I lost several games and of the two I won, one was a seesaw affair where my opponent ran out of time in a winning position...at least Stockfish said it was winning.
The following game was the most interesting. I blundered away a P at move 3, but somehow managed to get compensation for it. Playing Blitz online is one thing, but in OTB play I agree with GM Alex Yermolinsky when he states that even average players should play solid mainline openings and avoid all that nonsense some titled players use to sell books...stuff like making your opponent think on his own, etc. If I play a wacky opening I have to think on my own, too, and experience tells me that thinking on my own doesn't always work out too well.
Going back to my OTB days, I realized that average players rarely played more than 6-8 "book" moves in any opening anyway and so a deep study was a waste of time.
In one game my opponent was snapping out his opening moves at a Blitz pace while I was using quite a bit of time. Then all of a sudden I played a move and he sank into thought for several minutes and I knew we were at the end of what he had memorized. His reply was a weak move that soon left him totally lost.
In the postmortem I got schooled on the whole variation (of a Sicilian, I think it was). When we got to the move that made him think, I was told my move was bad (and maybe it was) because it wasn't what Fischer played. My question to him was, if it was such a bad move why couldn't he refute it?
In any case, in this game even though I lost the d-Pawn on move 3 Komodo 14 only gives black an advantage of about half a Pawn. It makes me think we amateur players put way too much emphasis on openings and our time might be better spent studying other aspects of the game.
Tartajubow–Anonymous1–0Chess Hotel15.09.2022Stockfish 15
Nimzovich Defense 1.e4 c6 A hypermodern defense in which white is invited
to occupy the center with Ps and black will then try to blockade them and then
undermine the center. While never accepted in master play the defense seems
solid enough. 2.d4 e5 Also good is 2...d5 which was preferred by Nimzovich.
The solid text was preferred by Anthony Miles. White can transpose to the
Scotch Game with 3.Nf3, or play 3.d5 Nce7 (3...Nb8, although perhaps not as
bad as it looks, is considered inferior). Or. white can try 3.dxe5 3.c3
I would say this move is the result of a mouse slip, but even that flimsy
excuse doesn't make sense. The truth is, there is no explanation. xd4
Preferred by Stockfish over 3...exd4 4.f4 d6 5.e3 c5 This is Stockfish's
second choice (6...Nc6 is the first). Somehow black's P-formation just doesn't
look right. 6.f3 g4 Engines don't seem to think this move is
a top contender, but I found it annoying. 7.fxe5 dxe5 It has transpired
that somehow the P sacrifice on move 3 has resulted in equality...assuming I
find a good move here. 7...xf3 8.gxf3 dxe5 9.d5 e7 9...d6 10.c3 c6 11.g1 white has a promising position. 10.xe7 xe7 11.c3 a5 with
equal chances. 8.c4 This isn't as good as it looks; black is slightly
better. 8.xd4 This is the best move! xd1 9.b5+ d7 10.f5 Capturing
the Q was also quite playable, but this move is craftier. g4 10...xb5 11.xb5 g4 12.c7+ and white is better. 11.xd7+ xd7 12.f1 with equal
chances. 8.b5+ results in equality. xb5 9.xd8+ xd8 10.xb5 xf3 11.gxf3 a6 12.c7+ d7 13.d5 c6 with a weird position that is evaluated as
equal. 8...f6 This allows a tactical shot that I had in mind when I
played 8.Bc4. 8...xf3+ 9.gxf3 h3 10.b5+ d7 11.d5 xb5 12.xe5+
is good for white. 8...xf3 equalizes after 9.gxf3 f6 10.0-0 b6 9.xf7+ Unfortunately this is hardly crushing...white gets no more than a
slight advantage. xf7 10.xe5+ g8 11.xg4 White's advantage weighs in at
about one P. h5 But this move yields white a significant
advantage. Black should exchange Ns first. 11...xg4 12.xd4 h5 12...cxd4 13.xg4 dxc3 14.e6# 13.g1 White has a slight advantage whether black
exchanges Qs or plays 13...Qh4+ 12.xf6+ xf6 13.d3 Making room to
castle Q-side. d6 14.0-0-0 e5 Eliminating the Bs with 14...Bf4 would have
been somewhat better. 15.d5 The N is on a great post! e6 16.hf1 d8
Here I spent about one minute, but could not think of a reasonable move.
Engines suggest 17.Qc4 and white is winning. Needing to move, I hallucinated
and played... 17.f5 I am not sure what the point of this move
was supposed to be, but after 17...Nxf5 black would clearly be better. Now it
was black's turn to think a minute or so. g6 Black chickened out!
17...xf5 18.exf5 f7 19.xc5 White has a N+2Ps vs a R and the
slightly better position. 17...xd5-+ and life would good for black
after 18.f8+ 18.exd5 xf5 19.xf5 xf5 20.xc5 xh2 18...xf8 19.exd5 g4 20.f1+ e7 18.f2 18.xd4 Fortunately there was no time to comsider
this which would have allowed black to equalize after gxf5 19.xe5 xe5 20.b3 f8 and both 21.Qxb7 and 21.Rf1 lead to no more than equality. 18...g7 19.df1 White is clearly winning now. hf8 20.xf8 xf8 21.xf8 xf8 22.c3 c6 A rushed move due to time considerations. 22...c6 is best, but
after 23.xc5+ f7 24.h3 black's position would be hopeless, 23.h6+
Noticed at the last second...it removes the B from the clutches of black's P
after 24.cxd4 cxd4+ Black thought several seconds and realized the game was
over and so resigned. 23.cxd4 would be a serious mistake because after cxd4+ 24.b1 dxe3 white's advantage has all but disappeared. 23.xd4
Came to mind, but it was quickly obvious that after cxd4 white can't claim
any advantage. 23.h6+ f7 24.cxd4 cxd4+ 25.d2 xh2 26.f3+ e8 27.f8+ d7 28.f7+ c8 28...d6 29.e7# 28...d8 29.g5+
mates in 29.e7+ wins. 23.h6+ e8 24.cxd4 cxd4+ 25.b1 xh2 26.g3 c5 27.b4 White wins. 1–0
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