I play Nf6 however I have no idea why when Nxe3 is better. I consider this game my best so far and yet I see this glaring mess up.

I've been trying to analyze why I went Nf6 for the past hour and the only half logical move I can think of is Qxh3. The pawn on g6 is not a threat at all. Maybe I was fearing White's queen on f6/e5. I don't know but it bugging me.

I'm terrible at chess though. Only ~900 at blitz on chess.com.

Mossen

43 Posts

January 04 2013 20:22 GMT

How can Nh6 possibly be played? Its not a legal move.

iTzSnypah

United States1738 Posts

January 04 2013 20:29 GMT

I meant Nf6. Fixed.

kutuzov11

United States1 Post

January 04 2013 20:39 GMT

Nxe3 is better because unless you're in serious danger of being checkmated/losing significant material, it's better to grab the free bishop. In this case, there's no real cost to taking the bishop, so you should go for it.

I'm not in your head, but I would think you played Nf6 out of concern for h7+. That's a scary-looking move - it puts a pawn on the seventh rank and seems to put pressure on your king - but after Kh8 there's actually very little he can do, especially after you've gotten rid of the bishop. He can't push the pawn because your king's blocking the way, can't put pressure on your king because of your excellent pawn structure on the kingside, and his queen is pinned down on the h-rank protecting a lowly pawn that can't do anything. As the game plays out, he's probably going to have to abandon the pawn on h7 if he wants his queen to be useful.

Your position after Nxe3 is really good for a number of other reasons: you're threatening both Nxc2+ and (more importantly) Qxf3, the latter of which puts a bunch of pressure on his king and threatens Qf1+, netting you another rook.

TLDR: Free bishops are awesome (game-winning in most cases) and you should take them unless checkmate is immanent.

Edit: Also agree with toasterbaked, I don't think that spending an hour analyzing why you made a bad move (especially in a blitz game) is a productive use of time: you probably just messed up. Find the best move, understand why that's the case, and move on.

Toasterbaked

United States160 Posts

January 04 2013 20:44 GMT

Maybe you just... messed up? Even grandmasters occasionally give away pieces by accident.

Mossen

43 Posts

January 04 2013 20:50 GMT

After ...NxB you can consider ...Qxf3 with some decent threats. I would also consider shutting down his h pawn with Kh7

Add me on chess.com username = lmorsino

imBLIND

United States2626 Posts

January 04 2013 20:58 GMT

After Nxe3 h7+ Kh8 , it's going to take him a very long time to get to you. Even if he manages to somehow get to the a1-h8 diagonal with his queen, you get to block it with ...f6 and then he's screwed cause he has no pawns that can get rid of f6. But hopefully after Kh8, you'll be able to launch your own attack somehow.

Nf6 h7+ Nxh7 is a serious blunder because then he just lines up the gun on the h-file and you're screwed. Although doing Kh8 instead of Nxh7 cancels out most of that blunder, you're now disadvantaged cause you could've ended up on Kh8 a bishop up.

GolemMadness

Canada11044 Posts

January 05 2013 05:38 GMT

If h7+ is a concern, Kh7 is better than Nf6 anyways.

pebble444

Italy2503 Posts

January 05 2013 07:02 GMT

I don' t play Blitz at all (i think playing blitz under a certain level is useless but whatever floats your boat i guess)

I d probably go from this position with NxC3. Whatever move you do from here, Moving the Knight is the best option imo. Its frees up underscovered attack from your Queen. Unless White wants to lose a Rook you can eat that pawn(and if he stupid enough to put you in check with his pawn you just wait a turn) . Now you took 2 pawns and are dealing a real thread to his King too.

I actually really like Blacks position from here. Consider one thing OP: look at your pieces. There are all working togheter at this stage of the game. with the execption of your cross board pawn and your queen. Now look at white: His pieces are not working at all togheter, he has 2 doubled pawns. Your pawn structure is excellent compared to White' s.

So why worry about micro when good macro?

hoot00

United States77 Posts

January 05 2013 07:22 GMT

#10

I was looking through this, and I found that if he had moved Qg2 instead of Qh2 he would have had a pretty good shot at mate. In that line he moves Rxg6+ if you move your knight (doesn't really matter where). And from there, well good luck lol. ...fxg6 is mate in 2 ...Kh7 is mate in 2 or 3 and if ...Kh8 white gains material(and probably a later mate). Maybe you should worry less about your blunder and more about his blunder. Go back a couple more moves and prevent that Qg2 and defend the g6 square.

