A bit more detailed look into two games that I have previously shared in this blog. The diagrams and additional commentary has been added. This game was the first standard game at Chess.com for me since May 11th 2014, so I took a break that lasted a bit over a year. As a result my rating changed a lot because of this game. I thought that the way my opponent handled the opening was a bit strange. For example, I expected him to play 8.Bg5 instead of 8.Bb2. In my mind the dark squared bishop would be better placed and more active on g5 than it is on b2. We have played three times now and both times he was White, he played his bishop to b2, so maybe this is something he likes to play. I won this game on time but I also have a winning position in the end. I think I played quite well for the most part but I did miss a nice tactic on move 14. I could have taken on f2 with my bishop and it wins at least a pawn, no matter how White responds to that move.
The first clear mistake of the game was played in the position you can see in the diagram below. My opponent played 14.Ng5 in the position, which added more pressure to the pawn on e6. At first glance it may seem like a good idea, but unfortunately it just opens a possibility for me to fight for the advantage. I just replied with 14...d5, only reacting to the threat directly instead of looking for other alternatives.
The next position in which a blunder was played is shown in the next diagram. The move 16.c4 that my opponent played was a huge blunder and it could have already been the losing move, had I responded with 16...Qg4. I moved my queen to f5 instead, which is good enough for a clear advantage, but obviously inferior option to 16...Qg4.
Both players kept making inaccurate moves, but I was able to maintain some of my advantage for the remainder of the game.
Game number two. This was my third standard game against bfoleyfire and for this game we changed the time controls from 15 minute to 15 minute with 10 second increment. In the first two games he lost on time, so he suggested that we add an increment to the next game, so we did. This time he was not losing on time, but instead now he won. The opening we played pretty much the same way as in our first game up to his move 8.Bd2. Then I switched into a new move but I probably should not have done that but instead followed the line we played on the first game. This third game was played five days after the first one and as I had not analysed the games afterwards, I was pretty much on my own in this game as well. This game started to get quite difficult for me after he played b5 and I retreated with my knight to a bad square. I did manage to get back into the game after the queen trade, only to blunder the game away on my next move. Well during this game that position was difficult for me and I could not calculate things properly and because of that I lost.
After 11.Qb3 I was in some trouble already and I made things worse for me by moving my queen to c8. The problem with my move is that it makes the development of my queenside very difficult. In the same time my opponent was able to develop his pieces with ease. The game continued with the moves 12.Nbd2 O-O. Then bfoleyfire moved his bishop to a3, which may seem like a good idea, but actually the bishop was better placed at b2 and help with the advance d4. In fact 13.d4 was perhaps the best option for my opponent.
The game continued evenly until we reached the position seen in the next diagram. Bfoleyfire played 20.Qa3, which was a mistake. I should have traded queens and then moved my rook to a8, in order to threaten the knight and take the a-file in my control. Instead I played 20...h6 in order to keep the knight away from g5.
The game then followed an even path until it came for me to play my 22nd move. In the position where I played the losing move 22...Nxd3, can be seen in the diagram below. I played the move because I thought that because the rook can't take it, I can get away with the move.
I remember thinking about the move 22...cxb6, but I probably did not play it because I thought that I need to make things as difficult for my opponent as possible. I did judge the position poorly and bfoleyfire made me pay for my mistake by finding the move 23.bxc7. After that I am completely lost, but I tried my best to hang on. I accepted my loss after bfoleyfire took my rook for free from a2 on move 27, at which point my opponent had a queen and a rook for two pawns.
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