped pawn. Not seeing stuff well. At least it's only an a-pawn so it could be worse but I don't play well the rest of the game. I don't think my mind was in it.
(11) Annoying that Bxa7 comes with tempo too. Makes 8. ...a6 seem like the better move even moreso, since my rook would have still been on a8. I try to get my rook slightly more active at least and maybe I have a b6 bishop trap later...
(13) Rd8 and I play Qa5 figuring he'd just move his bishop back to e3 but I miss the intermezzo
(15) ...Bd8 saves? It's passive but it's something.
(16) ...Bd8 again woulda been "okay", but instead, I don't really calculate the simplest intermezzo tactic ever. I was just thinking very straightforward to trade on e3: 16. ...Bxe3 17. Bxe3, then I can defend Ne7+ with Re8 or something. But I miss it.
(17) Duh. White simply inserts Ne7+. Oh well.
(18) Missed a small tactic which I saw right after yet again. I could at least do the desperado tactic and give up my bishop for a pawn with 18. ...Bxf2+ 19. Kxf2 Qc5+ and play for f5 trying to break it open and see what happens for a few more moves.
(19) I'm down the exchange and a pawn. I play on slightly longer but it's resignable.
Conclusions
I think I was losing sight of "what my opponent might play" in this game, I would look one move ahead but not really analyze the position after that. I have to take the extra 5 seconds to envision the board right after my moves, my candidate moves, what I should do to save a pawn, what's being attacked, etc. It only requires a few extra seconds of double-checking the board and taking stock of things. Even if things seem dangerous for my opponent (like them having their queen in the middle) I can't stop calculating and analyzing and assuming things are where I think they are. White was able to stay safe and develop with threats throughout the game.
ANALYSIS WITH ENGINE HELP
(4) I guess this is a bit of a "trap" without actually winning a piece or pawn but my natural Nxd4 gives white a big advantage of +0.1 to +0.7. So that's a must-know in the smith-morra. Play 4. ...Nf6 and allow white to trade knights on c6 if they want since black will take back bxc6 with lotsa center pawns.
(6) My analysis was correct that Nf6 is best here.
(8) Engine likes Rb8. 8. ...a6 is bad because 9. Bc4 Be6 10. Qxb7 Bxc4? 11. Qc6+
(10) ...a6 now is fine. (only a +1.5 adv)
(13) I saw the b6 idea earlier (see analysis) but didn't play it. I think because I saw 13. ...b6 14. Bxd7 Qxd7 15. Bxb6. Buuut 14. ...Nxd7 works. I don't think I saw the backwards knight move that'd allow my queen to continue guarding b6. 13. ...b6 14. Bxd7 Nxd7 15. Nd5 Ra8 and eval still only says ~+1.1
As expected, this game was all white. I never had an initiative then dropped the pawn and white had an easy straightforward game as I couldn't find any good complications. Not a good effort.
https://lichess.org/Odq3HLPv
I was the black pieces and my engine-less comments follow.
My Comments
(1) I decided to play the sicilian. I almost never play it so I decided to go for it in case my opponent had any prep for me.
(2) d4? what the hell...oh yeah the smith-morra gambit. Didn't expect this in game. So I take the center pawn with my c-pawn.
(3) White plays natural move, I try to defend the pawn although it has 2 attackers on it. Nc6 seems like best move though.
(4) We trade, which I obviously saw, and white has his queen in the middle of the board which I thought wasn't great since I could set up so I could develop with tempo on it
(5) Qxd4 and white's best piece is in the middle. 5. ...Nf6 6. e5 so I play slow with d6 to set up e5
(6) Nc3 makes sense. Black plays e5 but what about Nf6. It develops and helps guard d5 which is made very weak after my game-move of 6. ...e5. My pawn move allows more development from white with a check.
(8) Qd5 threatening b7. I remember seeing some bad lines for black like 8. ...b6? 9. Bxd7 Kxd7 (Qxd7 10. Qxa8+) 10. Qxf7+. If 8. ...Nf6 9. Qxb7 As for ...a6, well, maybe a6 is the move here.
