Here's a game I recently played at 7 days per move:
https://www.chess.com/game/daily/355131875
Full pgn in spoilers to save room.
I have a few comments but really want to focus on the end.
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c3 Nf6 4. Be2 Nc6 5. d4 cxd4 6. cxd4 Nxe4 7. d5 Qa5+
I just discovered the delayed Alapin (Basman-Palatnik gambit?). This particular line is really the only way for Black to take the e4 pawn without losing the knight to Qa4+. White can gambit away 4 pawns here and still maintain an equal/slightly better position due to all the pressure that can be brought by the pieces unencumbered by pawns.
8. Nc3 Nxc3 9. bxc3 Ne5 10. Nxe5 dxe5 11. Rb1 Qxc3+ 12. Bd2 Qc7 13. Bb5+
I start to go a little wrong here. 13. Rc1, 0-0, and Qb3 would be good but this moves the advantage to Black. Or so says the computer. I don't really understand such positions yet. I do start to feel that I'm losing soon, but I really realize that I just don't know what to do which is uncomfortable.
13...Bd7 14. Qa4 b6 15. O-O g6 16. Bc6 Bxc6 17. dxc6 Bg7 18. Rfd1 O-O 19. Bb4 Rfd8 20. Rd7 Rxd7 21. cxd7 Rd8 22. Rd1 Bf8 23. g3 e6 24. Bxf8 Kxf8
For a few moves, I've felt that I was losing , but I thought I could maybe get a draw. I'm down 2 pawns but do have the pawn on d7. If Black gets the king to e7, there will then be 3 attackers on my d7 pawn and only 2 defenders -- I'm lost then for sure. So I try to find a way to keep the black king away (though he could have instead given up a pawn with 25. Qa3+ Qc5 26. Qxa7) to keep my strong point alive.
25. Qa3+ Kg7 26. Qe7 b5
Uh-oh. I see now that if I do nothing, Black will just advance the queenside pawns and I will be lost. So I need to do more than just hold the position. I try to create some threats against the black king, seeing lines that seem to help me regain my pawns but just offer a drawn position in the end.
27. Rd6 b4 28. h4 h5 29. g4
Apparently a mistake, but I see that I need to open up the black king in order to achieve this draw.
29...hxg4 30. h5 gxh5 31. Rxe6
I was planning Rxe6 for a while, seeing that something like ...Qxd7 Qf6+ ...Kg8 Rxe5 may help me draw as I'm then only down 1 pawn and I can have some pressure against the black king (so Black wouldn't be able to spend extra tempi setting things up).
31...Qxd7 32. Qg5+ Kf8 33. Qh6+ Kg8 34. Qg5+ Kf8 35. Qh6+ Kg8 36. Qg5+ Kf8 1/2-1/2
Well 31...Qc1+ leads to a draw, but 31...Qxd7 should lead to 33. Rh6! I never looked at Rh6 once because 1) I had thought of Rxe5 in many lines so wasn't thinking of bringing it to the kingside, and 2) I felt I was losing for many moves, then felt I could pull off a draw, so I just wasn't in the mindset of possibly having a win. This is the "momentum of thought" from my title that I wish to eliminate -- I was so focused on finding a draw for so many moves that I couldn't even think of having a winning line.
I'm not sure if I'm looking for advice or commiseration. But I can't believe I missed 33. Rh6 twice. If I had misevaluated the position before and thought I was doing well, I bet I would have found it.
Last edited by ganstaman; 12-22-2021 at 11:44 PM.
Reason: I can't make images work. Not sure what's wrong with me :(