Here are two games that show why I'm not doing myself any favors down here at this level, where mistakes are not punished and bad habits created.
This was one of my worst games of the night, and a win:
[Event "ICC"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2009.09.07"]
[White "Ruapehu"]
[Black "KyleMayhugh"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1095"]
[BlackElo "1195"]
[TimeControl "1800+0"]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5
My standard response to e4.
3. Nc3 f6
I'm getting a little tired of e5 giving me problems, so I thought I'd head it off.
4. Nf3 Nd7 5. Bd3 e6
6. O-O Bd6 7. Re1 Ne7 8. Qe2 O-O 9. e5 fxe5 10. dxe5 Nxe5
11. Nxe5 Bc7
Oops, counting error! I misread the exchange and am now down a piece for a pawn. What's the point of watching videos and reading lessons about counting if I'm still going to make such a basic error.
12. Qg4 Qe8 13. Bh6 Rf7
Now I'm in real trouble.
14. Nxf7 Qxf7 15. Bg5 e5
One last gasp. I've missed plenty of discovered attacks on pawn moves in my day. If he parries this feeble attack, I'm resigning the next move.
16. Bxe7 Bxg4
0-1
But he didn't notice it, I took the queen and he resigned immediately, though I think he probably still had enough material to fight on if he felt like it.
Next up:
[Event "ICC"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2009.09.07"]
[White "KyleMayhugh"]
[Black "Ronaldoyn"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1195"]
[BlackElo "1115"]
[TimeControl "900+0"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nc3 e6 4. e4 Nf6 5. Bxc4 Bb4
6. Bd2 Bxc3 7. Bxc3 Nxe4
He wins a pawn via removal of the guard. I really should have stopped that, but I did feel like the bishop pair advantage and the superior development had me in good position.
8. Qg4 Nd6 9. b3 O-O 10. O-O-O Nxc4
11. bxc4 Nc6
And here is a big tactical mistake, allowing me to take the material lead. I'm beginning to formulate how I need to follow up with an attack on his king.
12. d5 Bd7 13. Qxg7#
And he fails to see the threat and I win a simple, quick mate. Not really satisfying at all, though the 12. d5 move isn't something I would have seen a few weeks ago. The tactical training is helping a ton. I'm hoping that 1200 on ICC is different from 1200 on FICS, otherwise I don't understand why all the tactical improvement hasn't helped more. I've done some really satisfying tactical mates lately, such as this one:
[Event "ICC"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2009.09.07"]
[White "KyleMayhugh"]
[Black "zhsteph"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1239"]
[BlackElo "1289"]
[TimeControl "1200+5"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. cxd5 exd5 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Bf4 Be7
6. Nf3 O-O 7. e3 Bf5 8. Bd3 Bxd3
Trading the good bishop for the bad.
9. Qxd3 c6 10. Ne5 Nbd7
11. O-O-O Rc8 12. h4 c5 13. g4 Nxe5 14. dxe5 Nxg4
At this point, I don't like where the game is going (a tight position with too much to think about) and I start to feel ambitous. I want to let him take that pawn to open the file for my rook.
15. Rdg1 Nxf2
16. Qc2 Re8
I'm really not sure what he was thinking here. Maybe just trying to clear space for his king? I was willing to sacrifice the rook for the initiative in the attack, but instead I'm going to take a slight material lead and still have the pressure of the attack bearing down.
From here it's a relatively easy win as all his pieces are spectators.
17. Qxf2 d4 18. Bh6 Bf8 19. Bxg7 Bxg7 20. Qg3 Kf8
21. Qxg7+ Ke7 22. Qf6+ Kd7 23. Qd6#
1-0
I've stated earlier that I want to get more draws out of tough endgames, and here I thought was a good one:
[Event "ICC"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2009.09.07"]
[White "KyleMayhugh"]
[Black "reposte"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "1210"]
[BlackElo "1249"]
[ECO "D20"]
[Opening "Queen's gambit accepted"]
[TimeControl "900+10"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. cxd5 exd5 4. Nc3 Be6 5. Nf3 Nf6
6. Bf4 Bb4 7. a3 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 O-O 9. Qb3 Nc6
A curious move that cedes me the pawn, which I declined because I wanted to strengthen the center of the board. On reflection, that was not smart, I should have just taken it.
10. e3 Bf5
11. Qxb7 Qd7 12. Qxc7 Qxc7
Might as well take two if you are offering. Up two pawns and the queens off the board, with no tough complications obvious, I really should be able to take home this win.
I start looking for chances to exchange pieces.
