Originally posted by pinkthunderFair point, but it's only one aspect of the position. White has the bishop pair and his pieces are better placed. It's difficult for Black to make progress while protecting his weaknesses at e4 and g6. Additionally, if White can swap his white squared bishop for the knight, is it likely to result in a drawn opposite bishop ending. In short, I don't think Black can win.
Knights are more effective in those endings in which pawns exist only on one flank
The bishop pair on an open board is almost always more valuable than any 2 other minor pieces (and far more than a lone rook). black had no good way to safely advance the pawn. Varenka already pointed out how easy it is to engineer a draw via bishops of opposite colors. Hence with best play it should be a draw. Playing black against someone with a rating 400 points below mine... I may have played it out to the bitter end.
personally, in the opening choice, i really like some of the less main line-more unorthodox openings (often I play closed variations of sicilian, or even check with Bb5 if i feel like it...
pushing a5 on move 13 might have been an error, im just glancing it over
I do like it that you held onto your dual bishops when down a pawn...that saved you from a loss...
but yeah a5 might have been a mistake
EDIT: but good job on drawing up (1500 draws a 1950... nice)
I only glanced at the game, but it appears that White's two Bishops probably offset the fact that he was a pawn down (all pawns on the same side of the board also mitigates Black’s advantage). Still, in principle, I would have tried to retain the last pair of Rooks if I were White. If White opened the center, he can attack Black's King with his two Bishops and Rook. But considering the difference in ratings and White's pawn deficit, the result was probably fair.
Originally posted by WalshieDid you ask your opponent for his thoughts and how you could have played better?
My rating was 1400 then.
His rating is pretty high and i'm sure he would have some decent advise about the game for you.
That's one of best things I like about playing OTB. Going over the game after with my opponent and other players. On here though it sort of wishy washy. Most people don't want to go over the games after. It's like a race. Lets see who can play the most game in a month or make the most moves.