Today was rough all around. Network problems made my day job a challenge and I lost two daily chess games that I should have won. That’s not saying that my opponents didn’t deserve to win. They certainly played good games and came out on top, but there were so many ridiculous blunders today that have been so uncharacteristic of me lately. I managed, in extraordinary fashion, to blunder not one, but two Bishops today. Perhaps the analysis of these games is just a way of venting. I’m sure that I’ll bounce back…I always do. But wow, these are hard to stomach.
[pgn] [Event “Let’s Play!”] [Site “Chess.com”] [Date “2021.08.04”] [Round “-“] [White “Internet Opponent”] [Black “CMDRExorcist”] [Result “1-0”] [ECO “B21”] [WhiteElo “1030”] [BlackElo “1055”] [TimeControl “1/86400”] [CurrentPosition “r1b1k2r/pp1pqppp/2nQ1n2/1N2p3/4P3/5N2/PPP2PPP/R1B1KB1R b KQkq – 2 8”] [Timezone “UTC”] [ECOUrl “https://www.chess.com/openings/Sicilian-Defense-Smith-Morra-Gambit-2…cxd4-3.Qxd4-Nc6-4.Qd1”] [UTCDate “2021.08.04”] [UTCTime “18:32:24”] [StartTime “18:32:24”] [EndDate “2021.08.05”] [EndTime “18:04:14”] [Link “https://www.chess.com/game/daily/349479391”] {I’ve had a really rough day. This is the first of two heartbreaking games I played over the past two days. I had just gotten my rating to 1066 with a 12 game winning streak and was feeling good about my progress. But, alas, the chess gods were there to humble me.} 1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qd1 e5 {Looking good so far. I’m out of the Book, which I think I’ve made significant improvement in my playing of the Sicilian as Black.} 5. Nc3 Nf6 {The buildup in defense and anticipation of destruction for the e4 pawn. The center is about to get crowded.} 6. Nf3 Bd6?? {Holy mother of God. This was a move that I made in a hurry and its 100\% obvious I wasn’t really paying attention to what’s going on. The Bishop is blundered and there is no saving it. Essentially, the game is over because my pieces are trapped and there’s no way to gain a tempo to fight against the coming onslaught.} 7. Qxd6! {I hoped and prayed that my opponent would blunder similar to me, but he did not. The Bishop is gone and things are about to get worse.} 7… Qe7!? {Offering a Queen trade in a last ditch effort to develop some counterplay.} (7… Qb6 8. Nxe5 Nd4 9. Qxb6 axb6 10. Nc6 Nxc2+ 11. Kd1 Nxa1) 8. Nb5 {Ouch. Stockfish wants White to take the Queen trade, but the human side of me is devastated by the nice Nb5 because after 8…Qxe7 9.Kxe7, it’s just a gobble fest for White.} (8. Nb5 Qxd6 9. Nxd6+ Ke7 {is the most likely continuation, with White being up almost two pieces before the core of the middlegame begins.}) 1-0 [/pgn]
And shortly after that little gem was played, this happened…
[pgn] [Event “Let’s Play!”] [Site “Chess.com”] [Date “2021.08.04”] [Round “-“] [White “CMDRExorcist”] [Black “Internet Opponent”] [Result “0-1”] [CurrentPosition “5rk1/1b1r1ppp/p2p4/4n3/2p2q2/1QN4P/PPP2PP1/R3R1K1 w – – 0 21”] [Timezone “UTC”] [ECO “B01”] [ECOUrl “https://www.chess.com/openings/Scandinavian-Defense-Mieses-Kotrc-Main-Line-4.d4-Nf6-5.Nf3”] [UTCDate “2021.08.04”] [UTCTime “18:32:22”] [WhiteElo “1046”] [BlackElo “974”] [TimeControl “1/86400”] [Termination “razorace1 won by resignation”] [StartTime “18:32:22”] [EndDate “2021.08.05”] [EndTime “19:09:13”] [Link “https://www.chess.com/game/daily/349479385”] {After blundering a Bishop in an earlier game today, I had this gem to deal with. What follows is an absolute nightmare…} 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 {My depth in book openings has certainly improved over the last few weeks. More people in Daily chess seem to play solid openings at this rating level than some of the Live chess games I’ve played.} 5… Nc6 6. Bb5 a6 7. Bxc6+ bxc6 8. Ne5 {This is a very nice position for me. The Knight is dominating my opponent’s pieces, but there is counterplay options for Black if he plays carefully.} 8… Bb7 9. O-O {9.a3 is best here, but I was hyperfocused on opening the E-file and missed the pawn push.} 9… c5 10. d5 {I thought long and hard in this position about what’s the best next move. There were several lines, but I decided on one that ultimately sealed my downfall.} 10… Rd8 {I had anticipated 10.c4 or 10.c6.} 11. d6?? {There’s really no excuse for this move. There’s nothing to be gained by it and it ultimately just sacrifices the pawn and forces me to move my Queen. Much better was to move the Queen to f3 to put some pressure on that annoying f6 Knight.} (11. Qf3 Qb6 12. Re1 e6 13. a4 {and things would have been different.}) 11… exd6?? {The chess gods have smiled upon me. My opponent commits a similar blunder in the position and gives me a chance to redeem myself. This is especially dangerous as 11…exd6?? exposes the King to a direct attack on the e-file.} 12. Nc4 Qb4 {The Queen’s only safe space.} 13. Qe2+ {Defending the vulnerable c4 Knight.} 13… Be7 14. Re1 O-O 15. Qxe7?? {Greed. That’s all this was. I saw a piece and gobbled it up like it was first day playing chess. What I didn’t realize was that I had missed winning my opponent’s Queen with the awesome 15.a3! What’s worse is that I didn’t gain any material from this because the move eliminates protection of the c4 Knight and allows Black’s Queen to escape from any future trap on the Queenside.} 15… Qxc4 16. Qxc7?? {I’m pretty sure it was just frustration at this point. MUCH better was 16.Qe2 and offering a trade of Queens. Instead, I backed myself into a corner.} 16… Rd7 17. Qb6 Ng4 18. h3 {Preventing any sneaky ideas my opponent might have had on the f2 square.} (18. Re4 {looks like a neat fork, but is an illusion.} 18… Bxe4 19. Nxe4 Qxe4 +-) 18… Ne5 19. Bf4?? {Two Bishop blunders in a single day. I didn’t see it until after I had made the move and pretty much resigned at this point.} 19… Qxf4 20. Qb3 c4 {There’s really no reason to continue. A few lines offer me a chance to regain some points, but there’s no real path to victory and I knew that I’d let the game get to me too much to continue in a sensible way. Maybe I should switch to checkers… ;)} (20… c4 21. Qa3 Re7 22. Ne2 Qe4 23. Qg3 Qxc2 24. Nd4 {is one possible continuation. Black retains an upper hand, but at least there is some counterplay.}) 0-1 [/pgn]
At least tomorrow is a new day.
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