(9) I don't remember if I spot the very simple 10. Bxa7 threat yet but I get tempo on the queen for a move...finally. I thought Qxd4 was bad for white on move 5 but I couldn't get tempo on it until move 9.
(10) I play Be7 and immediately see the dropped pawn. Not seeing stuff well. At least it's only an a-pawn so it could be worse but I don't play well the rest of the game. I don't think my mind was in it.
(11) Annoying that Bxa7 comes with tempo too. Makes 8. ...a6 seem like the better move even moreso, since my rook would have still been on a8. I try to get my rook slightly more active at least and maybe I have a b6 bishop trap later...
(13) Rd8 and I play Qa5 figuring he'd just move his bishop back to e3 but I miss the intermezzo
(15) ...Bd8 saves? It's passive but it's something.
(16) ...Bd8 again woulda been "okay", but instead, I don't really calculate the simplest intermezzo tactic ever. I was just thinking very straightforward to trade on e3: 16. ...Bxe3 17. Bxe3, then I can defend Ne7+ with Re8 or something. But I miss it.
(17) Duh. White simply inserts Ne7+. Oh well.
(18) Missed a small tactic which I saw right after yet again. I could at least do the desperado tactic and give up my bishop for a pawn with 18. ...Bxf2+ 19. Kxf2 Qc5+ and play for f5 trying to break it open and see what happens for a few more moves.
(19) I'm down the exchange and a pawn. I play on slightly longer but it's resignable.
Conclusions
I think I was losing sight of "what my opponent might play" in this game, I would look one move ahead but not really analyze the position after that. I have to take the extra 5 seconds to envision the board right after my moves, my candidate moves, what I should do to save a pawn, what's being attacked, etc. It only requires a few extra seconds of double-checking the board and taking stock of things. Even if things seem dangerous for my opponent (like them having their queen in the middle) I can't stop calculating and analyzing and assuming things are where I think they are. White was able to stay safe and develop with threats throughout the game.
ANALYSIS WITH ENGINE HELP
(4) I guess this is a bit of a "trap" without actually winning a piece or pawn but my natural Nxd4 gives white a big advantage of +0.1 to +0.7. So that's a must-know in the smith-morra. Play 4. ...Nf6 and allow white to trade knights on c6 if they want since black will take back bxc6 with lotsa center pawns.
(6) My analysis was correct that Nf6 is best here.
(8) Engine likes Rb8. 8. ...a6 is bad because 9. Bc4 Be6 10. Qxb7 Bxc4? 11. Qc6+
(10) ...a6 now is fine. (only a +1.5 adv)
(13) I saw the b6 idea earlier (see analysis) but didn't play it. I think because I saw 13. ...b6 14. Bxd7 Qxd7 15. Bxb6. Buuut 14. ...Nxd7 works. I don't think I saw the backwards knight move that'd allow my queen to continue guarding b6. 13. ...b6 14. Bxd7 Nxd7 15. Nd5 Ra8 and eval still only says ~+1.1
As expected, this game was all white. I never had an initiative then dropped the pawn and white had an easy straightforward game as I couldn't find any good complications. Not a good effort.
Sunday, November 24, 2019
Lichess4545 Game Analysis 4
This was game 3 of the Lonewolf League (30+30). I was quite bummed at this one. Even
though it was a draw and a half-point is a half-point, I think there are
several reasons why it felt lame:
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
- 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
Tuesday, November 19, 2019
Lichess4545 Game Analysis 3
Here's another game, this time from the Lonewolf league. As usual, these are my comments without an engine. Some notes with engine-analysis are at the bottom of this. I will also try to get a PGN here too, but for the time being, copy my text and paste it into the "Notes" section of the lichess link and you can step through the moves and see my notes.
https://lichess.org/XAHdOmsxrZe9
My Notes
Trying the caro-kann. I do very little opening prep since I still think it doesn't matter too much but I did see my opponent likes to play the ruy as white so my natural instinct is to avoid that. Plus the few times I've played the caro as black feels somewhat natural.
