Another Loss

      When I entered the aforementioned tournament on LSS it was an open event and my section contained players rated from 600 to over 2200.  Of course when you are playing in events where engines are allowed, a 600-rated player is just as dangerous as a 2200-rated.  Also, gobs of rating points are at stake, but because ratings are pretty much meaningless that’s really not a major consideration for me. I have played over some games by lower rated players on LSS and it’s evident they do not use engines at that level, but for this tournament the ones in my section apparently made an exception for this event.  One player was new to the site and for some reason his starting rating was about 600.  Another fellow was rated around 800 and about half of his games were either won or lost by forfeit so there was a distinct possibility he would not even finish the event. As luck would have it, I lost my game against him.

      What left me perplexed was the game itself.  The opening line we played is a popular one that has a good success rate for White both in OTB and CC, but early on it seems that Fritz found an improvement for Black.  My ninth (!) move allowed him to seize control of the d3 square and from there on, I was struggling to equalize and the challenge proved to be too great.  I can’t believe White is lost after move nine, but I can’t find an improvement either.  As a result, I am kind of at a loss to understand what happened.  Need a GM to explain it, I guess!