I've been doing a lot of work on mental discipline. Unfortunately, I don't always have it when picking my games and times to play, so I dropped down to a 1242 playing when I wasn't fully focused.
But the good news is that I'm making strides on thinking about my moves and taking my time. Not great strides, but strides nonetheless. It's a start. Unfortunately, I'm having a lot of trouble finding games regularly with human players, so I've played some computers.
Here's the first game of the night.
[Event "ICC"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2009.09.15"]
[White "KyleMayhugh"]
[Black "HEYNOWww"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "1245"]
[BlackElo "1317"]
[ECO "E32"]
[Opening "Nimzo-Indian"]
[Variation "Classical variation"]
[TimeControl "1800+30"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O
I know through Qc2 is standard book.
5. a3 Bxc3+
MCO says this is book too. That might be the furthest I've followed a book line with an opponent.
6. bxc3 h6
Shoot, Qxc3 is recommended over bxc3.
7. f4 d6 8. Nf3 Nc6 9. g3 Bd7 10. Bg2 Nb8
11. Rb1 b6
At this point, I'm happy with my position and feel like I'm doing a good job of activating my army.
12. Ne5 d5
This move took a respecatable 91 seconds and is rather nifty, at least winning the bishop pair and putting a lot of pressure with my light-squared bishop.
13. O-O Nc6 14. Nxd7 Qxd7 15. cxd5 Nxd5
16. e4 Nde7 17. Rd1 Qe8 18. d5 Nd8 19. dxe6 Nxe6
He's really on the defensive, all my pieces are active, and I control both the only open and the only semi-open file with rooks. All is in good shape here, though it looks as if his defense is stacked up and will be hard to break.
20. e5 Rc8
21. Be3 Kh8 22. Rd2 Ng8 23. Rbd1 Rb8 24. f5 Ng5 25. f6 gxf6
26. exf6 Qxe3+
And here's the blunder, a simple counting error costs me serious material.
One lapse of thought process is as bad as 20.
Fortunately, I still had some counterplay because his knight was pinned to his rather vulnerable king and my pieces were generally more active. I guess I should be happy that it took 26 moves before Crafty hated one of my moves.
27. Kh1 Nxf6 28. Re2 Qc5 29. c4 Qxa3 30. Rd3 Qc5
31. Qc3 Qf5 32. h4 Ne6 33. Rf3 Nf4 34. gxf4 Rg8 35. Bh3 Qb1+
36. Re1 Qg6 37. f5 Qg7 38. Rff1 a5 39. Rg1 Ne4
He needs his queen for defense on his king as long as mine is so threatening, and that finally costs him as he's cramped and forced to concede the knight back after already conceding the first one. I'm actually "up" in material at this point, but a rook and bishop vs. a rook with two extra pawns is no comfortable situations.
40. Qxg7+ Rxg7
41. Rxe4 Rxg1+ 42. Kxg1 b5 43. c5 Kg7 44. Kf2 Rd8 45. Bf1 b4
46. Bc4 a4 47. Bb5 Rd5 48. Bxa4 Rxc5 49. Rxb4 Rxf5+ 50. Kg3 Rf6
51. Rf4 Rxf4 52. Kxf4 Kg6
Okay, still down two pawns, but I've taken care of most of his threats. Trading rooks was a draw move, in retrospect, I could have played for the win if I'd wanted to, but it would not have been a comfortable position with him having two passed pawns with some separation between them.
From here, in retrospect, the draw is definitely inevitable. I've got his king outmaneuvered and can win his extra pawns easily, but I've still just got a rook pawn with a bishop not the same color as the promotion square. That's a textbook draw, and deep down I knew it though I tried to play it out.
53. Kg4 Kg7 54. Kf5 Kh7 55. Kf6 Kg8
56. Bc6 h5 57. Ba4 c5 58. Bb5 Kh7 59. Kxf7 Kh6 60. Kf6 Kh7
61. Bd3+ Kh6 62. Be2 Kh7 63. Kg5 Kg7 64. Kxh5 Kh7 65. Kg5 Kg7
66. h5 Kh7 67. Bd3+ Kg7 68. h6+ Kg8 69. Kg6 Kh8 70. Kh5 Kg8
71. h7+ Kg7 72. Kg4 Kh8 73. Kf4 Kg7 74. Ke5 Kh8 75. Kd5 Kg7
76. Kxc5 Kh8 77. Kd5 Kg7 78. Ke5 Kh8 79. Ke6 Kg7 80. Ke7 Kh8
81. Bg6 Kg7 82. Ke8 Kh8 83. Ke7 Kg7 84. Ke8 Kh8 85. Kf8
1/2-1/2
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