[Chess] Meltdown

The time control was 20min with 12 sec increment. I was White.

1 e4 c6
2 d4 d5


The Caro-Kann Defence. Known for solidity and reliability.


3 exd5 cxd5
4 c4


The Panov-Botvinnik Attack, also known as just Panov Attack. It is an aggressive set up for White that tries to open up the board and change the character of the position away from a typical Caro-Kann structure.
I’ve been taking up this system against Caro-Kann, and with good success.


4 … Nf6
5 Nc3 Nc6
6 Bg5


Another option is Nf3, but that allows him to bring out his light squared bishop on g4 (outside his pawn chain). I think there is a long theoretical variation in that line that goes all the way to some equal endgame or something, but I liked Bg5, threatening to double his pawns if he doesn’t play 6…e6.


6 … dxc4


Calling my bluff?


7 Bxf6 exf6
8 d5


Advancing my IQP and bullying his knight around.


8 … Ne5
9 f4


Probably weakening move, but as Panov Attacker against a Caro player, you kind of want a swashbuckling position anyway. Besides, I need to get my pawn back.


9 … Nd3+
10 Bxd3 cxd3
11 Qxd3


It was probably at this point that I realized it’s a bishop pair vs. knight pair in a relatively open board…lol. But I felt pretty confident that I can swap off at least a pair of minor pieces, and it’s still anybody’s game.


11 … a6
12 0-0-0


Opposite side castling and throwing pawns at the other king is pretty fun, even though my own king safety is a little bit suspect by castling queenside.


12 … Bd6
13 Re1+


I do not want his king to castle. I am slightly ahead in development, so I want to use that to my maximum benefit. Preventing him from castling would be a good start.


13 … Kf8
14 g3 g6


Here, I was bummed a little, because I realized he would just castle manually, and his king would actually be pretty safe. I thought I could get a little bit more out of the fact that he couldn’t castle, but I guess making him lose time is something.


15 Nf3 Bf5


Taking control of important light squares around my king. This move felt ominous… I felt like I had to kick that bishop out pretty quickly.


16 Qd2 Rc8


And all of a sudden, it almost felt like he wrested the initiative away from me. He just needs to play Kg7 now, and all his forces are more or less developed, and his king is safe. I needed to hurry now.


17 Nd4 Bg4
18 h3 Bd7
19 Kb1


So now that my king is relatively safer than it was, I can concentrate on the attack.


19 … Qa5


Putting his most powerful piece near my king. He certainly was doing a good job keeping me on my toes.


20 Re3 Kg7


And finally, his king reaches safe haven, and his h8 rook is opened up. But… there is no such thing as permanently safe haven.


21 f5


A pawn sacrifice in hopes of opening some lines against his king.


21 … Bb4
22 fxg6


Every line opened towards his king is a good thing for me.


22 … hxg6


He wanted to keep that rock solid pawn barrier to protect his king, and his rook now has a job down the h file as well. A sensible recapture.

At this point, I felt like my piece placement is a little bit loose, and my attack against his king seemed slower than desired. I felt like pawn storming would take too much time and he could easily disrupt me with plays on the queenside, so I shifted my attention to piece play on the queenside.


23 Nb3 Bf5+
24 Ka1 Qc7
25 g4


Now that his queen backed off, I decided to resume the pawn storm operation and use the unfortunate placement of his light squared bishop to gain time.

But I forgot one of the most basic tactics in Chess…


25 … Bxg4


Yikes! I completely forgot that my h pawn is pinned to my loose h1 rook. I hate when this happens. When you think you’re attacking his pieces and he just says “thanks” and takes it with impunity…

However… I was not without resources. While I was a bit upset with myself for missing such a basic tactic, I soon found a counter tactic of my own. After all… loose pieces fall off don’t they?


26 Qd4


Forking the 2 undefended bishops!


26 … Bxc3
27 Rxc3 Qd7


At this point, I saw the tactic that wins the offending bishop.


28 Rxc8 Qxc8
29 Rc1!


HA! Getting out of the pin WITH TEMPO! I am winning some material.


29 … Qd7
30 hxg4


And there goes the bishop. Who would have thought that tactical mistake would be redeemed by tactical combination.

