Chess960 SP33

When I have played chess960 games, I have noticed that castling might not be necessary in all the starting positions. As I am an old school chess player I like to do that anyway at some point and it might be one of the reasons why I have had difficulties in some of the chess960 games that I have played. The game below was played in the first round of a tournament called OCD CHESS 960 CHAMPS 2015. I am on fourth place currently in my group of five players but other players have finished more games than I have. Actually the only game I have finished is the game you see below. 27 players started in this tournament and maximum group size is six. From each group the three best players will advance to the next round. I do enjoy playing chess960 games from time to time as they do give that different feeling than normal chess. As some of the pieces can be awkwardly placed in the starting position you need to figure out the best way to deploy your forces into the battlefield. As I have very limited experience of playing chess960, my ideas might be less than optimal. I have played 21 chess960 games in total but I have had a decent score in the games so far, 17 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss. The results may seem very good but when put into right context like looking at the average rating of my opponents which is not all that high, some of the wins were quite likely to occur due to facing rather low rated players. Only when I get more chess960 games under my belt, can I truly see how well or badly I am playing this chess variant. Also I should get more higher rated opponents if possible. I have added one mate in one, one mate in three, two mate in four and one mate in eight puzzle today. I have also added another chess960 game to my post Chess960 SP408. Until tomorrow my fellow chess enthusiasts and thank you all who have come to see this blog, it is much appreciated!

This game was rather badly played by both players. While this game did not last long, both players were in big trouble during the 10 moves played in the game. I was the first one to end up in some troubles in the position below. I played the obvious looking 4...Bg5 because I wanted to develop a piece while attacking an undefended piece on c1. I would have been well advised to play 4...c5 or 4...f5 instead. It may be hard to see what was so wrong with my move that Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT thinks that White is clearly better after my 4th move. Samson1980 was able to find the best move 5.Ne2, the only move that gives White a clear advantage. The reason why my 4th move is bad, is that I need to move my bishop again, at least according to the lines suggested by the engine, so instead of winning a tempo, I lost one.

Then on move 5 I made things even worse for me by playing 5...f5. After that I was in a losing position. The move 5...Bh4 was the best move according to the engine. On move six, Samson1980 threw almost all of his advantage away with the move 6.Bb3. The moves 6.c5 and 6.f4 would have kept the winning advantage on the side of my opponent. The move played in the game gives White only a small advantage. I took another wrong step with the move 6...fxe4 in the position below.

The only move that could have kept me in the game was 6...c5. The reason for it is that I should have prevented the move 7.c5+. It is of course better to block the path of the bishop and make it a bad piece instead of allowing it to be active on the a2-g8 diagonal. Samson1980 played 7.dxe4 and then I replied with 7...c5, seeing the importance of keeping the diagonal blocked for the bishop. After seven moves the game had reached an equal position once again. In the next position Samson1980 played 9.Bc2 and I was given my first chance to take a winning advantage. In order to maintain equality, my opponent would have needed to play 9.Ng3.

I missed my chance and played 9...d6. I had the great opportunity to play 9...Nxf2, after which it would have been quite clear on who will win the game. I got another chance immediately as Samson1980 made the huge blunder 10.f3?? I replied with the obvious 10...Be3+ and my opponent resigned, seeing that the game was hopelessly lost.

Game number two. The game below was played in the first round of OCD CHESS 960 CHAMPS 2015 tournament that is still in progress at Chess.com. I am currently on second place in group #1 and I have gathered four wins and one loss so far. I have three games left to finish and they will determine my final standing in the group. Three of the best players will advance to the next round and even at the moment it is confirmed that I will be able to advance to the second round. Actually the players who are at the moment the top three players in group #1 will all advance to second round but the order is still not clear. The leader of our group is Chivas610, who has won all seven games he has played. His only remaining game in this round is against me. On third place is a player called DEATHW1SH, who has gathered three wins and one draw so far. His only remaining game in this round is against me, no surprise there.

