Chess960 SP444

Time for some chess960 again, this time I will share two games that were played at lichess.org ten days ago. The rating difference between these two players does show in both of these games as they both were pretty much decided in less than ten moves. The second game did continue longer than the first one, but it featured a similar blunder by my opponent around the same move number as in the first game.

This game starts with both players trying to control the center with their pawns. Perfectly reasonable way to start the game in my opinion. Then I played 2.h3 in order to develop my bishop to h2. The other option is to develop the bishop along the g1-a7 diagonal, but that would require me to move the f-pawn and that is something that I do not like to do in this position. After three moves my opponent has grabbed more space than me due to his pawn moves, but I have developed a bishop and I am also prepared to castle now. On move 4 I play a3, intending to develop my other bishop to a2. I did not want to commit to castling to kingside just yet, but instead keep my options open as long as I can. After 5...f6 I traded the light-squared bishops, I am not sure why I did that because it is not necessary to do so. I have used two moves to trade a bishop that has not moved in the game, usually not a good idea unless there is a clear purpose behind it. After bishop takes on g8, my opponent can't castle short anymore. I am not sure that he or she would have wanted to do so anyway after weakening his or her kingside. After the trade, I continue with my piece development, but my opponent ignores development and plays Nd4, which might have been an annoying move if my knight would not have defended c2. I just play 8.Ne2 in response and maybe on the next move trade knights on d4 or ignore that knight for now and castle. My decision on what to do is made easy after my opponent blunders with the move 8...Nxc2 which I happily take with my knight and be up a piece for a pawn. I have added one mate in two, two mate in three and two mate in four puzzles today.

Game number two. This one has a similar start to the first game except that my opponent is one move ahead. Similarities continue for the first three moves. After 5.f3 it is clear to me once again that my opponent does not prioritise development for these pawn moves. I am, however, one of those players who like to get their pieces developed as soon as possible and I had my bishop and a knight developed in that position after 5.f3, where my opponent had in my opinion wasted time and just moved his or her pawns. On move six, my opponent finally develops a piece. I answer that by a clumsy looking Bd6, with the idea of just to control c5 with my pieces and besides I did not find a better square for my dark-squared bishop. The bishop is clumsy there because it stands in front of the d-pawn which I may want to play to d5 at some point. Not immediately of course because I would lose a pawn after 6...d5 7.exd5 cxd5 8.Nxe5. All things considered, this second encounter went a lot better for my opponent than the first encounter. Well, until the self-destruction that my opponent started on move 9 anyway. After that the game went clearly in my favor to the end.