3 Rapid Games Played @ Singapore Social Chess Meetup (20 June 2018)

I have not been posting for the past weeks. Got distracted with the joys of non-chess activities in life ^o^ Some of the games played in this period of absence were so weird, I can't make enough sense of the position even when using the Engines and the Online Database. I don't like to share things I don't understand myself.

Anyway, here goes for today's rapid games (15 minutes initial time + 10 seconds increment per move)

Game #1 : A fairly interesting game against a Teenager as both of us play the same opening:

Learning Points from Game #1:
1. Opening knowledge is not sacred. Do not assume you know more than the opponent. In fact, teens and kids would tend to know and remember better!

2. I have been tricking myself into transpositions / variations I don't like quite a bit. Need to stay calm and collected!

3. Do not overthink! Missing out the correct move of b4 (out of harms way, while counter-attacking 1 of opponent's piece is so straight-forward!)

4. Need to improve on endgame decision-making (how to maximise chances to draw inferior endgames involving Rooks / Bishops / Pawns).

5. Time management!

Game #2 : Somewhat of a rollercoaster game:

Learning Points from Game #2:
1. Still not familiar enough with the anti-Sicilian setup I'm using.

2. Time management (again!)

3. Wrong evaluation of the position leading to prioritising of passive/defensive moves. Very wasteful in positions that are better, but effective in holding bad/worse-off positions =)

4. (Learning point from my opponent's mistake) In a format with increments, do not try to win on time when you have an equal if not superior position over the board. Instead, use the time advantage to maintain quality moves. Let the disadvantaged player continue to stress over the bad situation and collapse on his own.

Game #3: Literally crawling back from behind to win.

Learning Points from Game #3:
1. Being too much of a "perfectionist" in open positions can really backfire. Even if it's a sub-optimum placement, better try to bring out as many pieces as possible at the fastest (and not trying to play around with pawn moves and find the perfect square for 1 piece followed by another) -- don't have that luxury of time.

2. I still don't fully understand why after 11.Be3, the engine doesn't like Kingside castling for both sides. I suspect it has to do with keeping the Rooks on h1 and h1 to support Kingside activities (pawn pushes).

3. A good example of chess psychology at work. Here, I sensed that my opponent was trying to win (at all cost), and it is easy to wait for some sort of over-push and punish on the counter. Just like parking the bus in soccer -- yes it may not be entertaining but it can be an extremely effective strategy under the correct circumstances.

4. Again, wrong evaluation of the position leading to timid moves.

5. Despite the time disadvantage, the time management was decent.

That's it for now. Thank you.


Yours sincerely
Ong Yujing
(newbie_learner)