Hey folks, I want to learn from every game I play. I played a person 200+ points higher than me and gave it my best shot but finally resigned. I think I missed some opportunities early on but felt like I was on the defense from the 1st move. It was a difficult game for me. My point of all of this is please look at this and give me an analysis. You can be as blunt as you feel the game calls for. I promise I won't sulk.
Thank you and look forward to what lies ahead with the answers.
Well, you played quite well and had an even or better position for most of the game. You just lost it all in the blunder 32....Rd6, which allowed white to win the queen. Something along the lines of Qd4, forcing an exchange of queens would have lead to a sure draw at least.
An earlier opportunity that comes to mind is 17...Nb4 18.Qc3...Nd3. White cannot play Rd1 as Nxf2 wins, and any other rook move loses to 19...Rc8. Therefore white must try 19.Ne5, but after 19...Nxe5 and 20.Qxe5 (20.Rxe5 loses to Rc8 and Rd1+), 21...Nc4 22.Qe2...Rc2 leaves black with a definate edge.
Hi Clan.
Great minds think alike. I'm smelling things here..and other places.
I think it's always best to post a diagram along with analysis.
I copy the game and paste in winboard - it's a piece of cake to
copy & paste a diagram from there.
So your post can read thus: ('ve not changed a word).
An earlier opportunity that comes to mind is 17...Nb4
18.Qc3...Nd3. White cannot play Rd1 as Nxf2 wins,
and any other rook move loses to 19...Rc8.
Therefore white must try 19.Ne5,
but after 19...Nxe5 and 20.Qxe5 (20.Rxe5 loses to Rc8 and Rd1+),
21...Nc4 22.Qe2...Rc2 leaves black with a definate edge.
(and you catch wee erros with that last bit - ...Rc2 looks like a typo).
Good.
Reads better...Yes?
"Diagrams are,in my opinion,anachronistic and wasters of space.They have been ommited.(This omission also serves to discourage those impatient readers who like to 'skim' a book's content!)"
Author's note in Combat: My 50 years at the chessboard,Sidney Bernstein.
toet. 😉
Black could triple instead of merely doubling his zeroes on move 10...0-0-0
Black lost time when he moved his knight back and forth on moves 16 and 17
Perhaps 17...Rc8 would be better than 17...Nc6 or 17...Nb4 like they say
Par shooter is partly correct on move 19...Rd8 would develop a dormant rook which would be a reasonable move.
It doesn`t threaten a bank rank mate though.
32...Kh6 may have been the losing move.
Quickly playing through the game, the most obvious mistake (besides 32...Rd6??) I saw was 23...Re8?. This is an instructional positional blunder actually... Essentially what you did with this move was allow white to exchange his bad knight for your powerful dark squared bishop. After the knight captures the bishop and a pair of rooks are traded off this is the position (white to play):
Look at how weak the dark squares around your king are! In my opinion you're lost at this point. White's king is nicely tucked away while yours is open to the four winds. The correct play was 23...Be5, which is a fantastic square for the bishop, it has influence on all four corners of the board and by being on the same diagonal as your king it also serves as a powerful defensive piece. What could have been:
Interesting.To me it looks dead equal 😕
2 questions come to mind:
a)Are those dark squares of real importance in a heavy piece ending such as this?
b)Doesn't the fact black's king has luft (arguably he has a bit too much of it) help him rather than be a disadvantage?
I agree to preserve the bishop.On the other hand he used the trade to also trade his inactive rook for White's active one.He gains some time with it and White will most likely spend another move on creating an escapehatch for his king.Black can use that time to do something useful (although I don't know what,I'd probably move my king towards the center).Perhaps it wasn't best but I find that reasonable thinking.
toet.
toet, to (maybe) answer your questions:
1. Judging from the outcome, I'd say the weakened dark squares around black's king were decisive. White was able to infiltrate deep into black's position and "force" a blunder.
2. Sure luft is important in heavy piece endgames, however, it's not difficult for white to find the time to play h3. After 25...Rxd4, 26.Qc3 Kg8 white actually does play h3, so this is the position (black to move):
Here black really has no good moves. The pawn structure is symmetrical, both players' pieces are active. In my opinion the best black can hope for is a draw. The only imbalance I see in this position is black's weak king on g8. Now I'm not saying this is a decisive imbalance, but it's definitely something white can hope to take advantage of. I'm confident that a 2000+ player could draw with black here, but it would be on him to make accurate defensive moves. Nobody likes playing a position with no counterplay...
Div,
sorry but I fail to see why black would be on the defense here.
That king doesn't look so weak to me.A king without pawnscreen is not automatically weak.In this case I don't think white should be able to embarass his majesty.
Black has no good moves.Ok,but,imo,neither has white.Both cannot really hope for more than a draw.Though I agree black must take more care.White has a better chance to pull of a trick.
And if we go by the game all black had to do was 29.... Rd1 trading rooks and creating a queen ending.Dead drawn.The fact he missed it,or just aimed for more,doesn't say anything about the position itself.
But we can disagree eternally.Either this is an 'Adorjan' case or one of my many shortcomings as a chessplayer.
toet.
toet, 29...Rd1 does not equalize, it loses. 30.Qb3+! picks up the rook 🙂 (see how careful black has to be). I don't believe there's any way for black to completely equalize here...
But I think you're right in theory really... Black has a draw here with hard work. As it turns out, OP was not up to the task! Compare that to:
Personally I'd rather have black in this position... Anyway, I was just pointing out a variation I noticed, and I think it illustrates important concepts. I'm not saying it was the most critical juncture in the game! Just something I noticed...