Yesterday's loss, suffered on a Monday night, stung for three reasons. One, I seized a decisive lead on move 32 and held it to the end, only to time out with 0:00.7 left on my opponent's clock. Two, I missed an obvious fork on move 33 that would have utterly devastated my opponent. Three, a win would have elevated me to a rating in the 1280s, just a couple wins from the coveted 1300 mark; instead, the loss set me back to the 1260s.
White, rated 1293 to my 1275, opened with 1. d4, and I replied with 1...Nf3. Then came 2. c4, to which I replied 2...d6.
Chess.com classifies my opening up to this point as the Old Indian Defense, and the game analysis suggests I should have fianchettoed my kingside bishop early. This is puzzling, since I was transposing into the Czech Pirc -- but fianchettoing the bishop to threaten White's dominance of the center is an idea to keep in mind for the future.
 |
Move 10
|
After move 10, White's pawn structure was a mess -- or so it seemed to me. He had a pawn chain extending from e2 to h5 that blocked in his light-squared bishop, a backward pawn on c4, and a weak pawn on b4. Nevertheless, Stockfish put him at +0.8. Perhaps the reason was his expansion into my half of the board: White had two pawns on the fifth rank, while my pawns were still on ranks 6 and 7.
 |
Move 16
|
Identifying an opportnunity to exploit the weakness of White's b4 pawn, on move 15 I executed the first capture of the game with 15...cxb4. White recaptured with 16. axb4, and I took back with 16...Qxb4. Ostensibly, I had won a pawn, but it was a grave blunder. With 17. Na4 my queen would have been trapped. White, however, failed to spot the tactic and played 17. Nb5, allowing my queen to escape. Even after going up a pawn and safetying my queen, the game analysis evaluated White's advantage at +2.1.
 |
Move 19
|
The next key moment in the game came on move 19. White attacked my queen with 19. Nd3, possibly trying to trap her or force her away from the c7 square so he could execute a knight fork and win my rook on a8. Seeing no reason not to capture White's c-pawn with my queen, I replied 19...Qxc4. It turns out both our moves were blunders. 19. Nd3 allowed 19...Bxd3, in which case White would be dealing with simultaneous threats to his knight on b5 and his bishop on f1. Meanwhile, 19...Qxc4 opened up the c-file, inviting the threat from White of Rc1 and Nc7+. White, failing to find 21. Rc1, played 21. Nd4, and I proceeded to capture another undefended pawn with 21...Nbxd5.
 |
Move 33
|
We bumbled around for the next ten or so moves until, as if failing to notice I had a knight on d5, White checked me with 32. Bc3+. Naturally, I replied with 32...Nxc3, whereupon White, instead of continuing the pressure on my king with 33. Qxc3+, advanced his rook from the back rank and surrendered a tempo with 33. Rxc3. Thinking this an opportunity to free my dark-squared bishop on f8 and finally activate my kingside rook, I played 33...g6. Immediately upon advancing the pawn, I saw the 33...Qa1+ I had overlooked; but by then White saw it too, safetied his king with 34. Kh2, and I lost my chance to win his knight and presumably the game.
 |
| Conclusion |
Weeknights such as Monday have been known to reduce my performance efficiency, and this game confirmed that reality. I am slower, less alert, and more preoccupied with work-related concerns when I play during the week than on the weekend. Would I have avoided 16...Qxb4 and found 19...Bxd3? That is doubtful; my board vision is not at that level yet, even on a good day. But I reckon I'd have seen 33...Qa1+ and gone on to win the game had I been playing under more favorable circumstances.
Lately, in an effort to find the ideal formula to maximize my winning chances, I have been playing Lichess Bullet games on the way to work. My route takes me through a park with shaded benches, and at 07:30 it's still quiet and the air is fresh. The walk gets my blood flowing. My mind is at its sharpest. I credit this routine with my vastly improved Bullet performance since late August. But Rapid is not Bullet. I can stop for four minutes on the way to work but not for twenty. While it's true I play chess more for excitement than for any other reason, it will be disappointing if my Rapid rating on Chess.com doesn't improve to 1300 before the end of the year. For that to happen, in addition to setting aside time for study, I will have to stick to the formula that maximizes my winning chances, i.e. no Rapid games during the week.
Comments
Post a Comment