Positional Win

Last night's game was against a young, tactical club member. After my recent, sometimes embarrassing losses, I wanted to be especially careful of my defense. When his Black Queen moved to the Queen-side, I locked up the center and attacked on the King-side.

Lesson learned: Like the tortoise and the hare, slow and steady works best.

Trapped Pieces

With Black last week, I was expecting White. Regardless, I would not have been prepared for the Falkbeer variation of the Vienna Game. My opponent was an improving young club member. He was able to take advantage of my first trapped piece and to find a method to trap a another.

Lesson learned: Defensive tactics are just as important than offensive tactics. I need to especially be aware of pieces with a limited range of movement.

Mate in Eight

This is an online game where I experiment with a Black Gambit.

Lesson learned: Sometimes an opening trap works!

Thought Process Error

This is the Hobbs-Zilbermints Gambit response to the Bird Opening. Fritz’s book only extends 7 ply deep. My opponent, a strong Bird player, did not think the gambit was sound. My belief is that most openings are sound at the class level. I will let Fritz12 and Shredder11 search for better continuations for the next opportunity to play this gambit.
The game was lost at move #14, but my gracious opponent was not upset when I played on for the experience.

Lesson learned: Blunder check! 3 recent games were lost with hung pieces and one missed win due to this error in my thinking process. If it is not corrected, a swift return to class E is in the near future.

Trapped Queen

As I was improving my position, Black moved his Queen into my territory. I blocked his retreat and executed a favorable trade. Being a piece up, the rest of the game was just a matter of technique.

Lesson learned: Look for opponent's pieces that do not have a good escape path.

Lost Tempi

I play the Bird to avoid the memorization required for most mainline openings. It leads to fairly quick development, but immediately gives Black equality.

Lesson learned: If ahead in development, open the center.

Lots of Tactics

This G90 game was against a strong tactical player. He was weak on positional knowledge, but not weak enough to offset my tactical weakness. A long game as we were the last game to finish in round 1.

Positional play only increases the likelihood of favorable tactics. All games are ultimately won by tactics.
Lesson learned: My 6 month hiatus from chess study really shows. Back to a daily regimen of tactics. I should also never chose a tactical line without knowing the tactical strength of my opponent.

Bird Orang-utan

I had added the Bird/Orang-utan to my repertoire and this was the first time I played it in rated competition.

Lesson learned: When playing for a draw, keep watching for a winning tactical sequence, especially if/when the opponent offers the draw.

Lucky Win

Almost a classic win. First get an early lead, then exchange into a winning endgame. I was lucky that my opponent did not see a game-tying move during that exchange.

Lesson learned: Be especially careful with the analysis when offering a major exchange.