EPT+ Show Spoiler +
Hello again, TeamLiquid! I've been looking to blog something again for a while, and hopefully actually contribute rather than repeat what my last 2 blogs did. I saw a blog post someone else did on one of their games of chess and thought it seemed like fun, so I'll give it a try. Here we go!
My opponent for this game is kmfdmm1 - rated 1163 in ELO(vs. my 1315). You may think to yourself "wow, this is quite a difference in rating, this should be a cakewalk". I did. And that posed a lot of trouble for me.
My opponent for this game is kmfdmm1 - rated 1163 in ELO(vs. my 1315). You may think to yourself "wow, this is quite a difference in rating, this should be a cakewalk". I did. And that posed a lot of trouble for me.
The link for the game is here.
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/X0MYA.png)
1.c4 e5
2.d3 d6
I opened with my normal English opening where I control Queenside and he controls most of Kingside. This means that he can string together some blitzes on me, but if he isn't careful I'll whittle away his Queenside and force him into bad trades trying to protect the pawns there.
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/hYqtl.png)
What move would you use to deal with this?
3.a3 Nc6
4.b4 a6
5.b5 axb5
6.cxb5 Nd4
7.a4 Be6
Things start getting interesting around move 8. His Knight is forced to move to an awkward spot(the alternative being back to it's starting position or blocking in a bishop and horribly slowing his castling) where it can be forced from its roost by a pawn in a move or two. He strings together a pretty good idea to force me to shift pieces around and trades for one of my pieces. Since I am forced to constantly deal with his roving Knight I'm not given extra moves to develop some of my pieces where I'd like them, and he doesn't fall behind. He could have even taken an important pawn for free if I'd been less careful with my defence.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Ou11K.png)
Yikes! What could he have up his sleeve?
8.Nc3 Nb3
9.Rb1 Nxc1
10.Qxc1 Nf6
11.e4 Be7
12.Nf3 h6
13.Be2 O-O
14.O-O Ng4
For the next few moves development continues as standard. Both sides try to control important squares, get their pieces into good position and build protection for their King. On move 14 he makes a move which appears to give me a free move. It terrifies me for a minute - normally when my opponent makes a move like this it means that they discovered a hole in my defence. Luckily, in this case, the attack needed an extra move or two to be launched, so I was given time to cover all of the holes, gaining a small advantage.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/PEfYV.png)
15.h3 Nf6
16.Qd2 Qd7
17.Nh2 Bxh3
18.gxh3 Qxh3
19.Qe3 Qxe3
20.fxe3
When the dust settles I'm left with a bit of an advantage in pieces but a completely naked king(which proves to be a theme for the whole game).
Through the middle of the game things feel relatively standard until...
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/wAxzt.png)
What move would you make here? That's better than mine.
Nd7
21.d4 exd4
22.exd4 Bf6
23.Nf3 Rfe8
24.Rfc1 Bg5
25.Nxg5 hxg5
26.Bd3 Nb6?
just about any move is better than that travesty. It drops protection on 3 important squares, ruins my pawn structure(you don't want your pawns stacked up because they can defend each other if they are on a diagonal) and lets him gobble up 2 extra pawns. I'm left scrambling to make up for it while trying to hide my King's shame.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/2Km5H.png)
You would think that would be enough.
27.Nd5 Nxd5
28.exd5 Rxa4
29.Rxc7 Rxd4
30.Bc4 Ree4
31.Rc1 Rg4+
32.Kf2 Rdf4+
33.Ke3 Rg3+
34.Kd2 Rf2+
35.Be2 Rgg2
36.Rc8+ Kh7
37.Rh1+ Kg6
38.Re8 Rf5
39.Kc3 Rxd5
40.Bf3
For quite a few moves there are some interesting tactics going on - I can't do much with my Bishop because if it moves he will kill my King.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/WgwH7.png)
Uh-oh.
Rc5+
41.Kd4 Rd2+
42.Ke3 Rdc2
43.Be4+ Kf6
And then something horrible happens. Something horribly awesome. kmfdmm1 forgets about the ability for my Bishop to attack his Rook and King at once(called a fork). But what's this? WarSame isn't taking the Rook? And a devillish plan appears. kmfdmm1 hurriedly tries to block up all of the avenues of attack but only succeeds in furthering his trouble - he is left with no pieces to defend himself. What follows is a predictable hunt for the King. Try as he might, he can't escape a net like this.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/NJpNx.png)
Going down fighting.
44.Rf1+ Rf2
45.Rxf2+ Rf5
46.Rxf5+ Kg6
47.Rf1+ Kh5
48.Rh8+ Kg4
49.Rg1#
1-0
+ Show Spoiler +
I know I write like a historian or something... I've never been an exciting writer - there's a reason I'm in engineering! Any advice on how to spice it up is welcome. I'm hoping practice will be all I need to improve at it. Advice on the chess itself is also welcome.
As a side note, I will probably post some of my losing games somewhere down the line. Unfortunately where I am now, the 1400 and 1500s normally outplay me positionally, until I'm forced to throw pieces into an attack that's doomed to fail in an attempt to catch up. 1100s and 1200s normally beat me through a superior opening, blunder, or similar. When they do outplay me it is always a good game, but it doesn't happen too much(200 points being a LARGE rating difference). I'll try to post all of those I can.
