Greetings all,

Just wondering if there would be any interest in this forum for me to post some of my Blitz games with brief notes? I've been getting back into chess recently, and even though I don't have the time with family and career to play otb tournaments, I would like to take it at least somewhat seriously. So I'm thinking that posting a log of my games and getting some discussion going will force me to be more disciplined in my approach.

My goal is to play a few online Blitz sessions a week, and make the effort to at least briefly review and try to learn something from each game I play.

I peaked at around 2100 FIDE about 10 years ago, but I'm a pretty poor Blitz player for my rating (currently 1700 on Chess.com).

Anyway, if anyone around here thinks they might be interested in reading or participating in such a thread, let me know. If not I won't bother.

Any active log on this forum is from me.



My blitz rating is around there although I am nowhere near 2100 FIDE.

Of course!

Great! If at least two people will read it, that's good enough for me.

Here's my first post. Not a great start - 1/4 today with some pretty horrible blunders.

Game 1 (Black)
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.b3 Nc6 4.Bb2 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.h3 Be7 7.Be2 O-O 8.Nfd2 d5 9.e5 Nd7 10.O-O Ndxe5 11.Bh5 Bf6 12.Nc3 g6 13.Bf3 Nxf3+ 14.Qxf3 Nd4 15.Qd1 b5 16.Nf3 b4 17.Na4 Nxf3+ 18.Qxf3 Bxb2 19.Nxb2 f5 20.a3 Qf6 21.Na4 Bb7 22.Nxc5 Bc6 23.axb4 e5 24.Ra6 Rab8 25.Nd7 Qg5
1-0

So here I came up with a horrible plan with 19...f5 and 20...Qf6 - I should just complete development starting with 19...Bb7, and gradually convert my extra pawn. I think one of my psychological weaknesses is getting a false sense of security when my opponent plays a series of weak moves - in a normal situation I like to think I would never play 19...f5 in that position, but given my opponent's poor play earlier I felt that I could just do whatever and still win. Also I need to get better at adapting when the game turns around.

Game 2 (White)
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.Nd2 a5 9.c4 Ba6 10.Qe4 Nb4 11.a3 d5 12.exd6 Qxe4+ 13.Nxe4 Nc2+ 14.Kd1 Nxa1
0-1

I think I was on tilt after game 1. I haven't played 1.e4 in quite some time and unfortunately my opponent knew what he was doing in the Scotch and caught me in a trap. Maybe i'm supposed to try 11.Kd1 here, or maybe I can reply to 11...d5 with 12.Qb1 Qxe5 13.Be2 with interesting complications.

Game 3 (Black)

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Be7 5.Nc3 b6 6.Bg5 Bb7 7.e3 Ne4 8.Bxe7 Qxe7 9.Bd3 Nxc3 10.bxc3 f5 11.O-O O-O 12.a4 a5 13.Qb3 d6 14.Rfe1 Nd7 15.e4 f4 16.e5 Bxf3 17.gxf3 dxe5 18.dxe5 Qg5+ 19.Kh1 Nxe5 20.Rg1 Qh5 21.Be4 Rad8 22.Rg2 Nxf3 23.c5 Rf6 24.cxb6 cxb6 25.Qxb6 Rdf8 26.Qc7 Nh4
1-0

A couple of instructive moments in this game. After Black's 15...f4



White went 16.e5? - the computer finds 16.c5! dxc5 17.d5 putting Black under some pressure - an interesting tactical idea.

After 16.e5 Bxf3 17.gxf3 dxe5 18.dxe5 I think I made a really poor practical decision to snatch the e5-pawn. Basically if I stick my Knight on c5 and my Rook on d8 it would be really hard for White to do anything and eventually his pawns will start to fall. After winning the pawn, I still have a great position but with complications that I don't need. Again I fell apart when the game started to turn against me. Gotta become more resilient, probably the first step is to manage my clock better so I can afford a bit of thinking time at the critical moments.

Game 4 (Black)
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Qc7 7.Bd3 Nf6 8.O-O h5 9.f4 Ng4 10.Qd2 Bc5 11.Nce2 e5 12.fxe5 Qxe5 13.Rf5 Qxh2+ 14.Kf1 Qh1+ 15.Ng1 Nxe3+ 16.Qxe3 Bxd4 17.Qf3 Qxg1+ 18.Ke2 Qxa1 19.Rxf7 Bf6 20.Rxf6 Nd4+ 0-1

The line with Be3 and Bd3 was popular when I used to play this line, and I remembered the idea of 8...h5!?. 9.f4 is already a losing blunder. I should have just gone 10...Nxe3 and 11...Nxd4 with an extra piece, since the way I played it let White stay in the game with 12.Nf5 (still clearly better for Black, but some chances).

What time controls you play blitz??
5+5 or 3+2??

The games posted were all 3/2.

Regarding G1 - I think both times you played Nxf3 in that game it was a mistake. Not a big enough mistake to cost you a game, but definitely a mistake in that it didn't net you anything, but made it much easier for the opponent to play afterwards.

I definitely agree. I definitely should have been looking to increase the pressure instead of just trading pieces.

I get the sense that many of my mistakes are more psychological than purely chess related. Going for complications instead of sitting on a positional advantage, going for exchanges instead of increasing the pressure. I'm going to work on identifying the typical errors that I make and try to work on eliminating them as much as possible.

If you are looking to improve your game, you should avoid blitz and play 15 minutes or longer, preferably with an increment.

I'm more looking to improve my Blitz play specifically. I'm about 2100 Fide and I don't really have the time to devote to improve on this significantly.

However I think bringing my Blitz rating to a level commensurate to my slow chess rating is an achievable goal.

I played about 10 games this morning and went on a bit of a winning streak, getting my rating up to 1750. Surprisingly few interesting games though.. Quite a few games where my opponents just let me roll over them with a quick Kingside attack.

I'll post a couple of tactical positions where I missed the right move. Both are White to play:

Any interesting new blitz games??

I've been playing quite a bit recently, and went on a run to get my rating above 1900, before dropping back a bit. But I've gotten a bit lax about going over the games to try to learn something.

I will hopefully find some time over the weekend to look through my recent games for some interesting positions to post.

In case anyone was wondering in the two positions above:
position 1, the right idea is 1.Nc7! Bxc7 2.Re7
in position 2 1.Rb6+ Rc6 2.Qf7!

I had some interesting games today when I made mistakes due to unfamiliarity with typical plans.

In this position White has the strong idea Nbd5! - A pretty typical resource in this opening.




In this position, I played 1.Nd2 e6 2.b3 exd5 3.cxd5? giving up all the squares on the Q-side. White's idea should be to recapture with the e-pawn on d5, making the Knight maneuvre to Nd2 unnecessary. Simpler was 1.b3 e6 and, for example 2.Bg5 with a positional advantage for White.



In this position I got carried away with 1...Nd3? 2.Rxd3 exd3 3.Bb7 Qb7 4.Nd5 but with White's strong Knight on d5 only White can be better here.
The position should be about equal after normal moves like h5, a6, or Bc6.