The position after 5...d5 is classified as A00 Irregular Openings, but when I went through my other games that were previously in the post A00 Polish Opening: General, I also found another game where the opening was classified as A00 Irregular Openings after the move 5...d5, but other moves played before that move were not the same as in this one, therefore I have started to add the full list of moves in the name of the posts in order to make clear what the post is about. That same post also featured another similar problem, but more about that when I share the other two games that I will add to the blog next week.
The opening phase of the game went without any big mistakes, but improvements could be made, of course. While already in some small problems, my opponent would have still been able to hold on for a draw with accurate moves had he or she not played 15.Nf3 in the middlegame. Moving the knight to f3 enabled me to exchange the knights, which removed a key defender from my opponent.
The weakened kingside came under immediate pressure in the game continuation 16.Bxf3 Qd6 (Threatening mate on h2.) 17.g3 (The only way to prevent the mate, but leaves the pawn on h3 undefended) Bxh3 18.Bg2 and then I moved my queen to h6, thinking that the bishop can't move from g2 due to Bxf1. Unfortunately, it was too simplistic of a way looking at the position and taking on d5 was exactly the thing that my opponent should have done in order to punish me from my mistake.
Instead of making the move that would have saved the game for EiserfeldWolf, my opponent blundered by moving his or her queen to f3 before taking on d5. I made one more horrible mistake before the game was decided, my 22nd move, b6, threw away my advantage and the game could have been heading for a draw, had my opponent then played either 23.Rh5 or 23.Rh4.
EiserfeldWolf played 23.Qh5 in the game and I was on my way towards a win once again. The remainder of the game I was able to make good enough moves keep the advantage and the game finally ended in my win after my opponent resigned on move 30.
Game number two. The following game was added to this post on October 10th, 2017. It was played in the Clans Challenge between Metallica and The White Hats. It was played on 3 boards and I played on board 1 for The White Hats. While I was able to win this game, I lost my other game against Johannes Goethe. The challenge ended badly for us, Metallica was able to win it with a score of 4 - 2. It was enough for my opponent to make one huge blunder to decide the game. For the first 21 moves there is not much to criticize, only maybe small inaccuracies from both sides, but when Johannes Goethe played 22.Bxd4, it was all over for my opponent.
It gave the piece for free because after the continuation 22...Qxd4 23.Rd1 Qf6, White can't take the knight on d7 because of the reply 24...Qxa1+. Had the a-rook been somewhere else, for instance, at b1, then Rxd7 would have been possible. My opponent continued the struggle, but had to call it quits after my 34th move Qxf4 when I won a second piece.