This game followed the first game in this post up to the move 2...b6. In the first game Samson1980 played 3.c4 and in this game Yarael chose to play 3.Nd3. After both moves the position is roughly even. Like in the first game, I was also the one who ended up in clear trouble in this game as well. In the position below I played the ill-advised 7...Nxe5. The correct capture was 7...dxe5. Luckily for me, Yarael played the sloppy move 8.Nc3 and I was back in the game again. The strongest move 8.d4.

I continued to play less than ideal moves and with the move 8...Ne7, I was clearly worse again. The correct move was 8...h5. Then Yarael played 9.d4, which is a good move, but not the best option. It was best to play 9.Bh5. Then I played the huge blunder 9...N5c6 in the position below and I was in a lost position. I should have played 9...Nd7 or 9...N5g6 instead, but even then I would have had some clear problems.

I continued to be in serious trouble until we reached the next position. In that position Yarael played 14.Nxa7. It may seem like a good idea because materially speaking Yarael is ahead after that. However, it would have been a much better idea to centralize the knight with 14.Nd6. Yarael's 14th move caused my opponent to go from a winning position to an equal position.

I replied with 14...cxd5 and despite being a pawn down, I should on equal footing with my opponent, according to Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT. Yareal played a second horrible move in a row when my opponent replied with 15.Bf3. The moves 15.Nb5 and 15.h4 would have kept the position roughly even. 15.Nb5 would have been a clear way to get the knight to safety. 15.Bf3 allowed me to play 15...Qd7 and the knight was trapped on a7. Actually my 15th move was not even the strongest reply, but it was good enough to take the winning advantage, which I kept to the end of the game. After I played my 29th move Bxa2, my opponent resigned in a position where I had an extra bishop.

Game number three. The game below was played in the first round of OCD CHESS 960 CHAMPS 2015 tournament. My opponent in this game, Chivas610 is still a likely candidate to win group #1 but the second and third place finishers are maybe a bit more unsure at this point. Actually nothing has changed from the time I added second game to this post. The game below is my only loss in the tournament so far.

This might be taken out of this post at some point when I change the Chess960 posts so that they are divided into openings in different starting positions. This is the first game in this post that started with 1.e4 instead of the previously played 1.b4. It did not take long for me to be clearly worse as you can see in the "living" diagram below. "Living" in this case means that you can make moves and replay them if you like.

The best move according to Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT is 4...f5. The move I played 4...Bf6 is bad because the bishop hinders my development by being in the way. The move 4...f5 would have given more space to move both my queen and my rook. The game continued with the moves 5.Nd2 d6. Then my opponent played 6.Ne2, which was a bit sloppy move that gave me a chance to hang on in the game. The best move for Chivas610 was 6.fxe5. I then played 6...N8e7, which was another bad move from me. I should have played 6...Qd8 instead. In the next diagram I made the biggest blunder of the game up to that point and found myself in a lost position. I should have taken on e5 with either the knight or with the pawn. Both were better than what I did.

Instead of playing the move 9.d4, which would have lead to a winning position with accurate play, Chivas610 played 9.Nxe5 and threw most of his advantage away. The game continued to be only slightly favorable for Chivas610 during the moves 9...dxe5 10.Ng3 Ng6, but then Chivas610 played 11.Rf5 and the position was about even again. The game was decided in the diagram below.

Only the move 14...Ne6 would have saved me, all other moves would have meant either a clear disadvantage or a losing position. The problem with the move 14...Kb8 was that it allowed 15.R5xf4. I continued on for some time, but I had to accept my defeat after 23.Qf7.

Game number four. Like all the other games in this post so far, this too was played in the first round of the OCD CHESS 960 CHAMPS 2015 tournament. And at the time I type this, the tournament details are the same as they were when I added the second game to this post.

This game deviated from the third game in this post when Yarael played 1...b6. In the third game I played 1...e5. The first position in which one of the players played a move that caused the player in question to end up being clearly worse can be seen in the diagram below. Yarael should have played 6...Nd7 instead of the move my opponent played in the game. Then again, I replied with 7.Bf3 and threw away my advantage. A much better move was 7.f4.