(3) And of course, white plays the advance variation, the one (of three or four) responses that I don't know the exact best reply to but I figured get my light-squared bishop outside the pawn chain. I think Bf5 is a common move i many caro-kanns anyway.
(4) Natural from white, so I lock the center as I need to get my pieces out. I usually hate these advanced centers that white has, so the caro-kann advanced variation is worth looking into for me so I know how to play it correctly, I feel like I did though.
(5) We've transposed into a french structure but the typical bad bishop is outside my pawn chain! I see white's e-pawn is hindering my kingside piece development so I go for the c5 break to hopefully get my bishop out and then my knight can get to e7.
(10) White looks to be playing pretty natural moves. I am in the mode of trying to preserve the bishop pair whenever and that's what I try to do here but I end up giving white some queenside space and a pesky knight some room. Better might be 10. ...Bxc3 11. bxc3 but then white has a massive pawn chain that I'd have to figure out how to attack. Perhaps a6 trying for b5 and Nbf6 too (gotta make sure my rook gets defended so I don't lose a pawn due to tactics). Perhaps my pawn pushes would force white to push some pawns to stop my pawn break, and then I maneuver a knight into c4 if it becomes a good outpost.
(11) And white threatens Nd6 which I HATE! I've had those annoying knights before deep in my position and they can be tough.
(12) So I have to allow this weird trade and my queen is on an open-file.
(14) I thought this wasn't the best square for the bishop for white. I'm able to come up with a plan. I know white is wanting to play Rc1 to take control of the file and I calculate that my knight can plug that gap and b5 can help protect it. I didn't see a way for black to attack it more times than I can defend. The trouble proved to be coming up with a plan after that.
(17) Those moves were all expected but I didn't anticipate white trading knights on c4. I thought for a little on which way to take but I decided that this wasn't very critical so I tried to not waste time. I thought to maintain my bigger pawn chain. I get a passed pawn but white does have 2 pawns vs 1 on the queenside. Although his pawns are further away and it'll be some work. I think if 17. ...dxc4, I'd want to try to break up his a-b chain with a5 but that doesn't work well after Bc3.
(18) A lash-out from white! I didn't expect that either, it is certainly weakening to white's king but I see the point. I think it'd be stronger if their dark-squared bishop were on the c1-h6 diagonal. That's the bishop white has that I don't so it's what would be more helpful on the kingside I think. Anyway, this g4 move is the type I don't consider. I guess I defend okay but I should always be looking for ideas like this. The center is locked and my pieces are a bit tied down or inactive.
(19) Pawn storm from white. Looks scary but if I can defend then his king is weak. I play h6 but I am looking at f6 or h5 now. 19. ...f6 20. exf6 Rxf6 21. h5 and that falls apart for black, and the obvious 20. h5 is good--and black sac-ing the bishop Bxh5 doesn't work either. 19. ...h5 is the other thing but 20. gxh5 and black has to back up the bishop and the pawns might keep coming. I know the general advice is to counter-attack in the center when there's an attack on the wing, but how to do it for black? Perhaps ...h6 is the necessary move as I don't see anything else that attacks well.
(20) I was expecting h5 there, with Rc3 and Bc1 on tap.
(24) Unfortunate since white's attack looks interesting. Bc1 keeps the pressure. I'd assume it'd go 24. Bc1 Bxh5 25. Qxh5 g6 26. Qh2 (to load up via Kg2 and Rh1, or just the immediate Rh3) Ng7 27. Rh3 Nh5. I THINK that holds?! That Ng7-h5 maneuver might plug things, but I can't say for certain if I'd see that in game. I recall getting a little low on time here. And with Knight blocking on h5 I believe black has time to play Kg7 and Rh1 to safeguard the h-file.
(26) Black is up the piece but was getting hairy and low on time, I better find the right defense, or A defense. ....f6 gives the king a square and opens up stuff. If white ignores and plays 27. Qh2 Kf7 and white doesn't have an infiltration square.
