In chess it can be very gratifying to weather the storm–i.e., to fend off an opponent’s attack with precise, logical moves. Even better if you can emerge from the skirmish with an advantage, something that happens often when players of my caliber, on the offensive, make mistakes or overextend themselves. This is what I thought happened in one of the games I played this evening. White attacks my position right out of the gate but I thought I defended (more or less) accurately. As it turns out, I did not play as accurately as I had thought. In any case a mistake on my opponent’s part leads to my being a piece up, at which point I employ a good strategic principle: when you have a material advantage, trade pieces as often as possible, as material advantages increase as pieces get swept off the board (2 against 1 is a bigger advantage than 16 against 15, even if the advantage is only ‘1’ in each case). I’ll post the game and then my post-game ‘analysis’ afterwards:
[pgn]
[Event “Live Chess”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2015.07.04”]
[White “msedwards”]
[Black “dmsv”]
[Result “0-1”]
[WhiteElo “1192”]
[BlackElo “1311”]
[TimeControl “15|10”]
[Termination “dmsv won by resignation”]
[WhiteToggles “0%”]
[BlackToggles “0%”]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Ng5 Nf6 5.Bc4 Ne5 6.Qxd4 Nxc4 7.Qxc4 d5 8.exd5 Nxd5 9.O-O Be7 10.Nc3 Bxg5
11.Bxg5 Qxg5 12.Rae1+ Be6 13.Nxd5 O-O 14.Rd1 c6 15.Qd3 Bxd5 16.Qh3 Be6 17.Qc3 Rad8 18.Rxd8 Rxd8 19.f4 Qh5 20.Rf3 Rd1+
21.Kf2 Qxh2 22.Rg3 Qg1+ 23.Kf3 Bd5+ 24.Kg4 Qd4 25.Qxd4 Rxd4 26.Re3 Re4 27.Ra3 a6 28.Rh3 Re2 29.g3 Bxa2 30.Rh5 Rxc2
31.Re5 h6 32.Re8+ Kh7 33.f5 f6 34.Kf4 Rxb2 35.g4 c5 36.Ke4 0-1
[/pgn]
Some comments on this game:
White’s opening moves comprise the Scotch Game (e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 d4).
After my 4…exd4, I was expecting the typical 5. Nxd4 Nxd4 followed by 6. Qxd4, but White surprises me with the aggressive 5. Ng5. Computer analysis says this move by White is a mistake.
My 10…Bxg5 was apparently a mistake. The computer says that with this move I go from roughly equal to losing, and recommends c6 instead!
White’s move 12. Rae1+ is a blunder. Why not just take my Knight on d4? Now I’m back in play….
White misses a great move with 15. Qf4, attacking my Queen. If I capture, he re-captures with his Knight. This would have saved his piece. Keep in mind, though, that these are timed games and everything looks so obvious after the dust has settled.
On move 17 I have to resist snatching the pawn on a2. That would be met with b3 and my Bishop is lost!
My move 23…Bd5+ was a mistake. Qf1+ would have ended up winning White’s Queen. Oh well…
This game illustrates something else I’m learning about chess. One can play a game and come away thinking he played very accurately, only to submit his game for computer analysis and find that he made a bunch of mistakes, some of which would have cost him the game against a stronger opponent. But I suppose in the end what matters, in any given game, is that your mistakes are fewer or less costly than your opponents!
Original Positions 