So far, the chess this weekend has not been aesthetically beautiful - blunders have abounded thus far.
Game 26 was against Tommyg - I had the black pieces. The game can be replayed here. The game was fairly even, but he had his queenside pawns ready for the attack. This worried me the entire game. But I was able to get the kingside opened up a bit and the slip my queen into his territory. Then he played 34. Ra2? As the rook sat on a1, it was already defended and in no danger. So I was able to deliver check and then capture the rook. 38. Qxa7 also seemed like a mistake - taking another defender out of the picture. This allowed for a quicker checkmate. The Tommyg series is 2-0 now.
Game 27 was ugly. This game was against Nygren and it was barf-o-rific from the start. The game can be replayed here. I probably should have resigned earlier, but this game only went 29 moves. I had the white pieces in this game. He played the KID. I played the SOL opening. 9. h3 was wrong as evidenced by the game. 9. Bh4 is the better move. When I was looking at this move, I saw him playing g5 and then possibly getting the knight and bishop forked, plus the possibility of the pawns fully storming the side. On the other hand, with 9. h3, I saw my h-file opening up; my rooks doubling and a fantastic storming of his castled king - all delusions of grandeur. By the 13th move, it was certain I would lose a knight. I went into blitz mode, which in my state of mind was suicide and very low quality analysis. So the Nygren series is now 1-2. This one has the feel of the stevelco series - where I was lucky to come off with a win in game one and then get stomped the remainder of the games.
The only consolation for me is that the overall goal of getting in 52 games in a year is progressing. I fell behind early on in the quest, but I've been cutting into the "games behind" stat. I'm only 10 games behind schedule now. I've now passed the mid-way point as well.
The first game was quite interesting, some real imbalances there to sink your teeth into. Even without the tactical oversight for White, I think Black's attack on the kingside is just too strong.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the second, what do you normally do against the KID? By move 3 you've forced a transposition to the Pirc instead, looks like you may have psyched yourself out early on. Good lesson though on the Ng4 idea following Be3.
That 2nd game was pretty tough. Related to the Ng4 attack on Be3, I've noticed Reshevsky and others play the Bg5 to provoke the weakness and then bring the B back to c1.
ReplyDeleteHere with the Q on d2, maybe the quicker h3 and letting the B go isn't so bad. Black takes a lot of time to get the B and still needs a tempo for Nf6, plus the Black QB loses g4. The position looks a little like a dragon but with Black less developed and without the c-file.
It might be worth investigating, after ...Nxe3 Qxe3, a queen side castle, play on the d-file, and/or dragon buster type play on the kside.