(28) Kf7 might not be necessary for black but I suppose it gets the king safer and has some threats soon (getting stuff on the h-file)
NOTES FROM ENGINE ANALYSIS
To differentiate, these will be in italics.
(10) Indeed, stockfish likes the Bxc3 move, otherwise what happens in the game is good for white, but only by half a pawn, not too bad.
(14) Looks like my knight to c4 maneuver was a good idea, I recall seeing that my e7 knight was undefended and the engine wants white to play Bg5. Note that I think this bishop is the key attacking piece that was missing later in the game for white.
(17) bxc4 is indeed slightly better but I'm glad to see that neither are waaaay worse (-0.7 vs -0.2) so I was correct in my thinking that it wasn't hyper-critical to spend minutes deciding how to re-take.
(19) ...f6 is definitely bad as thought
(20 h5 is the move here and then Bc3, Bd2, and g5 coming. Engine says black is up -0.5 though, probably because my passed pawn.
(22) Hmmm Stockfish says black can just capture on h5. And then after g6 from black, the queen must retreat, and black can play Kg7 and swing a rook over. Even though it's even material, the engine says it's at least a -4 advantage for black there, probably all due to king safety. ...Rc8 is slow, stil maintains the advantage but lets white build more.
(23) Black still should trade the bishops. It's all about trading the scary piece then getting the king safe.
(24) Stockfish doesn't love my Bc1 idea for white because it so favors black to trade the light-squared bishops. Engine doesn't love my line I offered with the Nh5 blockade. It wants white to sac the exchange there which would definitely have to be calculated in-game. My line lets white give up a small amount of material but majorly expose my king. In the line I offer, instead of Ng7-h5, just the immediate Kg7 works fine.
(32) I thought there might be a mate but with lots of heavy pieces out and only 1-2 minutes on my clock, I simplified and got some time back.
https://lichess.org/XAHdOmsxrZe9
My Notes
Trying the caro-kann. I do very little opening prep since I still think it doesn't matter too much but I did see my opponent likes to play the ruy as white so my natural instinct is to avoid that. Plus the few times I've played the caro as black feels somewhat natural.
(3) And of course, white plays the advance variation, the one (of three or four) responses that I don't know the exact best reply to but I figured get my light-squared bishop outside the pawn chain. I think Bf5 is a common move i many caro-kanns anyway.
(4) Natural from white, so I lock the center as I need to get my pieces out. I usually hate these advanced centers that white has, so the caro-kann advanced variation is worth looking into for me so I know how to play it correctly, I feel like I did though.
(5) We've transposed into a french structure but the typical bad bishop is outside my pawn chain! I see white's e-pawn is hindering my kingside piece development so I go for the c5 break to hopefully get my bishop out and then my knight can get to e7.
(10) White looks to be playing pretty natural moves. I am in the mode of trying to preserve the bishop pair whenever and that's what I try to do here but I end up giving white some queenside space and a pesky knight some room. Better might be 10. ...Bxc3 11. bxc3 but then white has a massive pawn chain that I'd have to figure out how to attack. Perhaps a6 trying for b5 and Nbf6 too (gotta make sure my rook gets defended so I don't lose a pawn due to tactics). Perhaps my pawn pushes would force white to push some pawns to stop my pawn break, and then I maneuver a knight into c4 if it becomes a good outpost.
(11) And white threatens Nd6 which I HATE! I've had those annoying knights before deep in my position and they can be tough.
(12) So I have to allow this weird trade and my queen is on an open-file.
(14) I thought this wasn't the best square for the bishop for white. I'm able to come up with a plan. I know white is wanting to play Rc1 to take control of the file and I calculate that my knight can plug that gap and b5 can help protect it. I didn't see a way for black to attack it more times than I can defend. The trouble proved to be coming up with a plan after that.
(17) Those moves were all expected but I didn't anticipate white trading knights on c4. I thought for a little on which way to take but I decided that this wasn't very critical so I tried to not waste time. I thought to maintain my bigger pawn chain. I get a passed pawn but white does have 2 pawns vs 1 on the queenside. Although his pawns are further away and it'll be some work. I think if 17. ...dxc4, I'd want to try to break up his a-b chain with a5 but that doesn't work well after Bc3.