At this point, I was thinking “allright, I got this.” Win seemed to be in the bag.


30 … Rh4
31 Rg1 Qd6
32 a3


I wanted to avoid any backrank shenanigans. That’s like the only way I can lose at this point… or so I thought.


32 … b6
33 Ka2


My king is secure, life is good.

But it was around this time, Chess.com server let me down. I lost connection with the server. I was already down to 7 minutes or so at this point, so I frantically refreshed, relog’ed-in and did everything I can to get back in the game. By the time I got back, I lost like 2 minutes for nothing and it was my turn and my clock was ticking at 5 minute.


33 … a5
34 Nd2 b5
35 Ne4 Qf4
36 d6


I was so nervous around this point, because I didn’t know whether or not I would get disconnected again. My position is completely winning obviously, but it would be outrageous if I lose on time because Chess.com server disconnects me for some reason.


36 … Rh8
37 d7 Rd8


Down a piece, pawn on the 7th rank, his rook completely tied down… the situation is hopeless for my opponent.


38 g5 Qc7
39 gxf6+


I think it was around this time, that I lost connection to my server for the 2nd time… this game was played 2 months ago, I don’t exactly remember what move I got disconnected, but it was somewhere around here I believe.

I remember just saying to myself as I tried to refresh and relogin, “this is un-effing-believable… really? If I lose this game, I’m going to stop playing on Chess.com and go to ICC or something”

All I remember is that, when I got back on, I was down to like 1:45ish and ticking….and I am a horrible blitz player.


39 … Kg8
40 Rd1 b4


Being in time trouble, constantly fearing when I would get disconnected again, already super pissed that I got disconnected twice and basically lost like close to 4 minutes, I am really losing the thread of the game. There is 12 sec increment per move, but that’s really not that much… This game, although technically won, is far from a checkmate.


41 axb4 axb4
42 Ng5?


One of the main reason I am so much worse blitz player than a standard player is because, I have pretty bad board vision. I cannot quickly glance at the board as a whole and figure out which squares are dangerous and which isn’t. And besides, in blitz, I have a bad habit of playing hope chess, so I screwed myself really badly with this move.

My opponent, sitting at around 7 minute, took plenty of time to make sure he wasn’t dreaming…


42 … Qa5+


Sigh… loose pieces fall off.


43 Kb3 Qxg5


First casualty of my time trouble woes. But the party is just beginning.


44 Kxb4 Qg2


Threatening to check on b7… but while thinking about all sorts of stuff, I lost track of what my pieces are doing and said to myself “Hey, why not trade Queens!? It stops his Queen from coming to b7 too. That sounds like a GREAT idea!!!”


45 Qd5?


Let’s trade, let’s trade!.. like a little kid…

This move is so hilariously bad that now that it’s been 2 months I can genuinely laugh about it. Seriously, singlehandedly unprotecting 2 pawns at once… At the time, I was like, “I’m about 80% done with Chess.com”


45 … Qxb2+
46 Kc5 Qxf6


And I officially went from winning to losing just like that… at least materially.

But still, I still have a pawn on the 7th… IF we could just TRADE OFF THE QUEENS….


47 Qc6


PLEASE… let’s trade the queens for pete’s sake.


47 … Qc3+
48 Kd6 Qb4+


Of course the guy isn’t going to trade Queens…OF COURSE!

At this point… with probably around 50 seconds on my clock, I said to myself, “If my king goes out into open area, the perpetual checks can be annoying… How about threatening his rook so I can finally queen the pawn? Yea that sounds like a good idea. I’m tired of requesting a queen trade only to be refused, so now, it’s about time that I make a real threat”


49 Kc7??


My opponent took his time. And I was analyzing the position, and my heart was pumping really fast. I was doing all the “if he goes there, I go there” stuff with all the moves that I could think of that he can make, but suddenly… something didn’t feel right….

Specifically the placement of the queen and my pawn with regards to my king… it’s a position that occurs in dovetail mate… And it was at this point, that it hit me.



I managed to click the resign button before my opponent had the pleasure of delivering the culling blade.

0-1

It is by far my worst, and probably most hilarious, loss I’ve ever had in Chess.
http://www.chess.com/livechess/game?id=1057089215