Man I didn't even see the forced mate. I looked at that diagonal but failed to realize my DSB could get involved, too. :/

Move 16. e4 is the computers first choice so it's actually an excellent move. In fact 16-19 are all the top choices from Houdini, so really, this was excellent. I was checking this because I didn't personally like 18. Ne5, but I couldn't figure out what else I would do in that position, and sure enough it's the right move as it frees your bishop.

Because I have it up, at move 20 you have a crushing victory, according to the computer. Instead of 20. ... Qxd1 you can play Qxc3 and Houdini thinks whites best response is 21. e5 Rxe5 (knight is pinned) 22. Qe2 (removing the pin) Rg5 (attacking g2 with bishop and rook) 23. Nf4 and then, and I wouldn't have seen this in the game, but it's really nice, Bxg2! 24. Nxg2 Rd2!


And, move 22 and 23 are both big mistakes. Basically 22 is a wasted move giving white an attacking possibility without any positional gains for you. Really it looks like almost any other move for you is better than the one you made.

The computer likes Rd6, Bg6, Re6, Rd7, Kf8 in order from best to worst, and I think these are mostly pretty intuitive (except Kf8 I wouldn't consider). From my limited understanding I think these can be explained as you have the initiative and a strong position without any immediately exploitable weaknesses. White has no counterplay, and that gives you the opportunity to reposition (consolidate) your pieces into a more advantageous position. Additionally, white's knight is pinned so you can load up on him. Part of the idea behind Bg6 is to free up e4 for your knight.

Just for ****s and giggles I played through a tempting continuation (fyi, 23. Red1 from white is a mistake, but it's the most logical move that most people would play but c4 is better for white, although still horrible):

22. ... Rd6 23. Red1 Red8 24. Bb1 (he already has nothing to do because he is tied down defending the knight) Bg6 (freeing the d4 square) 25. Rb2 (it gets tricky) Kf8 (you can't take the knight immediately because of back rank problems... but you are in no rush) 26. Rb7 Bxd3 (and you are winning).

Haven't played a ton lately but I just got done with a correspondence draw over a 1608 I "know". He's the tourney director for my wife's school district.

EDIT: OK I'm an idiot still. He pointed out I missed the forced mate on move 27. :SLJFSLKFSLKFGP:SFH:KLSJ:LJDL:KJJ God I'm a moron. I was only staring at the F-file all ****ing night! GROANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN how am I missing these!??!?

I had a couple cheap things going on and of course he didn't fall for them. I figured I had to try cheap stuff to beat him. We were pretty much equal material all game until late when he grabbed a dangling bishop. I was able to equalize our material a few moves later anyway. My position was strong though. There were a few times I was a move away from mate. He found an in-between move by checking me with his Bishop and then getting his Knight out to that previously-occupied square and freeing up the 1st rank for his Rook. Ah well. I couldn't find a Mate but did find a perpetual check so I took it. My correspondence rating is now LEET.

What was your thought process behind 4. Bg5 and 6. Nd4? Why move those pieces instead of developing others, such as ...Nf6 or ...d6 to protect e5 and let your LSB out?

Here's a pretty strong win against an 1134 this morning. Makes me feel a little better about missing that forced mate over a 1608.

5. Bd5 is a dumb waste of time. I thought I could sneek in there and threaten b7 but of course he should just play c7-c6 and make me retreat. I got away with it as he went ahead and exchanged without finding the tweener move. That basically cost him the game.

6. Qf6. I'm surprised he doesn't block with the Knight here. I consider capturing b7 but I don't want him to capture my queen first b/c I don't want to weaken my Kingside.

11. Nxe4. I figure I'm up a Rook so why not trade here and double up his pawns? Especially on a file I can get my Rook to in time.

18. Bd2 is a nice, rare find for me. I notice his Bishop is trapped so it's another exchange which helps me.

22. Bxe4. Free pawn and his rook can't threaten me on the e-file now. Also I'm blocking his pawn from advancing.

27. axb3. Not sure if I captured with the right pawn here. His rook is 2 moves away from mating me on the back row. If I capture with the c-pawn, his Rook is 3 moves away from getting to my back row. I like that this leaves d3 square extra protected, though.