(18) A lash-out from white! I didn't expect that either, it is certainly weakening to white's king but I see the point. I think it'd be stronger if their dark-squared bishop were on the c1-h6 diagonal. That's the bishop white has that I don't so it's what would be more helpful on the kingside I think. Anyway, this g4 move is the type I don't consider. I guess I defend okay but I should always be looking for ideas like this. The center is locked and my pieces are a bit tied down or inactive.
(19) Pawn storm from white. Looks scary but if I can defend then his king is weak. I play h6 but I am looking at f6 or h5 now. 19. ...f6 20. exf6 Rxf6 21. h5 and that falls apart for black, and the obvious 20. h5 is good--and black sac-ing the bishop Bxh5 doesn't work either. 19. ...h5 is the other thing but 20. gxh5 and black has to back up the bishop and the pawns might keep coming. I know the general advice is to counter-attack in the center when there's an attack on the wing, but how to do it for black? Perhaps ...h6 is the necessary move as I don't see anything else that attacks well.
(20) I was expecting h5 there, with Rc3 and Bc1 on tap.
(24) Unfortunate since white's attack looks interesting. Bc1 keeps the pressure. I'd assume it'd go 24. Bc1 Bxh5 25. Qxh5 g6 26. Qh2 (to load up via Kg2 and Rh1, or just the immediate Rh3) Ng7 27. Rh3 Nh5. I THINK that holds?! That Ng7-h5 maneuver might plug things, but I can't say for certain if I'd see that in game. I recall getting a little low on time here. And with Knight blocking on h5 I believe black has time to play Kg7 and Rh1 to safeguard the h-file.
(26) Black is up the piece but was getting hairy and low on time, I better find the right defense, or A defense. ....f6 gives the king a square and opens up stuff. If white ignores and plays 27. Qh2 Kf7 and white doesn't have an infiltration square.
(28) Kf7 might not be necessary for black but I suppose it gets the king safer and has some threats soon (getting stuff on the h-file)
NOTES FROM ENGINE ANALYSIS
To differentiate, these will be in italics.
(10) Indeed, stockfish likes the Bxc3 move, otherwise what happens in the game is good for white, but only by half a pawn, not too bad.
(14) Looks like my knight to c4 maneuver was a good idea, I recall seeing that my e7 knight was undefended and the engine wants white to play Bg5. Note that I think this bishop is the key attacking piece that was missing later in the game for white.
(17) bxc4 is indeed slightly better but I'm glad to see that neither are waaaay worse (-0.7 vs -0.2) so I was correct in my thinking that it wasn't hyper-critical to spend minutes deciding how to re-take.
(19) ...f6 is definitely bad as thought
(20 h5 is the move here and then Bc3, Bd2, and g5 coming. Engine says black is up -0.5 though, probably because my passed pawn.
(22) Hmmm Stockfish says black can just capture on h5. And then after g6 from black, the queen must retreat, and black can play Kg7 and swing a rook over. Even though it's even material, the engine says it's at least a -4 advantage for black there, probably all due to king safety. ...Rc8 is slow, stil maintains the advantage but lets white build more.
(23) Black still should trade the bishops. It's all about trading the scary piece then getting the king safe.
(24) Stockfish doesn't love my Bc1 idea for white because it so favors black to trade the light-squared bishops. Engine doesn't love my line I offered with the Nh5 blockade. It wants white to sac the exchange there which would definitely have to be calculated in-game. My line lets white give up a small amount of material but majorly expose my king. In the line I offer, instead of Ng7-h5, just the immediate Kg7 works fine.
(32) I thought there might be a mate but with lots of heavy pieces out and only 1-2 minutes on my clock, I simplified and got some time back.