The only point in the game where I could have had a significant advantage was on my 7th move. This game ended in a weird way because my opponent resigned after he played 11...Nc6 in an equal position.

Game number five. This one was played like all the other games in this post in the first round of the OCD CHESS 960 CHAMPS 2015 tournament. I am on second place and I have won four games and lost one so far. I have half a point more than the player who is currently on third place, DEATHW1SH. The group #1 where we play is most likely won by Chivas610, currently undefeated in the group. Chivas610 has only one game left to finish in this round and it is against me. DEATHW1SH also has only game left and that is also against me. Out of the five players in this group, only three best players will advance to the second round and those three players are all confirmed already.

This game followed the third game in this post up to the move 1...e5. In the third game Chivas610 played 2.b3 and in this game DEATHW1SH played 2.Nc3. The first sign of trouble for my opponent came when he played 3.Bg4. The moves 3.b4, 3.h4 and 3.d3 are better moves according to Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT. I replied with 3...Nd6 and I was slightly better. Then DEATHW1SH played 4.Nd3 in the diagram below and combined with the mistake on the previous move, he ended up being clearly worse.

Had I replied with 4...f5, I could have taken full advantage of DEATHW1SH's mistakes. I usually prefer developing my pieces instead of moving pawns in the opening, so I probably did not even think about that move. Therefore I played the less active move 4...Nc6 and lost some of my advantage. Then DEATHW1SH played the biggest blunder of the game up to that point 5.Ne2. It would have allowed me to win a pawn, but for some incomprehensible reason I did not take the free pawn on e4, but instead played 5...Bf6. A better move for DEATHW1SH was 5.f4. I was only slightly better after the move I played in the game. It was followed by another inaccurate move from my opponent 6.Ng3 and I got another chance to get a clear advantage. A better option for DEATHW1SH was 6.f3. I then played 6...g6 and we reached the next diagram position.

The move DEATHW1SH chose was good to all other moves than 7...h5. Had I played 7...h5, I would have won some material. If my opponent does not move the bishop, then I win a piece and if he moves the bishop, then I play h4 and win the pawn on e4. I did not see this idea at all and played 7...Qe7, allowing my opponent to get back into the game again. The game was not fought evenly for all that long since I replied to 8.f4 with the sloppy move 8...O-O-O. The next diagram is taken after my 8th move.

DEATHW1SH played 9.Qe2, which was the first blunder in series of consecutive blunders. 9.Qe2 is a huge blunder, because it takes the last safe square away from the knight. I should have seen the idea with 9...h5 and 10...h4, but I obviously was not fully awake. Instead I played 9...Bb7, which threw all my advantage away. Then DEATHW1SH made another huge blunder with the move 10.c3 and he was in a losing position again because it did not change the fact that the knight is still trapped. I still did not see the idea with h5 and played 10...Rde8. While not the best move, it was good enough to take the winning advantage. The rest of the game went without problems and DEATHW1SH resigned after 25...Rxe7.

Game number six. This win made certain that I will at least end up in second place in group #1 in round one of the OCD CHESS 960 CHAMPS 2015 tournament. If I can win both of my remaining games, I will tie on points for first place but I guess due to tie break I will end up being second regardless.

This game followed the games 3, 4 and 5 in this post only up to the move 1.e4. In games 3 and 5 I replied to that move with 1...e5. In the fourth game Yarael played 1...b6 in reply to 1.e4. In this game Samson1980 played the move 1...b5. The first clear mistake appeared on the board rather quickly. Already on move 2 Samson1980 played the horrible Na6. In the diagram below is shown the situation at the board after my opponent played 2...Na6. I did not see the best move and played the sloppy 3.Nd3 instead.

