A Bad Day Online

     Last Friday morning was spent running errands and in the afternoon I spent some time playing Blitz on Chess Hotel. It was a bad day...I was going to say a lot of good players were on line, but a more accurate way of putting it was a lot of players better than me were on line. There's a difference. 

     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. 

[Event "Chess Hotel"] [Site "?"] [Date "2022.09.15"] [Round "?"] [White "Tartajubow"] [Black "Anonymous"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] {Nimzovich Defense} 1. e4 Nc6 {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. Nc3 { 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.} Nxd4 { Preferred by Stockfish over 3...exd4} 4. f4 d6 5. Be3 c5 {This is Stockfish's second choice (6...Nc6 is the first). Somehow black's P-formation just doesn't look right.} 6. Nf3 {[%mdl 32]} Bg4 {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... Bxf3 8. gxf3 dxe5 9. Nd5 Be7 (9... Bd6 10. c3 Nc6 11. Rg1 {white has a promising position.}) 10. Nxe7 Nxe7 11. c3 Qa5 {with equal chances.}) 8. Bc4 {This isn't as good as it looks; black is slightly better.} (8. Nxd4 {This is the best move!} Bxd1 9. Bb5+ Qd7 10. Nf5 {Capturing the Q was also quite playable, but this move is craftier.} Bg4 (10... Qxb5 11. Nxb5 Bg4 12. Nc7+ {and white is better.}) 11. Bxd7+ Kxd7 12. Rf1 {with equal chances.}) (8. Bb5+ {results in equality.} Nxb5 9. Qxd8+ Rxd8 10. Nxb5 Bxf3 11. gxf3 a6 12. Nc7+ Kd7 13. Nd5 Kc6 {with a weird position that is evaluated as equal.}) 8... Nf6 {This allows a tactical shot that I had in mind when I played 8.Bc4.} (8... Nxf3+ 9. gxf3 Bh3 10. Bb5+ Bd7 11. Qd5 Bxb5 12. Qxe5+ { is good for white.}) (8... Bxf3 {equalizes after} 9. gxf3 Nf6 10. O-O Qb6) 9. Bxf7+ {Unfortunately this is hardly crushing...white gets no more than a slight advantage.} Kxf7 10. Nxe5+ Kg8 11. Nxg4 {White's advantage weighs in at about one P.} h5 {[%mdl 8192] But this move yields white a significant advantage. Black should exchange Ns first.} (11... Nxg4 12. Bxd4 h5 (12... cxd4 13. Qxg4 dxc3 14. Qe6#) 13. Bg1 {White has a slight advantage whether black exchanges Qs or plays 13...Qh4+}) 12. Nxf6+ Qxf6 13. Qd3 {Making room to castle Q-side.} Bd6 14. O-O-O Be5 {Eliminating the Bs with 14...Bf4 would have been somewhat better.} 15. Nd5 {The N is on a great post!} Qe6 16. Rhf1 Rd8 { 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. Rf5 {[%mdl 8192] 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 {[%mdl 8192] Black chickened out! } (17... Nxf5 18. exf5 Qf7 19. Bxc5 {White has a N+2Ps vs a R and the slightly better position.}) (17... Rxd5 $19 {and life would good for black after} 18. Rf8+ (18. exd5 Qxf5 19. Qxf5 Nxf5 20. Bxc5 Bxh2) 18... Kxf8 19. exd5 Qg4 20. Rf1+ Ke7) 18. Rf2 (18. Bxd4 {Fortunately there was no time to comsider this which would have allowed black to equalize after} gxf5 19. Bxe5 Qxe5 20. Qb3 Kf8 {and both 21.Qxb7 and 21.Rf1 lead to no more than equality.}) 18... Kg7 19. Rdf1 {White is clearly winning now.} Rhf8 20. Rxf8 Rxf8 21. Rxf8 Kxf8 22. c3 Qc6 {A rushed move due to time considerations.} (22... Nc6 {is best, but after} 23. Bxc5+ Kf7 24. h3 {black's position would be hopeless,}) 23. Bh6+ { 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. Kb1 dxe3 {white's advantage has all but disappeared.}) (23. Bxd4 { Came to mind, but it was quickly obvious that after} cxd4 {white can't claim any advantage.}) (23. Bh6+ Kf7 24. cxd4 cxd4+ 25. Kd2 Bxh2 26. Qf3+ Ke8 27. Qf8+ Kd7 28. Qf7+ Kc8 (28... Kd6 29. Qe7#) (28... Kd8 29. Bg5+ {[%emt 0:00:03] mates in}) 29. Ne7+ {wins.}) (23. Bh6+ Ke8 24. cxd4 cxd4+ 25. Kb1 Bxh2 26. g3 Qc5 27. b4 {White wins.}) 1-0