Chess960 SP495

This is the 34th different starting position that I have played, so most of them are really unexplored territory for me. Well technically it is the 35th if I consider SP518 a proper starting position for chess960 because it is also the starting position for chess. Then again if I do not, then it could be called chess959, but I prefer maybe to call it chess960 even with there being a starting position that is the same as in chess. The game below was played at lichess.org and it has become the main place for me to play rapid chess960 games. This is mostly because I can get a game there reliably fast or so it has seemed up to this point anyway. I could get a game of chess960 quite fast at the Internet Chess Club as well, but probably not with the time controls that I am comfortable with. There are also other sites where I could play rapid chess960 games though not that many where I could play a game reliably fast with the time controls I would like. Admittedly, I have not played chess960 in all that many sites. I think the only sites where I have played chess960 are Chess.com, lichess, ICC, Free Internet Chess Server and ChessRex.com. I have arranged those sites in order where I have played most chess960 games to the lowest amount of games played. However, there is no telling for sure if that will remain in that order and it is possible for it to change as time goes on. There might also be other sites that I may or may not try from time to time that will add to the list. I like the diversity of the sites which keeps them interesting to me.

The game below was played as a 10 minute game with 10 second increment. It was a challenge that I had issued. I issued a challenge that had increment because I wanted to avoid the problem I had in the game yesterday. I noticed a problem again in this game, I started moving too many pawns again in the beginning of the game. It was ok I guess because my opponent did a similar thing and moved pawns rather than pieces in the first few moves. The first mistake of the game was seen already with thekillermoves 3rd move f4, which was played in the position below. It was a better idea to play 3.b3 and activate the queen on the long diagonal. It would also attack the undefended pawn on e5. I could have taken a clear advantage, had I played 3...e4 in reply. I would have more space in the center and therefore an easy development ahead of me. Contrary to me, thekillermove would have had a harder time of developing his or her pieces. Instead of being clearly better, I played 3...g6, which gave the advantage slightly to my opponent. The difference in the position is that the game continuation allows White to develop his or her pieces rather easily and the bishop on h1 is very active on the long diagonal.

Thekillermove played another bad move, 4.Nf3, in response to my 3rd move g6. It allowed me to play 4...e4 again and this time I used my chance and I was clearly better. The move 4...e4 attacks the knight on f3, blocks the long diagonal for White's light-squared bishop and prevents my opponent playing b3 by opening the long diagonal for my dark-squared bishop. Thekillermove should have prevented me from playing 4...e4 with the move 4.b3. It would prevent it because I would lose my bishop for free due to the fact that the queen could have taken the undefended bishop on h8. While my opponent was clearly worse, thekillermove was not in a losing position until he or she played 6.Bf2 in the position below.

Better options for thekillermove were 6.a4 and 6.b3. Despite of them being better moves, it may not have been enough to save my opponent. I then played a bit inaccurate move 6...b6, but even then I should have been clearly better. Better moves would have been 6...Ng4, 6...b5 and 6...Nd6. Then thekillermove made another blunder 7.h3, which removed the last safe square from the knight that resided at g5. After that the game was rather easy for me. The next mistake that I noticed during the game was 9.dxe4 and I thought that the better move was 9.fxg5 even though I do not think that it saves my opponent in any way. The move played in the game allows my knight to jump to e4 and it is very well placed there. Later on I placed my queen on e3 and for a moment I thought that it would be trapped there. Then I noticed the move 15.Bc4 and all lines seem to be in my favor after that and I think my opponent agreed because thekillermove resigned after that move.

Game number two. My second attempt in this starting position and the second time with me moving the black pieces. In both of these games my opponents started the game with the move 1.g3. In the first game I replied with the move 1...e5, but in this game I went for the move 1...g6, which might be the better alternative of the two moves. The first position in which one of the players made a clear mistake can be seen below. Poh59 played the move 7.Bf2 and I was clearly better. The problem with the move is that it gave me a chance to get the initiative with the move 7...Bd5. The move 7...Bd5 would not have been as good, had my opponent's bishop not blocked the rook's path to f3. In the game continuation poh59 had to move the bishop a second time in a row in order to keep the material balance. However, moving the bishop to e1 and later on to c3 was probably what my opponent planned on doing anyway.

A few moves later it was my turn to play a bad move. In the position below I played 11...Nd7. It was a passive move that allowed my opponent to trade the dark-squared bishops and get an equal position. I should have gone with the more active move 11...e5. When only taking a brief glance at the position, one might think that e5 is unplayable because White controls the e5 square with four pieces and Black only with three, but thinking the position a bit more reveals that one of White's pieces, the knight on f3 can't move and that makes the move 11...e5 possible. The knight can't move because I would be able to take the bishop on h1 for free as it is inadequately protected. After my 11th move Nd7, the game was evenly fought once again.

The game continued to be evenly fought until poh59 played 18.Rhe1 in the next position. Better moves for poh59 are 18.Nb5, 18.e4 and 18.g4. After my opponent's 18th move Rhe1 I should be on the clearly better side of the board with correct play. I replied by playing 18...Nf3, which was not the best idea and it did give some of my advantage away. Moving my knight from d7 to f6 was a better idea as it would have improved the location of perhaps the last badly placed piece that I had. However, my move was not really horrible either and it did have a clear idea behind it. The game continued with the moves 19.Nxf3 Qxf3. After my 19th move poh59 played 20.Nd4, which could have cost my opponent the game.

The position after 20.Nd4 can be seen below. I do not remember the reason why I answered by playing the horrible 20...Qb7, but for some reason I played this very passive move instead of taking a pawn on g3. Maybe I thought that the queen had to remain on the long diagonal and had I taken the pawn, I could not have easily relocated my queen back to the long diagonal. After my 20th move the position should be roughly even. That is if my opponent had played 21.Nc6, for example. In that case I could not have taken the pawn on e3 with my rook because of the continuation 21...Rxe3 22.Rxe3 Rxe3?? 23.Qh8+, where the reply Nf8 is needed because 23...Re8 will allow mate on the next move. I would not have needed to take the rook back, but in that case I would have lost a rook for a pawn and I would have been clearly lost in that case too.

Poh59 played the passive 21.Qd2 in the game, which allowed me the opportunity to seize the advantage once again. I did get a small advantage after 21...Ne5, but I lost it with my next move 22...Qa6, which was a reply to 22.Qf2. A couple of moves later I made my first huge blunder of the game, which could have been the reason I lost this game, had my opponent played the correct move in response. The position below is the one where I made the horrible mistake of moving my rook to f7 on move 25. The moves 25...a6, 25...Qd5 and 25...Kb8, for instance, would have kept the position equal. Luckily for me, poh59 did not see the winning idea 26.Qxf7! Poh59 played 26.Qe2 instead and I survived for awhile longer.

Actually I got one more chance to get a win from this game when my opponent played 34.Re8 in the position below. It made the queen to be overloaded, which would have allowed me to get two free pawns and possibly an easy win. Unfortunately I did not go for the winning continuation 34...Nxd4 35.Qe4 Qxc2+ 36.Qxc2 Nxc2.

Instead I went for the forced mate, or rather allowed my opponent to play a forcing sequence of moves after which I would have been mated, had I not resigned before the checkmate was seen on the board. I played 34...d5 in order to guard the e6 square with my queen and prevent the 35.Qe6#. When poh59 played 35.Nc5+ I understood that I can't avoid the mate and resigned.