Chess960 SP148

The last post of the week will take a look at two chess960 games that were played at Chess.com. The first two games in this post (more might be added at a later time) were played in a team match called Friendly match: 960 CS vs Purple haze (960 chess) - Goodbye 2015. The match consists of 23 boards and it is played between 960 CHESS STARS and PURPLE HAZE. I played on board 5 for PURPLE HAZE and only managed to get two draws against my lower rated opponent. At the moment it seems that only on my board both games ended peacefully in draws. For some reason my opponent offered draws in both of these games at the same time. I was actually happy to get a draw in the game where I was playing with the white pieces because in that one I was in huge difficulties and had the game continued, I would have likely lost. The other game seemed like a draw, so I accepted the draw offer in that one too. The current score in the match is 27.5 - 14.5 in favor of 960 CHESS STARS and therefore they have secured the win quite comfortably.

The first blunder of the game was played by my opponent with the move 4...b6. The game could have been over much quicker had I reacted to 4...b6 in the most accurate way. Again my tendency to develop my pieces as quickly as possible hinders my ability to make good moves. While my move 5.Nb3 is a decent move, it was better to play 5.Nb4. I keep ignoring my opportunities also on my next move, after which my advantage again decreases. When I played 15.Nb3, it was the first time that I ended up being slightly worse. Inaccurate reply by Instar78 tips the advantage back in my favor. With my next move 16.Rd2, I hand over the advantage back to Instar78. Bad moves from both players shift the advantage back and forth for awhile until I make the move that should have been the losing move, 26.g4. My tactical awareness was nowhere to be seen yet again and I did not even consider the possibility that my opponent could reply 26.g4 with 26...Nxe3! I was quite confident that I am lost after I saw that move, but I stubbornly wanted to continue the game. The game lasted for a few moves more, but to my surprise it ended in a draw and not to my loss. I have added one mate in one, two mate in two, one mate in three and one mate in four puzzle today. Until Monday, my fellow chess and chess960 enthusiasts!

Game number two. Apart from few inaccuracies, the first ten moves of this game kept the game in balance. The 11th move by my opponent was the first move that can be said to be a mistake, even though I only get a small advantage out of it. That adavantage does not last long as I merrily seem to give it back with my 12th move. I never intentionally make bad moves, but avoiding them completely is impossible. When Instar78 played 15.f4, I had the best chance up to that point to seize the advantage. I was, however, unable to do so. I made this game harder for me than it should have been with my 16th move, but because I did not see a better move, I had to play 16...Rd6. Instar78 has clearly the better game for a few moves, but when it comes to his 24th move, he goes a bit astray from the right plan. That enables me a better possibility to hold a draw. After 30.Be3, the advantage that was there before has completely fizzled out. We continued a few more moves until my opponent offered the draw and I thought that I should probably accept it because there seemed to be no way that I can increase the pressure and both players should hold their positions with ease.