The game continued to be slightly favorable for me until we reached the diagram position below. Samson1980 did not protect the pawn on e5 and played 6...Nd6 instead. The only move that would have kept my opponent in the game is shown in the diagram. I replied with the accurate 7.Bxe5 and I won a pawn. Then Samson1980 played an even bigger blunder 7...Qe7. After that I should have a winning advantage.

I could not play the most accurate moves, but I was able to keep the game firmly in my grasp to the end of the game. Samson1980 kept resisting my efforts until it came time to play his 37th move, he resigned in a position where I was up four pawns in a king and pawn endgame.

Game number seven. The game below was played in the first round of the OCD CHESS 960 CHAMPS 2015 tournament. I am on second place and I will also end up being second in group #1. My only remaining game on this round will not affect the standing in this group anymore, only the ratings of the players playing the last game. My opponent in the game below, Chivas610, won this group and won all his games on this round. I have won five of my seven games that have ended. Three of the best players of each group will advance to the next round and the three players who will advance from this group are Chivas610, me and DEATHW1SH.

This game followed the game number three up to the move 2.b3. In the third game I played 2...Nc6 and Chivas610 played 2...b6 in this game. The first clear mistake of the game was played by Chivas610 in the diagram position below. Admittedly I had made two bad moves before this 3.Nc3 and 4.Bf3.

I replied with the correct move 5.exf5. Then Chivas610 played 5...N8e7 and I answered with the inaccurate 6.N1e2. With my 6th move I threw my clear advantage away and had to be content with an equal position. 6.g4 was the best move. I probably did not want to play that move because it may be risky to move pawns in front of the king like that. I did get another chance to get a clear advantage in the position shown in the next diagram.

In the diagram are also shown the moves I should have played instead of 9.Nec3. 9.Ne3 was the stronger move, but 9.c4 is also a good move. My 9th move was only good enough for an equal position. Chivas610 then castled, which was another inaccurate move. 9...Nd4 was a better alternative. It did not matter much, of course, because with my 10th move, Qe3, I started my journey towards a loss. Chivas610 played a good move 10...Nf5 and then I made the losing move 11.Qh3. After that the game was pretty much over for me, but I tried to hang on as well as I could, until I decided that I had lost too much material after 19...Rxg4 and resigned.

Game number eight. This game was played in the first round of the OCD CHESS 960 CHAMPS 2015 tournament. The game below was the last one to end in group #1. Both players played some really bad moves in this game that gave the opponent the possibility to win the game. This win meant that I finished on second place with 6 points and that DEATHW1SH finished on third place with 3.5 points. There is still one game that has not ended on round one, so we will have to wait for round two as long as that one game lasts. I am in no horry to play the next round though, I would like to decrease the amount of games I have in progress as much as I can before the next round starts.

This game followed the third game in this post up to the move 2...Nc6. In the third game Chivas610 played 3.d3. In this game I played 3.Ne2. The game was played without any big mistakes until DEATHW1SH decided to play 10...d5 in the next diagram position. The game continued with the moves 11.a3 Nc6 and then I played 12.Nge2 and the position was about even again. My 11th move was already a bit sloppy. Maybe 11.h4 is a better choice.

Maybe a bit clearer mistake was made by DEATHW1SH on move 12 with the move Bg5. It gave me another chance to get a clear advantage, but I missed my chance and played 13.d4?? The position after 12...Bg5 can be seen in the next diagram. Better moves for my opponent were 12...e4, 12...h5 and 12...a5. After my 13th move DEATHW1SH had the great opportunity to play 13...Be3!! The move 13.d4 was so bad because the pawn had an important job of covering the e3 square. The bishop can't really be taken because then Rxf1+ and basically game over. 13...Be3 would have also threatened 14...Rxf2 and in that case too the position would have been resignable for me.

Luckily for me, DEATHW1SH did not play 13...Be3, but instead 13...exd4, which let me off the hook a bit. Or rather would have, had I replied with 14.Nb5. It was my only chance to keep the position only slightly worse for me. Instead I blundered and took on d4 with my knight. It could have been a losing move and DEATHW1SH did start correctly with 14...Nxd4. I took on d4 with my queen in order to maintain material equality. It was, however, even worse move than my previous one. Had DEATHW1SH then played 15...Rxf2, I would have most likely resigned because the position would have been completely lost.

