One of my favorite parts of playing daily chess is how the battles unfold over several days. There are some positions that go fast and others that seem to drag on forever. Then there are those moments where it seems that both sides are ready to lash out. I find myself constantly checking to see if I’ve received a notification that it’s my turn to move when there are tight positions and it’s all hanging by a thread. The game that follows is one such game that I recently played. It was a close battle for most of the game with blunders and mistakes on both sides, but ultimately, I pulled out a very nice win.
[pgn] [Event “Let’s Play!”] [Site “Chess.com”] [Date “2021.06.30”] [Round “-“] [White “Internet Opponent”] [Black “CMDRExorcist”] [Result “0-1”] [StartTime “14:26:45”] [ECOUrl “https://www.chess.com/openings/Sicilian-Defense”] [BlackElo “1034”] [WhiteElo “1103”] [Termination “CMDRExorcist won by checkmate”] [Link “?”] [Timezone “UTC”] [EndDate “2021.07.05”] [EndTime “18:08:56”] [UTCDate “2021.06.30”] [CurrentPosition “7k/7P/p7/Pp6/1P3p2/Kqr2P2/5b2/R2R4 w – – 0 48”] [TimeControl “1/86400”] [ECO “B20”] [UTCTime “14:26:45”] 1. e4 c5 {One day I hope to be proficient at the Sicilian Defense. For now, its almost an automatic reply that descends quickly into madness.} 2. e5 {White pushes forward in an effort to strange my position, but I’m happy to give up a pawn for pawn to break open and bring some power into the center.} d5 3. exd6 Qxd6 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. f3 e5 6. Qe2 $2 {White would do better to further develop their pawn structure and activate other pieces before bringing out the Queen. I did so out of necessity.} Be7 7. g4 O-O 8. h4 {A very unusual combination. Obviously designed to display my Knight and add pressue to my King side.} Nc6 {Ignoring the King side pawn push at the moment in favor of additional center development.} 9. Nb5 Qd7 10. c3 a6 11. Na3 b5 12. Bh3 Nd5 {With the intention of trying to fork Qe2 and Bh3, but I wasn’t expecting my opponent to allow such a move.} 13. g5 {An obvious effort to bait me into the fork and to trade Queens. Not interested.} Qd6 14. d3 $2 {White seemingly ignores the fork with the unusual move 14.d3?} Nf4 15. Qe4 Nxh3 16. Nxh3 {I have a very nice pair of Bishops bearing down on the h-file side. White’s Queen is totally exposed in the center and in a growing danger zone.} g6 17. Nc2 Bf5 18. Qe2 Bxd3 {I thought about this move for a long time, but the fork was a somewhat intuitive move.} 19. Qd2 c4 20. b4 {The engine move after 20.b4 is 21.cxb4, but I preferred to keep my pawn structure in tact to prevent White from developing any counterplay.} f5 21. Ne3 f4 {Adding more of a strangehold on White’s position. Things are very closed at this point with little to no wiggle room.} 22. Ng4 Kh8 {Avoiding any unnecessary checks or forks with the approaching Knights.} 23. Nhf2 h5 24. gxh6 g5 25. hxg5 Bxg5 26. h7 {This little pawn would provide a nice bit of protection for my King for the rest of the game.} Qd5 27. Qd1 Rae8 28. Nxd3 {White begins trying to break open the position. Tactics are going to be key in future positions.} cxd3 29. Nf2 Bf6 30. Ne4 {White really wants my Bishop and I really want that pawn, but neither of us we were willing to give up at this point.} Qd8 31. a4 Bh4+ {The engine doesn’t like this move, but I don’t care. I was willing to sacrifice the Bishop for the Rook or just to bring White’s King out into the center so I could push him around a bit.} 32. Kd2 Qb6 {A threat of mate in one if White isn’t careful.} 33. Kxd3 $4 {A devastating mistake. White’s Queen is lost.} Rd8+ 34. Kc2 Rxd1 35. Rxd1 Rd8 {Offering a Rook trade.} 36. a5 {White declines the offer.} Qa7 37. Rh1 {An odd position…back to putting pressure on my Bishop.} Nd4+ 38. cxd4 Qxd4 39. Bb2 Qc4+ 40. Bc3 Qe2+ 41. Nd2 Bf2 {I thought in this position for a very long time and ran a few lines on my analysis board. Ultimately, I was ready to sacrifice my Rook to completely blow open White’s position, but…suddenly…} 42. Bxe5+ $4 {I noticed after the game that my opponent had sent me a sad faced emoji as he recognized what he’d done. Now it’s just time to put a bow on the game.} Qxe5 43. Rhd1 Qc7+ 44. Kb1 Rc8 45. Ka2 {There is no escape.} Qc2+ 46. Ka3 Rc3+ 47. Nb3 Qxb3# 0-1 [/pgn]