29. g4. Seems like a decent time to get a pawn involved and finally get my King some breathing room.

32. Bxe4. I almost missed this. I almost played a dumb pawn move here. lol me. No idea why he did this as he was taking a long time per move and clearly did not want to resign to such a bum.

The end comes shortly after.

I have no idea why I played Bg5. The game was over a few days and I can't remember why I played that. It looks super dumb to me right now.

Move 6 I was mega worried he was going to get his Knight to g5 and my only piece defending was my Queen (which he can recapture with his Queen). So I did this because I was hoping he would move his Bishop. Instead, he traded Knights. If he moves his Bishop, I can get to e2 next and fork his King+Queen.

I admittedly got off to a REALLY slow start developmentally. Took me forever to castle, too.

The bishop is trapped indeed, after 18. c3 it looks like you win a piece.

Oh yeah c3 followed by b4 ends up pawn-forking him. That would have been better.

Why were you worried about Ng5?

If he gets his Bishop back to c4 and Knight to g5, aren't I in a world of ****?

Not really that I can tell, unless you do nothing beforehand to solve that issue. For instance:

6...Nf6 7. Bc4 O-O 8. Ng5 isn't threatening to you as allowing Nxf7 ...Rxf7 Bxf7+ ...Kxf7 is about an even trade (R+P vs N+B) and I prefer getting the 2 pieces out of it, or you can also play 8...d5 to block the bishop, plus maybe ...h6 at some point to force the knight to just go back.

Not only does this sequence of moves keep you from danger from Ng5 and Bc4, but it also develops more pieces and gets you castled.

Lesson learned: Never give up.

Me beating an 1168 as black - down a Rook, 2 minor pieces, a pawn, and time.

And to think I almost resigned like 3 times during play. He's my new best win!

I got off to a terrible start obviously. I used to play the same file pawn when playing black and always got smashed so I tried this opening that people seem to always play against me as black. How should I open as black here?

I made plenty of mistakes. I should block his first check with my other Bishop (duh). And then I just straight up hang my bishop later. lol. After that I made some sacrifices which were forcing moves. I obviously was way behind so I thought let's see if I can force anything.

10. ... Bd5 was definitely not the finest move you've ever made, but kudos for not giving up, and nice win!

Hey man my thought process was legit. I was going to threaten his Queen!

I just got done reviewing the game. I think white (aside from not developing other pieces) wasted a few moves and also captures with wrong pieces a couple times. He let me back into this bigtime. He should have just played it more fundamental once he was up so much.

Sigh. Thought I was gonna win this one for sure as black against a better opponent. Got careless toward the end (HAY FREE PIECE!)

I thought I had a really great position for most most of my pieces (probably not my Rook). My knights were in great spots, ready to win exchanges.

I also noted that I had his Bishop trapped but couldn't find the time to play h6 followed by g5 or capture with the Knight, depending on when I got around to it.

Totally didn't see the mate about to happen. Was shocked to hear the little blurp sound. Oh well.

Priority #1, now, I guess, should be to try to stop hanging material (or allowing mate) to simple captures and basic combinations. Quite solid play up until the end, though.

13...Nh5: A bit premature maybe. The knight is a pest at g3, but you can't keep it there without playing f5-f4, and it doesn't do a ton there anyway. Also, in this sort of position, where White has a light-squared bishop and you don't, the e4 square is pretty valuable (giving White's knight and light-squared bishop a valuable outpost and a lot more scope), and f5-f4 gives up control of it. I like 13...Bc5 instead.

14...Rd6: This cuts your bishop off from its most natural development square. 14...Rd7 is better.

15...f4: As mentioned, this loses control of e4. It doesn't really trap White's dark-squared bishop either, which can come back to f2 and trade itself off for your active knight (or if you refuse that, move up to an active square at c5).

All of our complicated analysis might just be an exercise in being on the wrong side of the 80/20 principle, because this alone is worth hundreds of rating points.

