Petroff Defense (2), learning from Silman

Today’s blog entry is from an online game at a turn-based site. I have been trying to learn from How to Reassess Your Chess by Jeremy Silman. Silman said “When you don’t have a grasp of the imbalances, you’re left with ... caveman basics like attack, defend, threats, and calculation.” This game is one of the first where I tried to apply the Silman thinking technique.

The variations and move symbols are Houdini’s (1.5 w32), diagnosed with ‘Scid vs PC’ at 10 seconds per ply. The opening book reference is Stockfish. The verbal comments are my thoughts during the game and my interpretations of the analysis provided by Houdini. The score chart is at the bottom of this entry.

Obviously, I have a lot to learn, but this was an important first step.