French Defense: Win (1633-1655)

Tomorrow is the last day we need to punch in at work before summer vacation officially starts. Yesterday I visited a student at the hospital who had jumped or fallen off a roof at night, had broken bones in three parts of his body, and will be spending his summer vacation undergoing surgeries and rehab. If Trump's MOA with the Iranians holds, my summer will be spent visiting two countries, the first of which is a chess superpower with fifteen clubs in the capital city alone and more GMs per capita than any country not a microstate. Could I end the school year on a four-game win streak?

In this afternoon's game Chess.com matched me with one director777, rated 1637 out of Ukraine. On move twenty-two I blundered a full rook because I hallucinated White's king moving to a light square. It was mentally devastating: another loss to a 1600+ opponent would call into question the validity of my Rapid rating milestone. But I knew the onus was on opponent to convert his advantage and if I could keep pressure on his uncastled king while avoiding getting mated myself I might outlast him on the clock. Sure enough, on move twenty-nine opponent blundered back a bish and on move forty-seven a knight, and I knew he was imploding. On move fifty-six opponent resigned, and just like that I am two or three wins away from 1700.

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Position 1: Black to move

Assigned the black pieces, I replied to White's 1.e4 with the French 1...e6, whereupon White's 2.e5 introduced the Steinitz Attack. The engine's top move for Black is 2...c5 to control d4, but I've played it before and have fared better with the more straightforward 2...d6. Surprisingly, White pushed 3.d4, inviting 3...dxe5 4.dxe5 Qxd1+ 5.Kxd1 and the engine evaluated our position at -0.63.

I attacked e5 with 5...Nc6, White defended with 6.f4, and after 6...Nge7 7.Nf3 the engine wanted me to activate my bish with 7...b6 or 7...Bd7. Instead I put pressure on f4 with 7...Ng6, or maybe I was trying to provoke 8.f5. White didn't need to push 8.g3 but did so anyway, and that gave my h-pawn a target, ergo 8...h5. After White's 9.Nc3 my pawn advanced with 9...h4, attacking g3. Black chopped first with 10.gxh4, boosting my advantage to -1.57, but rechopping with 10...Nxg4 was a mistake and dropped my advantage to -0.75.

1. Why did I choose the move 10...Nxg4?
White was up a pawn, and rechopping with my knight neither worsened my position nor improved White's.

2. Why is my move not ideal?
The problem started with me moving my knight a second time to g6, where it had no scope. Then when 10.gxh4 happened, I moved it a third time. After 10.gxh4, White's pawns were a mess; 10...Nxg4 was a waste not only of one knight move but of all the knight moves theretofore.

3. Why is the better move better than my chosen move?
The engine's top move was 10...Bd7, because improving inactive pieces was a higher priority than pursuing pawns that had nowhere to go anyway and White was threatening to fork-check on c7 from b5 with his knight.

Actionable takeaway: When there is nothing concrete to be gained from moving the same piece multiple times, I must prioritize improving inactive pieces -- especially when there are no queens on the board.

Position 2: Black to move

White should have threatened to fork-check with 11.Nb5 but exchanged with 11.Nxh4 Rxh4. As 12.Be3 again failed to threaten with the knight I pushed 12...a6 to preempt any tactics. White pushed 13.a3, and I prepped castles with 13...Bd7. White's 14.b4 was scary, but with his king still in the center 14...0-0-0 was scarier for White. White slid his king off the d-file with 15.Kc1, and my advantage was a comfortable -2.27 -- but it fell to -0.88 upon pushing 15...f6.

1. Why did I choose the move 15...f6?
If White exchanged with 16.exf6 gxf6 he would be left with an iso f-pawn. If he didn't exchange, I would have a +1 attackers advantage.

2. Why is my move not ideal?
I failed to recognize the threat of 16...fxe5 17.fxe5 followed by 17...Nxe5 and 18.Bg5, forking my rooks.

3. Why is the better move better than my chosen move?
Beyond my tactical oversight, I three pieces gasping for breathing room. The engine's top recommendation was 15...Ne7, with the option of landing on f5 or g6 next. Then my light-square bish could improve to c6 and my d8-rook would activate.

Position 3: Black to move

White's 16.Ne2 was fortuitous as it undefended e4: after 16...fxe5 17.fxe5 I could intermezzo with 17...Re4, forking White's e5-pawn and e3-bish. White tried 18.Bf4, but my rook allowed 18...Nxe5. Had White's knight not been on e2, he might have had 19.Be2 but now he didn't because that would have endefended his e2-knight. White opted to exchange with 19.Bxe5 Rxe5, and my advantage grew to -3.01. White continued 20.Ng3, and I finally activated my d8-rook with 20...Bc6. Why moved his rook out of danger and onto his semiopen g-file with 21.Rg1, and I correctly skewered White's a1-rook with 21...Re1+. But here disaster struck, as I either was convinced my light-square bish was a dark-square bish or was sure White's king was forced onto a2. When White got out of check with 22.Kb2 I immediately replied 22...Bd5 thinking I was giving another check. I wasn't, and White was free to chop my rook with 23.Rxe1.

White's advantage was +4.03, and my heart had sunk into my stomach, but I played on with 23...Bc6. White correctly offered a trade with 24.Bg2, which I had to decline with 24...Bb5, and with 25.Rxe6 White was up five points of material. I penetrated my rook to the second with 25...Rd2, White attacked it with 26.Kc3, and I slid to safety with 26...Rf2. White attacked again with 27.Ne4, and I replied 27...Rf4. White set up a disco check with 28.Bh3, allowing me to win the bish with 28...Rf3+, but I missed the fork and got out of check with 28...Kb8 instead. White handed me a second opportunity with 29.Rg4, and this time I found 29...Rf3+ and won White's bish with 30.Kd4 Rxh3. Now White was up just two points of material. 31.Re5 invited 31...Rxa3, and now White was up just a single point of material. After 32.c3 White had a +0.36 advantage, but it surged to +2.86 when I played 32...Ra2.

1. Why did I choose the move 32...Ra2?
White's h2-pawn was loose, and 32...Ra2 attacked it.

2. Why is my move not ideal?
Tactics.

3. Why is the better move better than my chosen move?
The engine finds 32...Bxb4, where White can't accept the sac because of 33.cxb4 Rd3+ and the forced 34.Kc5 leads to 34...b6#.