Chess960 SP295

I think my posts this week will be mostly about different chess960 starting positions once again, but next week the latest I am planning on starting going through my chess games again. The game below was played as a 10 minute game with no increment at lichess.org. Even though I have not played this exact same starting position before, it is similar that I have played before, so I was able to play it with some confidence. I have played in some starting positions where the bishops or the queens are on the corner 1.b3, 1.g3, 1...b6 or 1...g6, but when I have done so, I have noticed it is not always the best plan. Usually it is better in my opinion to just control the center if possible like in chess.

In the first few moves we see a different way of handling the opening phase by both players. I play so that I try to take control of the center and develop my pieces as fast as possible. My opponent, however, moved the knight that started on b1 three times during only six moves which can't be a good thing to do. It is true that I did move my knight two times during those six moves, but at that point I already had some initiative. Actually I think my opponent's 6.Nc3 was already the losing move or at least close to it and indeed like it says in the notation of this game 6.Na3 was correct as it protects c2 efficiently. I may not see tactics so well all the time, but I am happy that I noticed the 7...Bxd4! possibility. After that the game went quite effortlessly and the only thing I really had to notice was that I had to play 20...Ne8, so that I will not lose easily. After that my I think my opponent just self-destructed even more and made my win easier. I was also surprised earlier when my opponent played 12.Ke1, I thought that MAHONY1 would take the knight on b5, to at least give me doubled pawns, admittedly you should not generally trade pieces when you are down in material, but in my opinion, it would have at least make my position a bit worse. The game continuation did not pose any problems for me, it actually went like I wanted. I have added one mate in two, one mate in three and three mate in five puzzles.