Loss by resignation: 1283-1274
After an extended break from rated live chess games, on the morning of 20 April, a Thursday, I felt the urge and the confidence for a Rapid game on Chess.com. I'd been sleeping poorly for the last two weeks on account of work-related pressure, an overseas excursion and a cold, but I had been binging casual Blitz games and anonymous Rapid games online and felt like there was energy enough in me to finally play a rated game. The system matched me , at 1283, with a 1324-rated player named "kmorudin" and assigned me the white pieces. I opened with 1. d4 . As a 1.d4 player, I have experience with four replies: 1...d5, 1...Nf6, 1...c5, and 1...e5. My oponent replied 1...e6 , the Horwitz Defense, and that meant I had to recourse to opening principles rather than rely on theory. One option was 2.e4 , but I didn't want to transpose into the French in the event of 2...d5 . I continued 2. c4 , controlling the center from the wing, and Black replied with the timid-looking 2......