Chess Loss Review - September 12th
https://www.chess.com/game/live/174297265262
Opening: Caro where he traded everything
In this position I missed that you can take the pawn an go up ahead:
Nxd4 Nxd5 O-O-O Ne3 Nxf3+ and you are up a least a pawn with their king stuck in the middle forever
Blunders:
Here I thoughtlessly played Rd8 to pin the Knight, not even checking Bb5+ losing the exchange. I did not even consider O-O-O.
I then got into this ugly position:
Where I tried hard not to drop the f7 pawn and that made things worse when he brought his rook to the 7th and ate pawns.
I was able to get into this position that is winning due to blunders on both sides:
The only winning move is Ra2+ forcing the rook exchange, both queen and force and exchange to be in a winning pawn game. I was down a lot of time, panic and blundered the endgame.
Lessons:
- A long castle when the Nc7 fork is threatened can be worth considering
- Look for forced exchanges in pawn races, I should have easily seen Ra2+
https://www.chess.com/game/live/174339915518
Opening: Queens Pawn "reverse gambit" where I didn't know how to accept the pawn loss
This is a very reasonable even position where he took my offered pawn and I got the entire center.
I then had no clue how to proceed. I played a5 which only works if he takes. Qa4 pins the pawn, but I threatened a discovery and he blundered and I was in a better position.
In this position I correctly calculated the line:
d4 Q moves dxe3 bxc6 exf2+ Kxf2 Bxc5+ then K move and I pickup other pawn
After playing most it, I even found Ng4+ where I am in a -4 advantage.
I did not know how to convert this position:
I figured I could check, trade off the knight and castle with:
Bb4+ Nc3 Bxc3+ Qxc3
But that actually gives up almost all of my advantage. Material is even, My c pawn is weak and he has more active pieces. Yes my King is safer, but it was a very bad transformation.
I considered Qa5 but didn't want to drop the c pawn. So I played Bd5 and we traded down to this even position:
We had a pawn race and I found myself in this position:
There was only one way to save the game, Re8 and push for a draw. However, I pushed pawns and lost it, also in time trouble.