Hello,
John Hunter recently asked to play a game with me and analyze it afterwards. We have finished the game and have been going over it, and would like to post it here in case any stronger players would be interested in showing important mistakes and missed opportunities. Thank you for any help.
Game 7362892
Assuming "you" is Black, then on move 12 you died. Move 11 you had better ways to defend the dark square Bishop (the Knight covers the d7 Bishop). Move 8 you missed that trick on d5 so Bd7 was a blunder, but why there anyway? Maybe thinking of Bc6 to follow? That's slow. All seems obvious in retrospect. Ordinary mortals will miss stuff all the same.
However, when the game is sinking that fast from maybe move 6, and mine often do, is it really possible to give much advice? You are in the earliest stage of the opening and maybe you just have to accept that this needs more homework before you play it again. Learn from the masters!
Hi Dzhanfer.
trouble started here Black to play.
You chose 11...Qc7 holding the Bishop and the b7 pawn.
The Queen is actually your worse piece. She is a liability and certainly no team player.
All she can do is attack. She hates defending duties.
When you use her attacking powers to defend she sulks and when the Queen
sulks the whole army is miserable.
Basically, as a rule of thumb, never use the Queen to defend things.
The other lads don't mind doing their bit of defending but the Queen is
always the weakest link in the defensive chain. Using your most powerful piece
to defend bits and pawns should always be your last choice.
Infact it's often better to let a pawn go than hold it with a Queen.
11...Bb6 was a move. White cannot touch the b-pawn as he loses his Queen.
11...Bb6 12.Qxb7? Bc6!
And there is the 2nd rule of thumb.
Never ever take a QNP with the Queen.
Ha 🙂
I joined Finnigan "Assuming "you" is Black, " thinking the lad was Black.
OK pass on comments to the Black player.
Why did White not play 20.Rxd7?
And swapping Queens when a piece up when the Black Queen was clearly worse
and you had a 'free' piece to sac scores low on the entertainment scale. 😉
I'm the guilty one who played black. 😏
As you can all see I'm at a pretty elementary level, having returned to the game after about thirty years. Actually playing chess as a kid consisted mainly of setting up pawns like bowling pins and knocking them down with marbles (I was in Wisconsin afterall, where bowling is no mere sport but the official religion). So here I am paying the price for my youthful indiscretion.
Thanks to everyone for your feedback. And thanks to dzhafner for playing (slaughtering) me and performing the post game autopsy as well!
I avoided 20 Rxd7 because I figured Bh6 was the strongest move and i'm a hungry hungry hippo. Also, if i'm only one piece up, i can blunder and be even; whereas if i'm two pieces up, i have two free sacs. But how about on move 16, could Qh5 have led to a mating attack?
16 Qh5 ...Nf6?! doesn't lose a piece to Rxd8 ... Nxh5 Rxf8 ...Rxf8, but how about
17 Qh4? ...??
16 Qh5 ... h6
17 Ne5?
or maybe even
16 Qh5 ... Qf6?
White should be able to win with his extra piece, but is there some way to mate from there?
Hi Marink.
Rules of thumb are warnings. They are not set in concrete, they are always,
thankfully, exceptions.
You do realise by showing that game you have written yourself out of the will. 🙂
(famous story about a millionaire who left his sons a fortune on the provision
that they never took the QNP with their Queen.)
Must have had something like this 9 mover in mind.
Fischer Chess and you have more opportunities to ignore ROT's.
Here we see both sides chasing the QNP's with their Queens from move one.
White thought covering b2 with the d1 Knight was enough and concentrated
only on his his own attack. (another Rule Of Thumb)