No this isn't good, with the resultant queenside majority and all. c2-c3 would be the play.

Your opening choice is not that... enterprising? Ambitious? Trading queens on move 4 with no pieces developed against a higher rated player is an efficient way to go into a worse midgame. This particular variant is tactically flawed too, after 5. .. Nc6 white has Nb5 forcing you to forgo castling to save your pawn. It could be debated that castling isn't so crucial with the queens off the board, but it's still a concession.

There's nothing wrong with the Scandinavian below super GM level, but at least play a Qa5 line.

And its even worse when white doesn't trade queens. Just 4.Be2, followed by normal development, leaves that queen blocking the e7 pawn and the c8 bishop, as well as being vulnerable to attack.

Bleh, got into a draw by repetition as black against higher rated player. Though I had a better line at the end. Not sure why I didn't see it. It's crazy what I miss during games and what is so obvious post-mortem.

I should play 22. Ne2+

If he follows with 23. Kf2 then.. Bg3+ 24. Ke3.. Nxc1+ then I win a Rook at least after that and probably a Rook plus an exchange. It's pretty much not losable at that point.

If he plays 23. Kh1, then 23. Rxf1#

Sigh. I thought about moving my Knight but then though if he got his King next to my Knight and Rook I'd lose one. Totally failed to notice that the Bishop gets in there to back up in time. Groan.

And to think when I claimed draw this guy said "weak - I think I would have won this".

lol. Of course I pointed out to him that I was about to put him in check and capture his pawn (and Knight) with my Rook and he was obviously trying to prevent this so he played for the draw.

24...Nxc1+ is met by 25. Rxe1, after which you're down an exchange. 24...Rxf1 is the winning continuation.

4...e6 is positionally disastrous. It should be met immediately by 5. Nxf5, doubling your pawns, taking away your bishop pair, and getting rid of your only central pawn. I'd play ...Bg6 on moves 4, 5, and 6.

8...0-0-0: ...Bxc2 followed by castling queenside wins material and gives you a strong initiative.

15...Nf4: ...Qe5 is ultra strong here. It should either mate or win lots of material.

17...Nf4: Your willingness to part with the g-pawn here shows good thinking. 18. Nxg7, of course, is a mistake.

lol

I didn't consider that e6 would be bad in that sense but I can understand now. Still in that purgatory of not knowing when to move the same piece twice or move another piece (like my pawn here so I can develop my other bishop). When in doubt, I try to not move the same piece twice.

I considered playing Bxc2 but didn't know what would come of it, other than the obvious pawn. When I can't figure out if something out of the ordinary for me is a good thing, I tend to shelf it.

Qe5 would have been ultra strong. Didn't even notice it.

ARC you are too eager to trade queens a lot of the time. And this is coming from someone who loves the endgame. Try to think about which player is helped by a queen trade, and which is hurt by it.

Generally don't trade queens if:

You are attacking
You are down material
Your king safety is better his
Your opponent's queen is badly placed
Your queen is more active than his and can stay that way
You have other weaknesses which are better exploited with queens off (this is kind of advanced)

Some people like to keep the queens on just because they feel they are the stronger player. This can be a valid reason, as keeping the queens might offer a chance for the better player to outplay the weaker one. But endgames are difficult too, and also offer fertile ground for outplaying an opponent.

In that game his kingside pawns are full of holes for you to penetrate, while the pawns guarding your king are solid.

I am admittedly quick to trade queens. I feel like I'm not as strong with my queen as most of my opponents. I also do stupid **** like leave her dangling like every 10th game or get her trapped lol. So sometimes I feel like an even trade there is not bad for me.

I agree with you, though. I need to get to that point where I'm confident in my Queen play and avoid the trades.

Not sure what time control you're playing, but when an unprotected piece is attacked, you should think about the consequences of defending it versus moving it away. As already explained, there's no satisfactory way to defend the bishop, so moving it is preferable. And you're not in such bad shape moving the bishop twice, because white has moved that knight three times.