13. Bxc7 Ne4 14. c4 dxc4 15. Bxc4 Rac8
16. Bf4 Na5 17. Bd3 Nb3 18. Rb1 Nc1 19. Bxe4 Bxe4 20. O-O Bxb1
And here is the major blunder. Can you tell I wasn't following my thought process? It should have been painfully obvious that I needed to protect that rook. That's the kind of blunder that just cannot happen. I didn't even get any recapturing opportunities. At least Nd2 would have made it an exchange and evened up material (knight and two pawns for the rook might even be a slight advantage to me, but I probably am not good enough for that to be significant at this level).
If I had to do it over again, I think Rb2 is my only real option.
21. e4 Bxe4 22. Bxc1 a6
Here, he misses the discovered attack and lets me get back into the game, down the exchange and up a pawn.
23. Nd2 Bd3 24. Re1 g6 25. Nb3 Rfe8
26. Rxe8+ Rxe8 27. h3 Rb8 28. Nc5 Bf5 29. Bf4 Rb1+ 30. Kh2 Ra1
31. d5! Rxa3
I thought long and hard about this one. I'm going to go ahead and give myself a ! for that. Passed pawns should be pushed, and my bishop and knight in wonderful position to protect his ascent up the board. Meanwhile, his rook is awkwardly placed to attack it, especially if he takes my pawn.
32. d6 Ra5 33. d7 Bxd7 34. Nxd7 Ra4
And we have material equality! Although not symmetry, as it is a knight and bishop versus a rook and an extra pawn, so we have all kinds of trickiness ahead.
His passed pawn is extremely well positioned out on the edge, though, so I suspect that will be my undoing at this point. I hoped maybe for a quick check-repitition draw to keep that from happening.
35. Be3 Ra2
36. Nf6+ Kg7 37. Bd4 Kh6 38. Be3+ Kg7 39. Bd4 Kh6 40. Ng8+ Kg5
41. Be3+ Kf5 42. Nh6+ Ke6 43. f3 a5 44. Ng4 a4 45. Kg3 Ra3
46. Bc1 Rb3 47. Ne3 a3
I don't get the draw and here comes the pawn, forcing me to go down material.
Now we have rook vs. knight with three pawns each. If I can get all those pawns off the board, we have a traditionally drawn position, but that won't be easy.
48. Bxa3 Rxa3 49. Nc4 Rc3 50. Nd2 f5
51. Nb1 Rd3 52. Kf4 h6 53. Kg3 Ke5 54. h4 h5 55. Kf2 Kf4
56. Ke2 Re3+ 57. Kf2 Re8 58. Nd2 g5 59. hxg5 Kxg5
One pawn down, so far so good.
60. Nf1 f4
61. g3 fxg3+ 62. Nxg3 h4
Two pawns down, we're getting there.
63. Ne4+ Kf4 64. Nf6 Rh8 65. Kg2 h3+
66. Kh2 Kxf3
I'm not too worried about losing my pawn here. I didn't have the resources to protect it, and it's all got to be focused on getting his last pawn without sacrificing the knight to get it. My king is already ideally placed, so I've got a shot.
67. Nd5 Rd8 68. Nf6 Rh8 69. Nd5 Ke2 70. Nf4+ Kf2
71. Nd3+ Kf3 72. Ne5+ Kf2 73. Ng4+ Kf3 74. Ne5+ Kf2 75. Nd3+ Kf3
76. Ne5+
1/2-1/2
He probably had a win from here if he'd been patient and thought it out. But it would have been incredibly tricky for him. He needs to protect the pawn with the king, otherwise he can't possibly move his rook off the H file. g4 is too easy for my knight to check repeatedly, so he needs to get it to h4, but that puts his rook and king a knight-fork apart, so he also needs to move the rook down a little further on the file.
He then needs to move his rook around to drive my king backwards before I can move my knight around to take the pawn, and then not put me in any positions where I can drop the knight and take a stalemate.
All in all, that was way too much to expect someone at this level to figure out in the heat of battle, so I took a draw I was rather proud of.
The thought process is not going as well as I'd hoped. I'm following it for maybe 40% of my non-opening moves, which is dismal. This is nothing but a discipline issue, so I hope I get there eventually. I have no prayer of getting anywhere in chess until I do.
I heard a nice piece of advice the other day, which helps in those sometimes bewildering positions where there are a ton of pieces on the board and they are all well-protected and you just don't know what to do: If you've gone through your thought process and still don't have a great move, simply do one of two things: Find your weakest piece and make it more active, or find your opponent's strongest piece and weaken it (either by cutting it off or forcing it to move).
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