Edit: I disagree with pebble I think your position could be much better, you're lucky white messed up tbh
Edit: Ty for posting I enjoyed looking at your game
Edit: But i agree with pebble when he says don't play blitz at low level. Play game modes where you can take your time
Edit: Maybe when he played h4 you could have played ...h5 to stop the pawn. But I don't really know how that plays out.

phantomfive

Korea (South)404 Posts

January 05 2013 08:09 GMT

#11

Don't stress over a single game. Move on and do better. If you really want to improve, practice a lot of tactics (on chesstempo.com or whatever).

phantomfive

Korea (South)404 Posts

January 05 2013 08:11 GMT

#12

Anyway good job winning.

GolemMadness

Canada11044 Posts

January 05 2013 09:59 GMT

#13

On January 05 2013 16:22 hoot00 wrote:
I was looking through this, and I found that if he had moved Qg2 instead of Qh2 he would have had a pretty good shot at mate. In that line he moves Rxg6+ if you move your knight (doesn't really matter where). And from there, well good luck lol. ...fxg6 is mate in 2 ...Kh7 is mate in 2 or 3 and if ...Kh8 white gains material(and probably a later mate). Maybe you should worry less about your blunder and more about his blunder. Go back a couple more moves and prevent that Qg2 and defend the g6 square.

Edit: I disagree with pebble I think your position could be much better, you're lucky white messed up tbh
Edit: Ty for posting I enjoyed looking at your game
Edit: But i agree with pebble when he says don't play blitz at low level. Play game modes where you can take your time
Edit: Maybe when he played h4 you could have played ...h5 to stop the pawn. But I don't really know how that plays out.

Qg2 doesn't do anything. For one thing, you can just play ...Nxe3 Rxg6+ Kh8 and white is just dead. Even if not, ...Kh7 shuts down the attack. It looks to me like instead of Qh2, Kd2 is white's best move.

hoot00

United States77 Posts

January 05 2013 10:29 GMT

#14

...Nxe3 Rxg6+ ...Kh8 Qg5 and from here black is in trouble, but he still has a move to stop the mate. I personally have been searching and can't find one for black.

Kh7 is a good move indeed, but I said if he moves his knight then it's game. If ...Kh7 then at the very least white can save the bishop

GolemMadness

Canada11044 Posts

January 05 2013 10:38 GMT

#15

On January 05 2013 19:29 hoot00 wrote:
...Nxe3 Rxg6+ ...Kh8 Qg5 and from here black is in trouble, but he still has a move to stop the mate. I personally have been searching and can't find one for black.

...Nd5. It still might be a bit dangerous, but I think that black should be able to hold on and win.

hoot00

United States77 Posts

January 05 2013 10:51 GMT

#16

...Nf5 Qf6+ ...Kh7 Rg7+ ...Nxg7 Qxg7 that's mate the other move is Kh8 sooo
...Nf5 Qf6+ ...Kh7 Rg7+ ...Kh8 Rxf7+ ...Kg8 h7 that's mate too
edit: lol for some reason i read Nf5 but still

...Nd5 Rf6 then black has another free move but the situation is getting dire

edit: i derped ...Nd5 Qe5+ Kh7 Qg7 is mate

to the OP: the moral of the story is don't let enemy queen and rook on your king's file if you don't have any protection

GolemMadness

Canada11044 Posts

January 05 2013 12:30 GMT

#17

Qe5+ f6. If Rf6 then Rg8. You can check it on an engine, but I don't think there's anything.

Slayer91

Ireland23342 Posts

January 05 2013 13:32 GMT

#18

Am I seeing this position right? That bishops en pris right there. If he tries to gain it back with h7+ and f5 -->Q-e5+ then Nxf5 takes the pawn while being protected by g6 and e6 and you just block with f6 and go RH8 and take the h7 pawn and he can't stop it. His second rook is out of the game the bishop is a better offensive threat.

If you're really that paranoid K-h7 shuts down his offensive completely. Nf6 moves your knight from a killer position to a purely defensive one with no future.

hoot00

United States77 Posts

January 05 2013 16:08 GMT

#19

@GolemMadness Yes, I derped again and f6 defends the second one, but we can move down the first line instead of Qe5 we move Rf6. But I'm tired of doing this so can we just say that Qg2 gives white a better chance? That's all I was pointing out.