Lichess4545 Game Analysis 2
This is a game of mine this time. It is game #2. I've lost both my 4545 league games :\ but it'll change soon I hope. As will be customary, the first batch of notes are my analysis WITHOUT an engine so ther may be errors. The idea is that I show my actual thoughts first. Inside those, I may insert some notes that will be capitalized and in italics that indicate engine assistance, but I didn't add them in until I was completely done. After this block of comments, I add more capitalized italic notes that I got with the aid of stockfish.
https://lichess.org/SYCHW6yz
My Notes
Summary:
Opening went okay I guess, somewhere in the middlegame there was some serious pawn tension and I thought for long time what to do. Then (i didn't notice this until after the game), I somehow lost both center pawns and he had two--after move 14 so I think something was misplayed on my part. 21 Ng5 was a maybe good attack but I think his king could get safe, I thought about it a long time so figured I'd play it anyway to test it. After it was on the board, I saw Rg6 and that's what was played which I think holds everything together nicely for him. Was floundering after that. I tried for some complications but lost too many pieces.
(10) what to do with this first break move of ...c5? Black had so much control of d5 that I thought 11. d5 didn't make sense because I couldn't reliably calculate what he'd take back with. I was interested in trying to make his light-squared bishop bad. I don't recall why I didn't like taking it, I guess it trades off a central pawn for a c-pawn, actually for a b-pawn since he'd play bxc5. Retrospect says I don't hate dxc5 so maybe that's what I should have played since I like that more than the tension that arose a few moves later.
(10. ...d5) More tension. I thought of cx, dx, and even b4. Hindsight says I probably should have done one of those moves but I played a slow rook move which let him develop as well. With dxc5, he'd play bxc5 and I couldn't find the right follow up. Perhaps Qc2 which i think is a natural move after the trade. I do remember not liking that it'd allow d4 and a discovered attack on my knight and also Ne4 possibly coming. Here's some lines:
11. dxc5 bxc5 12. Qc2 d4 13. exd4 cxd4 (BLACK SHOULD INSERT BXF3 INTERMEZZO HERE, DUH, SEE ENGINE) 14. Bxd4?? Bxf3 15. gxf3 Qxd4 and white lost a piece for a pawn and doubled pawns by the king. So either 12. Qc2 isn't good there or I need to take on d4 with the knight...
11. dxc5 bxc5 12. Qc2 d4 13. exd4 cxd4 (BLACK HAS INTERMEZZO HERE, SEE ENGINE ANALYSIS) 14. Nxd4 and white is up a pawn there and I don't see good follow-ups so that isn't what white would play. Ne4 doesn't work in this line for black. So 12. Qc2 might work, knowing that black shouldn't reply with d4 and Ne4 isn't a threat because of my pressure on d4.
Here's a line with Qe2 instead:
11. dxc5 bxc5 12. Qe2 d4 13. exd4 cxd4 14. Nxd4 (not Bxd4?) and white up a pawn still. And if ...Ne4 15. Bc1 (idea b3 and Bb2). I think that's okay, don't know if black should play d4 in any of these lines. Therefore maybe 11. dxc5 is perfectly fine despite the fact it gives up a center pawn.
11. cxd5 is way more to calculate which is honestly the sole reason I didn't. I figured he'd retake with the bishop most likely and still have a good fianchetto.
11. b4 is aggressive but it'd probably just force cxd5 and my pawns are weird. 11. b3 might be okay but I like dxc5 the most. My move 11. Rb1 is so slow
(16) b4 instead?
(21) Calculated for a long time and I don't think Ng5 is working but I was sorta pot-committed at this time, not the right way to think about it though. 21. Ng5 hxg5 22. Qh7+ Kf8 23. Qh8+ Ke7 24. Bxg5+ Kd7 (if ...f6 25. Qxg7+ but I'm still losing I think) 25. Qxg7 but I think I'm down a piece for two pawns and attack is waning.
Black found Rg6 and I was done.
ENGINE ANALYSIS
Anything in all caps and italics means it was information I got with the help of stockfish.
