I came out of the opening pretty healthy. Position after 9...0-0:

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The computer actually says -0.75, which is much better than I thought during the game. (The opening started with 1.b4, btw. That's called Polish, right?)

I played two consecutive weak moves after this, though, and after my 11th move the computer says about 0.00.

Position after 16.Nc3:

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Four different moves preserve the equality, but I went for 16...Qf5?

After 17.Qxf5 Nxf5 18.Nxd5 Nxh4 19.Kd1 black is in trouble:

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Here I played 19...Nhf3? and after 20.Rg3 everything fell apart quickly.

Again I came out of the opening pretty well. Position after 12.e5:

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White is somehow better, and probably with an easier position to play than Black.

Position after 25...b6:

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White is clearly better. 26.Bc3 or 26.Rd6 lead to +1.80 or so. I played 26.Nh4, which is a little weaker. Then I kept making good moves (but almost never the best move) and she held her position and went down to less than a minute. I had a time advantage, but consumed my time too.

Position after 45...Re7:

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Here I played 46.Nc2?, where 46.Nd3 or 46.Kf1 keep some advantage for White. After 46...a5! the position is equal.

I stopped writing a few moves later, and eventually I blundered a mate, when I was down to a minute or two and she had some 30 seconds.

I played the Breyer variation in the Ruy Lopez and it led to a tense game. Position after 21...Bg7:

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White went for 22.f4 and it got complicated. But he played better and reached the following position after 30.Ne2:

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White has a clear positional advantage. I did not see anything better than offering the exchange to liberate my position and played 30...f5. He went for it: 31.Bc6 Ra7!?

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The computer says that it is best to turn the offer down, but he went for it: 32.Bxa7?! Qxa7+ 33.Kh1 Nf6! 34.Qh6 Qg7 35.Qxg7+ Kxg7

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And the computer even gives a slight edge to Black... so my desperate measure worked!

Position after 42...Rb6:

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Black is a bit better. White needs to consider 43.h4 or 43.Be8. He played 43.Rf1? Ne4 and the best options now are to return the exchange with 44.Bxa4 or play 44.Ke3 and lose the g3. In both cases Black comes out much better. But he sent the rook back 44.Rfd1? perhaps thinking I'd repeat moves.

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44...a3.

Of course. Black is winning.

Again I navigated the opening successfully. Position after 14.Nxc4:

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The computer says +0.8 or so. White has a strong knight on c4, control of the h1-a8 diagonal, the g5 square waiting for the queen's bishop and generally better coordinated pieces.

Position after 24...Qf5:

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Here I missed 25.Qh4!, where White ends up with a big advantage after 25...h5 26.gxh6 Qh5 27.Qxh5 gxh5 28.R1e5. (I played 25.Qxf5 instead.)

I kept the advantage but it became complicated. She was really really low on time by move 30. The computer shows that my move 34 was pretty bad and she had a huge advantage until move 38, when she made a mistake. Funny, during the actual game I didn't even suspect I was that bad (neither did she, I'm sure).

The crucial position came after 44.cxd5:

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Here the computer says that Black should play 44...Kg8 with approximate equality. I think you have to be kind of cold-blooded to think of that move and not be scared of 45.Ng4 and the penetration of the White king.

She played 44...Rxa2?

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Here I had planned to go for 45.Nf7+ Kg8 46.Nh6+ Kf8 47.d6. Analysis diagram:

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... which is winning for White.

But (there is always a but!) I thought "Why would I want to bring her king closer to the center? Why not 45.d6 first?"

And played 45.d6??

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Well... why not? Because it blunders a piece, that's why.

45...Re2+ 46.Kd5 Nf4+

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And yet, miraculously, White does not lose. Truly a problem-like position!

