Recently finished another no time bank 21 day Hardcore. Tournament 53944 40 games and the first two to three days are madness because I hate logging off when I still have moves to play. It is something I very rarely do so I stay up into the wee hours until I have a clear deck and then off to bed.
Now I'm finished I like to go over the games seeing if I played anything pretty good or bloody awful. A couple of the latter popped up and quite a few of the former. But on the whole I won 31 games, drew 5 and lost 4. So not too bad.
I have a few set openings I use. The favourite being the Latvian Gambit which I play, given the chance, against under 1500 players. This time it scored five wins out of five. Overall my stats on RHP with it are; won 121, drew 7 and lost 8.
The majority of my games were under 26 moves. These were over in a few days which in theory gave me more time to look at the rest of the games and stop rushing by playing Rule of Thumb moves. Also time to take stock and see what kind of mess I was in in the remaining games. Fortunately not too bad. However one of the games I had time to look at contained a disappointing, for me, a howler. I give it here.
mallys7 - greenpawn34 RHP Hardcore 2026
Of course I cannot remember everything I was thinking during the game, mostly you will see simple Rule of Thumb moves and hoping if a tactic pops up then I'll spot it.(Huh!) One did pop up in this game and I missed it.
The opening is another ‘dodgy’ Black I use for those who avoid the Latvian.
Header
PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 d5 {Not liked by the books but I've had this exact position on RHP 23 times as Black and won every game.} 4. exd5 Nxd5 5. Qf3 {This has been played in a few top level games mainly in rapid events. 5.Nf3 is the best move.} 5... Be6 {Defend the Knight and refrain from playing Nb5 because Qxf7 is mate.} 6. Ne2 {A better plan was 5...Qg3 eyeing the e-pawn the g-pawn and freeing f3 for the Knight} 6... Be7 {Develop.} 7. O-O {Damn! I hate sensible players who castle, it means I will probably have some middle game work to do.} 7... O-O 8. Re1 Nc6 {Still developing without too much thought behind a move. The less you think the easier the game to play is. Position must be level, White has got nothing from the opening.} 9. c3 {Stops a future Nd4 but the b1 Knight has a job getting into the game.} 9... Qd7 {With Bg4 ideas and I've connected my Rooks which is always a good idea.} 10. Qg3 Rad8 11. Bg5 {Now probably came my first real think.} 11... f5 {The White Queen is a good target. Played this to see what happens.} 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. a4 {I'm not sure what that does. Give the Bishop a flight square on a2. I ignore it and press on.} 13... f4 14. Qf3 {All kinds of ideas popped up but first, tuck the big fellah out of the way,} 14... Kh8 15. Nd2 Qh4 {All my bits are in play, my King is safe, time to start shifting things near their King see what happens.} 16. Ne4 {I've just noticed 16.Nd4 would have been a good move for White because my e6 Bishop is unprotected. I missed that, so did my opponent.} 16... Bg4 {Now I'm winning.} 17. g3 Qh5 {I'll keep the Queens on because their Queen ends up on h1 and looks silly.} 18. Qg2 {18. Qh1 Bf3 wins the Queen} 18... f3 19. Qh1 {I now go a piece up.} 19... fxe2 {I've won a piece, the game is over. I relax and give more time to my other games.} 20. h4 Nf6 {Chop some wood and wrap it up.} 21. Ng5 {Missed that one. I do not want Ne3 hanging over my head.} 21... Rd6 22. f3 {White is untangling, but I am still a piece up, No worries.} 22... Bf5 23. Rxe2 Bxd3 24. Bxd3 Rxd3 25. Rf1 e4 {keep the pressure up, This will encourage more exchanges.} 26. Nxe4 Nxe4 27. Rxe4 Qc5+ {This gets a Rook on the 7th. Another Rule of Thumb move. } 28. Kh2 Rd2+ 29. Kh3 Rxb2 {I’ve nicked a pawn. Plan A in such situations is get the a-pawn, tie up White with my extra piece and run home my a-pawn.} 30. Rfe1 {I remember this position. I'm winning, just do not fall for a back rank trick so I quickly played 30...h6? Idiot. This is what should have happened.} 30... Qf5+ {So much for my Check All Checks war cry. 30...Rg4 31.h5.} 31. g4 Qxf3+ 32. Qxf3 Rxf3 {Checkmate. I missed it and gave my King luft instead. The game plodded on. I eventually took the a-pawn, tied up White and promoted a pawn but it took another 30 moves after my 30....h6 before the game ended.}
I'm not sure I teaching. I think I'm going over things most should know, get you pieces off the back rank, watch your King and then look for a target to soften up. or a piece that looks misplaced. (here the White Queen)
My Kh8 to stop surprise checks and h6 back to stop rank ricks are just automatic moves I've had burnt into me by some silly OTB losses,
F5 played with a King on g8 look out for checks and pins on the a2-g8 diagonal Double Rooks=Watch your back rank. If had not been a piece up and relaxed I'd like to think I would have spotted the mate...maybe not,