I should have played 16.Ne4 in the diagram position above. I did not see that it would have also threatened mate on g7. I probably just played 16.Qd1 because it seemed like the easiest way to keep the material even. And I can't be certain if I even considered the move 16.Ne4. The move 16.Qd1 was only good enough for a small advantage. The blunders continued with my opponent's next move 16...d4. A better move for DEATHW1SH was 16...Bf6. The move 16...d4 was a huge blunder and I could have taken the winning advantage with the move 17.Re1. Instead I moved my knight to b1, which was a passive move that I could not afford. Had DEATHW1SH played 17...Nd5 in reply, he could have gained a winning advantage. The tables turned once again with DEATHW1SH's 17th move Qd8.

Then my opponent played 18...c5, to which I replied with the awful move 19.Be2. Only the move 19.Be6+ would have kept the position equal. DEATHW1SH had the chance now for a clear advantage with the move 19...Nd5, but instead he went for the move 19...Qf6, which increased the pressure on f2. However, it was not that big of a threat and it was easily delt with the move 20.Nf3. Then it was my opponent's turn to make a horrible move and with the move 20...h5 ended up in some trouble.

DEATHW1SH played 21...Nd5 in response to Bc1 and I happily took the rook with my bishop. However, it would have been a better idea to take the bishop with my knight. This rather badly played game by both players had still more horrible moves in store. With my 24th move I blundered badly enough that it could have cost me the game. My opponent found a strong move 24...Nxg2 and I was thinking that I am likely to lose this game, but I had to play on for a few more moves.

I made things even worse for me with the move 25.Qe4, but even with the best move 25.Qe5 I should have been lost. Then DEATHW1SH played the move 25...b5, which might look good after a brief glance to the position, but it actually gives me a chance to hang on in the game with the reply 26.Bd5. The game continued with the moves 26...Bxd5 27.Qxd5 and then DEATHW1SH made the final blunder of the game and played 27...Nh4, after which the game is completely lost for my opponent. My opponent resigned quite quickly afterwards in a position where I had a rook for a pawn after I played 29.f4.

Game number nine. This really short game was played in the OCD CHESS 960 CHAMPS 2015 tournament at Chess.com. My opponent lost this game on time, but the position on the board is also very dire for Kikkinass. The tournament is currently on its second round and I am playing in group #2. I currently reside on second place. I have played two games and both of them are against this same opponent. The only player on our group that has already played all his games is Kikkinass and due to the fact that he lost all his games, he finished on last place. That also means that the three other players in the group will advance to the third round because the top three players will advance to the next round from each group. This was then a bit too easy group to get a place on the next round. The only games that the top three have finished were against Kikkinass, so it is still wide open who will be first, second and third in this group.

This game may be in a post of its own someday, since it differs from other games in this post starting from the first move. This has been the only starting position where White has played 1.d4 in the games I have played, at least so far. The game deciding moment can be seen in the next diagram.

The move 4...Nb6 is a losing move because it allows the move I played in the game, 5.Be6+. Kikkinass replied with 5...Rf7 obviously and then I played 6.Nc3 because there is no rush to take the rook on f7. No more moves were seen in the game as kikkinass did not make his 6th move and lost on time.

Game number ten. This was played on the second round of the OCD CHESS 960 CHAMPS 2015 tournament. I am playing in group 2 and I have finished three of the six games I have in this round. Two of those I won, but they were timeout wins. Those two games secured my place on the next round because three of the four players will advance from each round and the one who lost both of those games against me, also lost all of his other games, so he was going to be the fourth and last one in the group no matter what. Even though those three remaining games do not have all that much importance in view of advancing to the next round, I will still play as well as I can and maybe get my chess960 rating up a bit again. It has been under same kind of downhill as my Daily rating, formerly known as Online Chess rating at Chess.com. I am currently second in group two with two points. Bogor is so far undefeated with 3 points and leads the group.