(11) IN MY LINES FOR DXC5 WHEN I PLAY QC2, BLACK CAN INSERT 13. ...BXF3 AND MY PAWNS WILL BE MESSED UP AND BLACK'S PASSER IS MORE ADVANCED THAN MINE, ALTHOUGH HIS IS BLOCKADED BY MY TWO BISHOPS.
(11) IN MY QE2 LINES, IF BLACK PLAYS NE4, THAT JUST HANGS THE KNIGHT, I DIDN'T VISUALIZE THAT CORRECTLY IN MY OWN ANALYSIS.
(11) ENGINE SAYS TAKE ON C5 LIKE I WAS THINKING THEN 12. QB3 IS BEST FOLLOW-UP.
(13) QC2 ALLOWS NB4 AND TRADING MY DARK-SQUARED BISHOP FOR KNIGHT. THIS IS WHY 13. A3 IS RECOMMENDED, AND IT MAKES SENSE IN CONTEXT WITH MY RB1 MOVE. I REMEMBER VAGUELY CONSIDERING A3 SO I SHOULD HAVE STUCK WITH THAT SINCE IT'D BE THEMATIC TO MY PLAN.
(16) INDEED B4 WAS BEST, I REMEMBER PLAYING B3 PRETTY QUICKLY, JUST TO GET SOLID OVER THERE AND START THINKING ABOUT A NEW PLAN. B4 DEFINITELY IS BEST AND MORE AGGRESSIVE.
(17) H3 IS WHOLLY UNNECESSARY, I REMEMBER PLAYING IT AND THINKING, "MAKE SURE NOT TO REACT TO GHOSTS, LIKE SILMAN SAYS" BUT I THOUGHT NG4 WAS DEVASTATING AND I'D BE TOO SLOW
(20) I MISSED THE RXE5 TACTIC THAT WOULD HAVE WON. GREAT EXAMPLE OF NOT KNOWING THERE'S A TACTIC AVAILABLE SO NOT BOTHERING TO TEST OUT CAPTURES, ETC.... RXE5 LOOKS SILLY UNTIL YOU SEE THE TACTIC.
https://lichess.org/SYCHW6yz
My Notes
Summary:
Opening went okay I guess, somewhere in the middlegame there was some serious pawn tension and I thought for long time what to do. Then (i didn't notice this until after the game), I somehow lost both center pawns and he had two--after move 14 so I think something was misplayed on my part. 21 Ng5 was a maybe good attack but I think his king could get safe, I thought about it a long time so figured I'd play it anyway to test it. After it was on the board, I saw Rg6 and that's what was played which I think holds everything together nicely for him. Was floundering after that. I tried for some complications but lost too many pieces.
(10) what to do with this first break move of ...c5? Black had so much control of d5 that I thought 11. d5 didn't make sense because I couldn't reliably calculate what he'd take back with. I was interested in trying to make his light-squared bishop bad. I don't recall why I didn't like taking it, I guess it trades off a central pawn for a c-pawn, actually for a b-pawn since he'd play bxc5. Retrospect says I don't hate dxc5 so maybe that's what I should have played since I like that more than the tension that arose a few moves later.
(10. ...d5) More tension. I thought of cx, dx, and even b4. Hindsight says I probably should have done one of those moves but I played a slow rook move which let him develop as well. With dxc5, he'd play bxc5 and I couldn't find the right follow up. Perhaps Qc2 which i think is a natural move after the trade. I do remember not liking that it'd allow d4 and a discovered attack on my knight and also Ne4 possibly coming. Here's some lines:
11. dxc5 bxc5 12. Qc2 d4 13. exd4 cxd4 (BLACK SHOULD INSERT BXF3 INTERMEZZO HERE, DUH, SEE ENGINE) 14. Bxd4?? Bxf3 15. gxf3 Qxd4 and white lost a piece for a pawn and doubled pawns by the king. So either 12. Qc2 isn't good there or I need to take on d4 with the knight...
