My opponent was a young guy, never played him before. He played Queen’s pawn, here is the game. His early attack, starting with h4, for a long time seemed not serious to me. I missed a nice tactics with 13. Nxg4, it was my only chance in this game.
I did not realize how bad was my position until I made a fatal mistake with Ne4. His Rxh2 effectively finished the game.
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January 21, 2012 at 8:25 pm
Flipping through the game, I like 9..c5 right away, don’t like 9..NxN so much because it might develop White’s game.
Alarm bells are not going off for me until you play 13..e6(?). I like 13..Ne4, which takes some guts to play and I would have to believe that you probably seriously considered it, but rejected it. It gets onto White, whereas ..e6 leaves White alone and I don’t get the idea behind it.
14..Rf7. My quick move would have been 15…a6 with idea of 16..Ba6 just to get some quick activity against White.
Tarrash said that “the seeds of defeat lie in passive positions” and this reminds me of that credo. 14..Rf7 also takes that flight square from the king. Perhaps there is a possible scenario where Black defends with ..Kf7 and ..h6, particularly if the knight could have vacated f6 before the ..g5 push.
I think you had something in this game, toward a playable middlegame, but the passive moves game him a chance to uncork some stellar tactic.
The 14..Nd7 line is very nice, but that is more Expert to Master level, positionally.
You constructed a very nice looking geometrical position with 18..Bd5, which is very pleasant to the eye, the only problems is that there was a tactic, and there nearly always is, unless you had had more tempo than in that game, then you are probably just winning. You built the perfect castle, but it was one day too late, and so it got invaded.
Don’t be afraid to turn up the heat with Black, that is what I did in my last game, played the right moves in that variation, the most active setup, it was a position we had both discussed and played before as Black. In this position, he had enough open play to take down a defensive structure in time.
It’s not really a terrible game except for possibly the 13…e6 move.
January 21, 2012 at 8:36 pm
14..Nxg4 is a nice computer-move, but probably isn’t essential to the position. 13…Nxg4, 14.Bxg4 BxBe4, 15.Be6+(!) this is what I would play, then Qg4 and 0-0-0, and Nc3-e2-f4. Lots of h-file pressure, and Black is in trouble.
January 23, 2012 at 12:29 am
I like c5 too and I think the knight on e5 was less dangerous than the bishop. Yeah, e6 was bad, I realized later.
I thought on Ne4 not once, but hesitated to let him exchange the bishops.
No, don’t tell me, I played bad. I had that thought, that his attack is completely not prepared and that he doesn’t feel the position. In reality it was me.
January 23, 2012 at 10:23 pm
RollingPawns, I honestly wouldn’t give your opponent that much credit, other than for finding the nice shot at the end, which ideally any of us should find, but in which he probably had more than one road to victory.
My impression of G/90 is that one side stumbles or bumbles into a loss; it’s not enough time for a brilliant attack. Look at how White took no risk in this game, merely waited for the possibility that you might play some slow moves.
I never once looking at this game considered the threat of …Ne4, BxBg7 because of ..KxB7, and if NxNe4 exN, Qd2 e3!, Qxe BxRa1, RxR Rf7 is game-over – IOW, there were way too many “if’s, and’s, or but’s” separating White from an easy mate against Black. In the game, he plays Qd1-d3-h3, which is weak in a way because it takes so much time and doesn’t come with check, but it’s also the type of move which is not brilliant but takes advantage of the time lost with your moves.
IOW, unless it’s a sure mating or checking attack (note I didn’t say checkmate, as that is rarely necessarily the point of one), post your pieces more actively!
January 25, 2012 at 11:25 pm
OK, I will.
I didn’t play on Monday, had to take a bye.
January 26, 2012 at 1:03 am
I played against my friend Alex, Wednesday night, who has a whopping plus score against me. I was mentally determined, this time, to play my best.