This game followed games three and eight up to the move 2...Nc6. I should not repeat the move 2...Nc6 anymore though. I should consider playing 2...b5 instead in my future games. The game started go towards a decisive outcome already on move three. I played the bishop to f6, which was a bad square for it. The bishop is in the way of the f-pawn and it hinders my development. That being said, it was perfectly placed considering Bogor's next move 4.Qg3?? Had Bogor played one of the following moves, 4.fxe5, 4.h4, 4.Rf2 or 4.Nd3, for example, my opponent would have had a clear advantage.

The move 4...exf4 is a rather simple one, but for some reason I did not play it. It seems so obvious to me now that it seems like nothing was going on in my head at the time I played my 4th move d6. I guess I play passive moves instinctively, rather than look for an active moves and counterattacking possibilities. Bogor even gave me a second chance to play exf4 with a winning advantage, but I did not see it on the second time either. Bogor's move 5.Ne2 was a horrible blunder and my opponent should have played 5.fxe5 instead. I may understand that I missed the move exf4 once, but to do so twice seems to be embarrassing stupidity on my part. I replied with 5...Nb6 and lost the opportunity for a winning advantage second time in a row. The next significant turning point in the game can be seen in the diagram below.

I replied with the obvious and only reasonable move 15...dxe5. Bogor continued with 16.dxe5 and then I threw away my advantage with the move 16...Rhe8. It seemed like a good idea at the time, since 17.exf6 is impossible in view of 17...Qxe3+ and basically game over. However, the move I made in the game gave the advantage to my opponent. I should have played 16...g6 instead to keep the position being favorable for me. Then, a few moves later, the blunders started appearing again.

The move 20...h6 could have been a losing move, but it would have required Bogor to play a strong move in reply. Either 21.Nd4 or 21.Nf4 would be a great start in the right direction. That being said, I understand the reason why Bogor chose to play 21.Rff7. It tied my knight to d7 and my rook to d8. My only reasonable answer to 21.Rff7 was 21...Be3+, but I missed the move second time in a row and played 21...Ba6 with the intention of somehow untying my pieces. It was a huge mistake that could have cost me the game, had Bogor found the right idea. Luckily for me, Bogor missed his chance again and played 22.c4. The moves 22.Nf4 and 22.Kf2 were stronger alternatives. I then played 22...Nxe5, which was the right idea to save the game. It was then my opponent's turn to make a huge blunder.

I then played the only move 23...Kb8 and then my opponent made his position even more lost with the move 24.Bd4?? Again I should have gone for the move 24...Be3+, but for the third time I did something else and ended up on the clearly worse side of the board with 24...Nc6. Again I went too passive. My mistake was answered by another mistake 25.Rcd7. The only way that Bogor could have kept the advantage was with 25.Rxc6. I replied to 25.Rcd7 with 25...Rxd7 as I was happy to get rid of one pair of rooks. Obviously my opponent took back with the rook and then I let go of my advantageous position with the move 26...Bc8. I should have moved my king to c8 instead. 26...Bc8 was only good enough for an equal position. My final downhill started with my 27th move Nb4. The diagram shows the situation on the board after 27.Rd5.

It was pretty much over after my 27th move, but I continued on for a few moves, until I resigned after 32.Bf3+.

Game number 11. This was played on round 2 of the OCD CHESS 960 CHAMPS 2015 at Chess.com. I am playing in group 2 and I am currently on 2nd place with 3 points. I have won 3 games and lost 1. That one loss came against Bogor (1876), who currently leads our group with a half a point difference to me. Our group was I think the first one where all the players who would advance to the next round were decided. That was because the fourth player of the group lost all games on time after only a few moves were played. Therefore it does not matter all that much what happens in my remaining two games, my place on the next round was secured a long time ago. My opponent, ClemsonTiger, is currently on third place with 2.5 points and has also secured his place on the next round. Or that is what should be happening if I can count on tournament details to be true. It seems that only two players will advance from group 1 this round. If that is true to our group as well, then I need to be more careful with my two remaining games, in order to secure my place on round 3.

