I misplayed the opening, which paralysed my position completely. I was virtually a sitting duck waiting to be slaughtered. Then, my time bank took a huge burn as I wanted to maximise damage control on my end, really spending huge amount of time (even 20 minutes or more on 1 or 2 moves). I don't know if my young opponent is trying to beat me by playing fast at the crucial moves -- which didn't pay off for him. Still, my position looked very vulnerable, coupled by time pressure. Then, I went down a pawn in a Rook + pawns endgame. But what a resource I found when I decided I have nothing to lose -- I just centralised my King, activated my Rooks to harass my opponent's loose pawns. Objectively, the position should still be equal / well defensible endgame. But he kept missing the point which allowed me to keep getting free pawn advancement until the point of no return.
This game would be a complete waste of time for chess pros, but there may be some learning value for beginners and club players like myself. As always, these are my personal views which may not always be objective and correct -- please feel free to share your views / feedback if any! Thanks in advance.
Learning Points for Me
- All these games are the same cycle for me: Emerge worse out of the opening, spend lots of time to stay alive and enter into something playable, opponent try to beat me on the clock and backfire, no time to think and play out the endgame properly, *luck-fest* ^o^
- I have read on this about the Bishop pair, but I failed to apply it in this game. What I read seems to make sense in helping to judge whether the Bishop pair is a true asset or not: the unopposed Bishop -- is it good or bad. If good, it is an asset. If bad, it may even be a liability (like this game!)
- Please do something about the poor opening play! I won't always be lucky!
- Please do something about the time management as well. But understandably, because the opening position is already hateable, more time was consumed to improve the quality of the subsequent moves/play.
- Despite all the bad things in this game, I like my practical decision making, from simplifying the position, to not despair when a pawn down and just play the best moves I can see. Even if I seriously misplayed the endgame, at least I was consistent in my approach: gobble up all the Black pawns at all cost first (so that I won't lose).
- (To other fellow newbies / club players learning and seeking to improve their own game): Can't say this enough: If you are in a favourable or likeable position, do NOT try to press the opponent when they are down on time, esp. when there is 30 second increment per move. Continue to make the best move you see. If you want, you can choose to complicate the position, but do it smart (i.e. the type that poses little to no risk of losing it for yourself).
Thank you for your time reading this!
Yours sincerely
Ong Yujing
(a.k.a. newbie_learner)
Well played! Love the way you defended the rook endgame: That's why fundamental endgame techniques such as king centralisation and active rook okay are so important!
ReplyDelete12. Bb2 your troubles started because you allowed black to fight for the hole on C4, putting pressure against the backward pawn on c3 in subsequent moves like c5-c4 and Ne4. Superficially, I can suggest the alternative 12. Bb4!? delaying Black's plans with the pin, followed by your plan of A4, Ba3 and maybe even a c4 pawn break. But then again, it is easy for me to say this now; over the board, Bb4 is going to look counterintuitive when one is focused on competing development!
21. Rfe1 I was thinking of 21. Bxe4 Rxe4 22. f3!? threatening to either open the f-file, or push e4 in the case of 22... exf4 23. gxf3. It's going to create an extremely messy game that gives White chances of fighting back into the centre (but I haven't run this through any engines so not sure if there are any blunders waiting to be caught).
Thanks again for your comments, my friend!
DeleteLike I was sharing with Adrian (another local chess enthusiast), it was more of "lucky played" than anything. I did not calculate everything -- I just tried to play the best move / idea I can see at that juncture after losing a pawn in the Rook + pawns ending. A good takeaway for fellow newbies / club players is to not give up so easily! If someone else playing my position just "resigned" in his head after being 1 pawn down, the likely outcome is that he would end up losing and resigning eventually!
The actual endgame play was embarrassing when running through the engines. (Hence this game is not worth the time of "chess pros" to replay). Like what I have been candid about, my technical skills in chess are not there. On the bright side, I like things I did well, i.e. the "soft skills" (e.g. psychology/fighting spirit, practical decision making in a bad looking position / when down on time).
I think you meant 12.Bb5 as a suggestion? An interesting idea is to probably initiate Bxc6 (I bet Black will harass it with ...a6 and ...b5) and insert Ne5 perhaps as a follow-up. But this also means that White gives up the Bishop pair, and have to work on making the bad dark square Bishop good again. It is a quite decent idea I think. Just that it goes against my greed/obsession for the Bishop pair in the first place. And I am giving up my better light square Bishop. If I can give up my bad Bishop for a Black Knight, that would have been great ^o^
I think I should have recognised that I needed to do a pawn break in this position, and fast. Rfe1 (to defend/support the e3 pawn + f3 e4 should have been done much earlier than I did). I'm not sure if 21.Bxe4 Rxe4 is such a good idea at this specific juncture / move order after the "controversial" 20.Qf4!? 20...Ne4 21.Bxe4 Rxe4 the Rook on e4 is attacking the White Queen on f4, so I don't think it is as effective. (White hasn't inserted f3 in this variation. And Black might do something like ...Rae8 to slow down White trying to achieve f3+e4 even more.)
I think 21.f3!? (without Rfe1) might be even better. Even if Black jumps in to 21...Nd2 I'd just let him with 22.Rfe1 now (defending e3 pawn). I don't think the Black Knight is adequately supported -- Rad1, or Re2 Rae1 would be coming to consolidate the position.