47.Kc6! Rxe5 48.Re7 Rd5

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49.Re4! Rxd6+ 50.Kxd6 Nh3

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51.Re8+ Kg7 52.Re7+ Kf8 53.Rxh7 Nxg5 54.Rh4

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Position after 8.Re1:

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White has an edge. I went for 8...Nh5!? trying to find a post on f4 for the knight. He exchanged bishops on e7... I was more concerned about 9.Be3, as my queen would have remained locked in.

Position after 11...Nf4 12.Bf1:

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12...g5!?

I was feeling optimistic! And, as it turned out, inspired.

13.Nc4 g4 14.Nfd2 Qg5!?

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15.Re3 h5

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Here he had to play 16.g3, which holds well. Black's attack gets stopped and White is slightly better. He erred with 16.e5? Hmm... opening the big diagonal for my b7 bishop cannot be good, and in fact proved fatal.

For most of the rest of the game, basically, I kept making the best move or close to the best move, and he mostly played the second best. It turns out that when this happens over and over, the side making the better moves wins!

After 25.Rg3:

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25...f5. Here the computer likes several other moves better, but only because White has 26.f4! which keeps Black's advantage at -1.10... but 26.f4 is not easy to spot, is it? The beauty of 25...f5 is that it threatens the crushing 26...f4 and 26.exf6 fails to 26...Qd5 winning. Remember that opening the diagonal could not be a good idea? :-)

22.Qe2 Rg8

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And now all but one of Black's pieces are attacking, with the other one being a pretty good defender. He was really low on time by now, and went for the desperate 23.Nxd6+, which is actually the computer's recommendation!

0-1 in 26.

It started 1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 Bg4 4.0-0

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And here he played 4...Nxf3?! which has to be dubious and I had never seen. (There is one game in this database with this move: B Wall vs John Ludwig, 2011)

Position after 12...Qc7:

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This is basically equalized, so if I was supposed to get an edge after 4...Bxf3, I failed to do so.

I played 13.f4?! and he should have gone for 13...exf4 14.e5 fxg3 15.exf6 gxh2+ 16.Kh1 Bxf6, which appears to favor Black.

He played more cautious and by move 17 we were equal again. Position after 17...f5:

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Position after 27...g6:

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28.Rd6 Rxd6 29.exd6 Rd8

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30.Rb1 (30.Rd1 Kf7 31.c4 c5 is a more solid way to secure a draw) Rxd6 31.Rb8+ (31.Rb7 is likely to be = as well) Kf7 32.Rb7+ Ke6 33.Rxa7

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33...Rd2!

The computer says it is still equal, but this is the move that creates most problems for White, especially when time to think carefully is scarce.

34.Rxh7 Ke5

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And here I erred with 35.Rh3? The computer claims that 35.Kg1! Kf4 36.Kf1! is equal, but I suspect that Black still has an edge. As long as White's king remains locked in, Black can create problems and threats.

He played the rest very well and I didn't stand a chance.

0-1 in 56.

She showed up some 15 to 20 minutes late and thought a lot. By move 20 she had about 10 minutes left to reach the control. She had achieved an advantageous position, but blew it under time pressure.

The opening was a line of the Nimzo that leads to a slow game where White has an edge. Position after 9.Ne2:

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At some point all the action concentrated on the queenside... Position after 20...Ra8:

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White is better. Position after 29.axb3:

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I didn't understand the defensive strategy well. I needed to be ready to respond to g5 with ...Ng8 and to f4 with ...Nd7. Therefore, the bishop should be removed from d7 with 29...Be8. Instead I played the dubious 29...a5 and here 30.Qa1! followed by g5 and f4 would have been quite strong and dangerous. (She played the weaker 30.Qc3.)

The danger faded away when I was able to exchange queens before any dangerous f4 break.

Position after 38.Ne2:

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38...Bd1! 39.Kf2 Bxe2! 40.Bxe2

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Laughably, the computer gives White a 0.50 edge or so. She offered a draw here but I played a few more moves to see whether control of f4 meant anything.