This game started with both players pushing their e-pawns two squares forward, placing both pawns on important center squares. ClemsonTiger continued with 2.b3 which I think is a good way to proceed as the bishop on a1 now creates pressure towards my e-pawn, which is currently protected sufficiently by the queen. I replied with Nc6 and overprotected the pawn on e5. I think my opponent went a bit astray on his third move, because the knight blocks the bishop on d1 and it is not certain where the knight will jump to next. Maybe the idea was to play d4 or f4, so that if I take with my pawn on either square, my opponent can take back with the knight. I am not sure if I like that plan though. Actually when I look back at the games previously shared in this post, I played the move 3.Ne2 in game eight against DEATHW1SH.

I continued with 3...Nd6, so that the knight now attacks the undefended e4-pawn because the white knight blocks the queen. 4.d3 is probably an okay reaction to the threat against the pawn. Ng3 might have been another option. I think the first mistake might have been to play 5.exf5, it just makes the game easier for me. I can take back with my knight and now that knight is better placed than it would have been on d6. ClemsonTiger made his position even worse by playing 6.Qd2, but I was not able to play a good move as a reply and the position became equal again.

6...b5 might be also a good move. The next clear mistake came to daylight when my opponent played the really passive move 16.Bd1. I thought at this point that I should get my queen somewhere out of the e-file, so that I could move my knight if I need to, so I moved my queen to d6.

With the move 18.Qf2, ClemsonTiger could have made the losing move, but I did not see the idea of 18...Nf3+ followed by Bd4. ClemsonTiger should have moved the king to h1. Had I seen that continuation, this game could have ended much sooner. I have been too lazy to think about these kind of moves lately and I should think harder on any given position than I have been for maybe some years now. I can't believe I missed the idea Nf3+ completely, I could have used that move also a move later and most likely won the game with ease.

The game continued with the moves 18...Qxf2+ 19.Rxf2. Because I missed that move and played the silly 19...Kb8 instead, I lost all the advantage and now the position was equal again. The next really horrible move was played by my opponent on move 25. My road to victory could have started with the move 25...Nd6, but I played the sloppy 25...Bd7 instead and allowed my opponent to almost get back to the game. Well, I only had a small advantage after 25...Bd7, close to a clear advantage.

The next opportunity for me to take the winning advantage can be seen in the next diagram. ClemsonTiger should have played 38.Ke3, but even then my opponent would have been in serious trouble. I missed the chance with 38...Ne4 and played 38...d4, which was an okay move, but not as accurate as 38...Ne4. The game continued with the move 39.Kc4 and then I played 39...Ne4, which could have completely ruin the game for me. The moves 39...Nd5 and 39...Kd6 were better alternatives. My move was only good enough for a draw.

Then my opponent made the game losing mistake 40.Nxe4. It was necessary to play 40.Nd3+. My plan after I took the knight was to simply go after the queenside pawns and promote my d-pawn. If my opponent tries to get to my a-pawn and maybe get a passed pawn of his own, then he is too late as I have already promoted my pawn and been able to bring my queen to stop the pawn before it promotes. This happened in the game below, but either 41.a5 or 41.b4 would have made things more difficult for me, but even then I should have been on the winning side.

Game number 12. This game was played on the second round of a tournament called OCD CHESS 960 CHAMPS 2015. The fourth and final round is currently being played at Chess.com. I was second in the final standings of group 2 on round 2. I managed to get 3.5 points in 6 games, which was a half a point more than ClemsonTiger was able to get, who finished third in the group. The only two losses I suffered this round were against Bogor. Bogor won the group with a score of 5.5 out of 6. We both advanced to the third round, but then we both were unable to advance to the finals.