11. dxc5 bxc5 12. Qc2 d4 13. exd4 cxd4 (BLACK HAS INTERMEZZO HERE, SEE ENGINE ANALYSIS) 14. Nxd4 and white is up a pawn there and I don't see good follow-ups so that isn't what white would play. Ne4 doesn't work in this line for black. So 12. Qc2 might work, knowing that black shouldn't reply with d4 and Ne4 isn't a threat because of my pressure on d4.
Here's a line with Qe2 instead:
11. dxc5 bxc5 12. Qe2 d4 13. exd4 cxd4 14. Nxd4 (not Bxd4?) and white up a pawn still. And if ...Ne4 15. Bc1 (idea b3 and Bb2). I think that's okay, don't know if black should play d4 in any of these lines. Therefore maybe 11. dxc5 is perfectly fine despite the fact it gives up a center pawn.
11. cxd5 is way more to calculate which is honestly the sole reason I didn't. I figured he'd retake with the bishop most likely and still have a good fianchetto.
11. b4 is aggressive but it'd probably just force cxd5 and my pawns are weird. 11. b3 might be okay but I like dxc5 the most. My move 11. Rb1 is so slow
(16) b4 instead?
(21) Calculated for a long time and I don't think Ng5 is working but I was sorta pot-committed at this time, not the right way to think about it though. 21. Ng5 hxg5 22. Qh7+ Kf8 23. Qh8+ Ke7 24. Bxg5+ Kd7 (if ...f6 25. Qxg7+ but I'm still losing I think) 25. Qxg7 but I think I'm down a piece for two pawns and attack is waning.
Black found Rg6 and I was done.
ENGINE ANALYSIS
Anything in all caps and italics means it was information I got with the help of stockfish.
(11) IN MY LINES FOR DXC5 WHEN I PLAY QC2, BLACK CAN INSERT 13. ...BXF3 AND MY PAWNS WILL BE MESSED UP AND BLACK'S PASSER IS MORE ADVANCED THAN MINE, ALTHOUGH HIS IS BLOCKADED BY MY TWO BISHOPS.
(11) IN MY QE2 LINES, IF BLACK PLAYS NE4, THAT JUST HANGS THE KNIGHT, I DIDN'T VISUALIZE THAT CORRECTLY IN MY OWN ANALYSIS.
(11) ENGINE SAYS TAKE ON C5 LIKE I WAS THINKING THEN 12. QB3 IS BEST FOLLOW-UP.
(13) QC2 ALLOWS NB4 AND TRADING MY DARK-SQUARED BISHOP FOR KNIGHT. THIS IS WHY 13. A3 IS RECOMMENDED, AND IT MAKES SENSE IN CONTEXT WITH MY RB1 MOVE. I REMEMBER VAGUELY CONSIDERING A3 SO I SHOULD HAVE STUCK WITH THAT SINCE IT'D BE THEMATIC TO MY PLAN.
(16) INDEED B4 WAS BEST, I REMEMBER PLAYING B3 PRETTY QUICKLY, JUST TO GET SOLID OVER THERE AND START THINKING ABOUT A NEW PLAN. B4 DEFINITELY IS BEST AND MORE AGGRESSIVE.
(17) H3 IS WHOLLY UNNECESSARY, I REMEMBER PLAYING IT AND THINKING, "MAKE SURE NOT TO REACT TO GHOSTS, LIKE SILMAN SAYS" BUT I THOUGHT NG4 WAS DEVASTATING AND I'D BE TOO SLOW
(20) I MISSED THE RXE5 TACTIC THAT WOULD HAVE WON. GREAT EXAMPLE OF NOT KNOWING THERE'S A TACTIC AVAILABLE SO NOT BOTHERING TO TEST OUT CAPTURES, ETC.... RXE5 LOOKS SILLY UNTIL YOU SEE THE TACTIC.
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Introduction One of Dan Heisman's list of recommended books is Bain's Chess Tactics for Students. In the note, he provides a guid... -
This book makes me feel like I'm doing serious chess work. It was largely review so that's nice although there were some very hard c... -
Well I finally played a rated over-the-board game. Four in fact. They were my first real-life, big-boy chess games with actual meaning, alth...