My spidey senses are not tingeling!
Game analysis of Lichess 45 | 45, round 1.
As some of you might know I have decided not to participate in any OTB tournaments in the next months. I actually want to play, but I haven’t been able to find a tournament that fits into the weekly schedule with 3 kids and all that ensues.
As a flexible alternative, I have joined the Lichess 45+45 League. This should give me a weekly opportunity to sit down and think about chess. After two rounds I’m at 2 wins.
Here is the first round game:
SayChessClassical (2107) vs. nadjarostowa (2050), 1-0 (link to Lichess)
Opening: Queen's Pawn Game: Symmetrical Variation, Pseudo-Catalan
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 e6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. c4 c6 7. Nc3 Nbd7 I have had this position four times before and played Qc2 two times (50%), Bf4 one time (0%), cxd5 one time (0%) 8. b3 This was a new move for me that I decided upon during the game. My idea was to support the center and potentially place the Bishop on b7 (8.Qd3 The alternative b6 9.e4 Ba6 10.b3)
8… dxc4 9. bxc4 I now got a pleasant position. 9… Nb6 10. Qd3 c5 11. e3 Bd7 12. Ne5 Qc7 13. a4 Bc6 14. Nxc6 bxc6 15. Ba3 cxd4 16. Bxe7 Qxe7 17. exd4 Rac8 18. a5 Nbd7 19. Rfe1 Qd6
20. c5? Completely missed the move 20...Nxc5! What an oversight. I remember thinking c5 looks wrong, so intuitively I knew it was wrong on some level, but I convinced myself that it was the best move. And since my opponent missed Nxc5 it is actually a good move. Had I turned on my tactical awareness I would have spotted it, so the lesson must be to listen to my spidey senses. I recall many videos with Yasser, where he says “My spidey senses are tingeling!”, it shows that he knows when to listen to his inner signals. Looking at the time situation I had 11 minutes on the clock and used less then a minute on the decision. Something to improve upon.
20… Qc7 21. a6 Rb8 22. Rab1 Rxb1 23. Rxb1 Rb8 24. Ne4 Nd5 25. Nd6 I got my Knight into the outpost on d6!
25…N7f6?? Missing my next move idea. Rxb1+ was the best. 26. Rb7! The Rook invades with the idea to create a passed pawn on b7. 26…Rxb7 27. axb7 Now I had a great position where my opponent has no counterplay. It just took me some time to find the best way to move forward. Nd7 28. Bxd5 exd5 29. Qa6 Nb8 30. Qxa7 Kf8 31. Nc8 f5 32. Nd6 g6 33. Qa1 Qe7 34. Qa5 Kg7 35. Qb6 Kf8 36. Qa7 Qc7 37. Qa1 Qe7 38. Qc1 Qc7 39. Kg2 Qe7 40. Qh6+ Qg7
41. Qxg7+ I concluded that trading the Queens off was the best way to make progress. The Knight can’t leave the b-pawn. Kxg7 42. Kf3 Kf6 43. h4 g5 44. hxg5+ Kxg5 45. Nf7+ Kf6 46. Ne5 Kg5 47. Ke3 h5 48. Nf3+ Kg4 49. Ne5+ Kh3 50. Kf3 Kh2 51. Nd3 Kg1 52. Nf4 Another pawn will fall!
1-0
Overall I was happy about the game, but the missed tactic is a reminder that I have to listen to my intuition when something is off.
The Tactics Ladder, Chapter 1 (40/100, 1. cycle)
This week I also started solving my own book. Currently at puzzle no. 41. It is a bit of a transition. Writing down the solutions has helped catch some errors, and I commit to the moves I write down.
I also thought that I would cruise faster through the first chapter on pawn endgames, but I’m struggling a bit with finding my focus. I’m not surprised that it is hard to focus because I have not practiced this skill enough recently due to my many book projects, blitz chess, and jumping around on Twitter.
That concludes this week’s newsletter.
Have a great weekend!
/Martin
Excellent game. You played the end game very nicely! Thanks for the post!