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Originally Posted by MarkD
In Game 1 I was in time trouble. These games are 90+30/move and at move 18 I only had 8 minutes left.
Oh, no wonder. Ok, nevermind the last few moves. I mean, I still definitely didn't like them once he let you back into the game but it's very difficult to change gears when Black still has such a favorable game and you don't really have enough time for a 5 minute think or something.
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I spent 30 minutes on 16. e5 and that is where things start to go south.
Oh wow, that's what you meant with your comment. I have to admit I have some 20 minute thinks in games this year but I think they were only in situations that involved a lot of calculation and also along with positional considerations. The position before 16.e5 is not critical and even though I might be tempted to spend longer than 10 minutes on it, I can't imagine being okay with anything longer than 10. Honestly I think 5 or so would be better - most moves are probably "fine."
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I'm usually decent at time management, but not in this game. By move 30 I was playing on the increment. He admitted that he missed 27. Be3 in his calculations and that he definitely blundered, but I still only had 2 minutes on my clock at this point and the position is still uncomfortable. Rd8+ was just the first thing I saw and I played it planning to play Rxc8, but then Qc7 seemed to win a piece (obviously, I didn't calculate far as I only had 30 seconds left).
Yeah, yeah, nevermind. I blundered mate in two games within the last month and wasn't even quite on increment in either situation. You should feel pretty happy you found the way to get back into things, although, yeah, if he still had time you were likely getting ground down even without Rd8+.
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Yeah, in game 2 I need to put some of my notes into that game, but I left town right after playing it for work and haven't had time to revisit it since. All of this chess stuff takes a lot of time.
I know! I used to blaze through Yusupov books (well, it felt like a blazing pace) but now that I play a game most weeks I can't find the motivation. Chess is hard work!
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I definitely remember spending time on f4, but I also know that I spent that time without doing a lot of calculation. My brain was muddled and I had no plan and couldn't calculate a response to any move I considered.
Ok, that is not a great sign. Is this a common thing in the middle of games? I certainly can attest to feeling this way sometimes and especially late in games where things have gone wrong, but except for 1 day last year not earlier on in games.
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I was looking at h6 and f6 as responses to f4 and I was playing it to expand my center and prevent Ne5 as I had the idea of routing my bishop to f3 and pushing e5 myself. Qb6 wasn't even on my radar in this position. I was blind to it or else I wouldn't have played f4. I have no defense.
Hmm, well, if you spent time and missed ...Qb6+ it's hard to know what to say. Maybe going for a walk or clearing your head somehow when you notice such "muddled thoughts" creep in. And then "start over" with the position? I mean, even if ...Qb6+ isn't strong, it is pretty much the first thing every player as Black will spot, because it's check!
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Future GM is obviously a tongue in cheek joke, but he is currently 1991 CFC (approximately equivalent to USCF), which seems quite strong for a kid who is just barely 9.
Yeah, that is very strong. Certainly the right kind of start for a future GM,
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