This game followed the 7th game in this post up to the move 3.Nc3. In the 7th game Chivas610 played 3...f5 and in this game Bogor played 3...Ne7. Out of the two moves 3...f5 is the preferred choice, but 3...Ne7 is also playable. The first position of interest can be seen in the diagram below. Bogor played the huge blunder 7...Bf6?? If I were able to see any good moves, I would have seen the crushing reply 8.Rxf6!! The idea is that if the rook is taken, then Nd5 and the weaknesses around the king prove decisive.

Unfortunately I usually do not even consider moves like 8.Rxf6 and in the game I just castled (covers his face with his palm). Bogor then made another horrible blunder 8...Qe6?? It was second time in a row that I could have taken the winning advantage with Rxf6, but again that move probably was not even one of the moves that I considered of playing. I should really look for those sacrificing opportunities so that I could get to a whole new level as a player. I played 9.Nf4 and ended up in a roughly equal position. The next diagram shows a position after 10.R5xf4.

Bogor's 10th move gave me a third chance to get a very good position, maybe even winning, but for the third time I missed the move 11.Rxf6. I am maybe sometimes too concerned with developing my pieces as fast as possible, so that I will not see or even think about other moves. It might be the reason why I played 11.Bg4. Bogor replied with the sloppy 11...Qd6 and I could have been clearly better with the move 12.Rxf6... So many chances wasted by me. I played 12.Nd5 and threw all my advantage away. The next blunder was played by me on move 17. Instead of the move 17.d3 that I played, I should have played 17.Ne3.

The game continued to be favorable for Bogor with the moves 18.Rg3 fxe4 19.dxe4, but then my opponent played 19...Qe5 and I had the possibility to keep an even position with accurate play. 19...Bxd5 was probably Bogor's best chance to keep his advantage. However, 19...Rhf8 might have been good enough for a clear advantage too, but it is not as clear. The next diagram shows the situation on the board after my 22nd move c4. The game had continued evenly up to that point since 19...Qe5.

Moves like 22...a5 and 22...Rf8 would have kept my opponent in the game. The square f6 was the most important square of the game, had I placed a piece there even once on the numerous occasions, I could have won the game. I think every time I just chose to play a move that was only good enough for an equal position. In the game I played 23.Rd2, a move that seems to be just a waste of time. I guess I just could not think of any better moves. However, I have some vague memories of thinking about the move 23.Nf6, but for some reason I thought that it does not work. The analysis shows that it was the best move in the position. Then Bogor played 23...g5 and now finally I moved the knight to f6. Unfortunately for me, it did not have same impact on the position anymore. Bogor then took the big pawn on f3, also known as the light-squared bishop. Bogor had made two inaccurate moves in a row, the combined effort of the mistakes added up to a clear advantage for me when I played 25.gxf3. I was quite happy about my position, but it was still not an easy enough position for me to play without mistakes. In fact, in reply to Bogor's 25th move Rg7, I moved my rook from d2 to g2 thinking that it was better placed there. It was, however, a bit sloppy move and I should have gone for the immediate 26.h4. The game then went on without big mistakes, until I played the huge mistake 37.Rfg2?? You can see the position in which I played my 37th move in the next diagram.

The reason why 37.Rfg2 is so bad is that it takes an escape square away from the king. Noticing his opportunity, Bogor played 37...Rf4+. It forced me to play 38.Rg4 because I can't move my king due to 38...Rh5#. I think I noticed my mistake right after I had made my move. Bogor was not able to find all the strongest moves and actually let me back in the game with his 43rd move Kb6.

Some inaccuracies later I was in a clearly worse position again, but when I played my 52nd move Rc1 in the position that can be viewed in the next diagram, I made my final mistake and I was completely lost.

I played a few more moves, but I had to resign in a hopeless position after the move 61...Kd3. In that position I can't stop my opponent from turning the c-pawn into a queen, without sacrificing my rook for it and since I can't force my opponent to do the same for my pawn, there was no point in continuing the game.