Chess960 SP364

This was the first of three games that I played yesterday against communistdefense at lichess.org. This one, like all three games were played with 10 minute time controls, but where time was added to both players clocks by the players. I only added time to my opponents clock when communistdefense did so to my clock and obviously I added the same amount to my opponent's clock that I received. This game started quite well for me, I was able to get the center under my control and I managed to develop my pieces the way I wanted. Developing the pieces seemed to be more problematic for my opponent. The first move by my opponent that did not seem to make much sense to me was when he or she played 5...b6. I am also not sure if 3...g6 is the right way to go, but the reason behind that move I can at least understand. After my move 10.Ne2, I was very happy with my position. My pieces have room to move whereas my opponent can hardly make useful moves with his or her pieces. With the move 10...Nh6, commmunistdefense's position starts to crumble because I can now win a pawn for free. My opponent's 19th move gives me another pawn for free and makes the game even easier for me. Maybe 19...Qc7 or the move offered by Stockfish in this after game analysis 19...Rb8 would have been required to keep the game more difficult for me. Admittedly the move I offered, 19...Qc7 seems to put the queen into an akward position. The rest of the game goes without any real counterplay by my opponent as he or she is only defending at this point. I even get one more pawn for free and the game soon ends when I get to play 35.Nc5 after which communistdefense resigns. I have added one analysed game to my post C46 Four Knights Game: Italian Variation. I have also added one mate in one, one mate in three and three mate in four puzzles today.

Second game. This was a rematch offered by my opponent. The second attempt in this starting position went better for my opponent than the first one. I think I made the first inaccuracy in this game. I played 4...h6 in order to get my bishop to h7 and prepare to castle to the kingside as soon as possible. Now I think that 4...c5 should have been played instead so that my opponent can't double my pawns. I do not think that my position is all that bad after the game continuation, but I would have preferred to keep my pawn structure intact. When the queens were traded and the white pawn resided on d5, I was confident about winning that pawn. In the game continuation I indeed am able to take that pawn with ease, but only because my opponent missed a tactic. Instead of 15.Nh4, I think he or she should have played 15.Nxe7 Kxe7 and now 16.Nxd4! because the pin prevents me from taking the knight. After that continuation white would have been better. The next critical moment and one that required a lot of thought from me was the position after 19.dxc3, I thought very long for the possibility of playing 19...Rxc3 with the idea if my opponent takes it, I play 20...Nxc3+ and then I take the rook on e2 next. I ended up rejecting that idea because I thought that my opponent would get counterplay on the seventh rank. The game continuation was better, but I was not able to convert my extra pawn into a win, I did try but my techinque was not good enough this time and I had to agree to a draw on move 48.