Final position after 47...Nf6:

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Round 1: <Four diffrent moves preserve the equality, but I went for 16...Qf5?> I would play 16…Qd7 here. 16…Qf5 goes against Nimzowitsch’s idea of centralization.

<Here I played 19...Nhf3? and after 20.Rg3 everything fell apart quickly.> 19…Rf7 or 19…Nf5. What was your plan of 19…Nf3?

Round 2: <Again I came out of the opening pretty well. Position after 12.e5> Black's play reminds me of Karpov’s style: making every piece look like they’re playing dead-cop and then suddenly rising from the ashes.

<I played 26.Nh4, which is a little weaker.> 26. Rd6 and then Nh4. <Here I played 46.Nc2?, where 46.Nd3 or 46.Kf1 keep some advantage for White. After 46...a5! the position is equal.> What was your plan against 46…a5?

Round 3: <30…f5> White’s bishops are very active and strong. The fact that White’s rooks can’t get any potential penetrating open files makes the bishops more important to keep. Trading the light-squared bishop for black’s barred rook on a8 is a positional mistake of the highest order.

Beautiful play, bro! You have truly showed your colors in this one.

Round 5: < Position after 14.Nxc4> One of Black’s plans would be to form a concentrated attack on the d-pawn.

Round 6: < 12...g5!?> 12…e5 is what I would have played. If Black trades, then the position is equal. If he pushes, then c5 opens up. White’s f1 bishop begins to moan.

<Here he had to play 16.g3, which holds well. Black's attack gets stopped and White is slightly better.> But Black remains better on the kingside, with more space. The rooks can use the semi-open files later. :-)

<I was really inspired that round! But, alas, it was to be my last victory...> Let me guess: you like to share personal anecdotes. Good game, and great job!

Round 8: < And here he played 4...Nxf3?! which has to be dubious and I had never seen.> I think the correct play for White would be d4-c4-Nc3, etc.

<Position after 17...f5> Black plans …Rac8 followed by …Qc4. White wants trade off the knight on e6.

Round 9: < Position after 20...Ra8> White can also switch to King-side play by Kg1-Rg2-Rg1-h4, etc. Defending on the queenside achieves nothing effective in the long run.

<I didn't understand the defensive strategy well. I needed to be ready to respond to g5 with ...Ng8 and to f4 with ...Nd7. Therefore, the bishop should be removed from d7 with 29...Be8. Instead I played the dubious 29...a5 and here 30.Qa1! followed by g5 and f4 would have been quite strong and dangerous. (She played the weaker 30.Qc3.)> I agree with your analysis completely.

< 38...Bd1! 39.Kf2 Bxe2! 40.Bxe2. Laughably, the computer gives White a 0.50 edge or so.> Aha! An exception where a closed position does not give Knights the advantage! A quick glance shows that White’s bishops can easily infiltrate the enemy camp.

Thanks for going over my games! Here're some comments:

<Round 1... What was your plan of 19…Nf3?>

Generally speaking, this and Round 2 game (both losses) were G75 games, and I am not very good at that. I prefer to have time for deeper thinking. What I remember is that I was feeling cramped because the a7 pawn is weak and can't move... and therefore the rook on a8 can't move either. I thought I could go grab the h2 pawn, play h5 and get the knight out through g4. If I could accomplish that, then I would have play on the kingside. Needless to say, it didn't work. I miscalculated (G75!) my knight's retreat possibilities and it got stranded.

<Round 2... What was your plan against 46…a5?>

I didn't even see 46...a5! We were down to very little time at that point, but I acknowledge that the move is obvious once you think about what Black can do.

<Round 3... Trading the light-squared bishop for black’s barred rook on a8 is a positional mistake of the highest order.> I agree with you (although it was the dark-squared bishop that got traded... even worse for him, as the dark-squared bishop is his attacking bishop and the light-squared one became useless on c6).

<Beautiful play, bro! You have truly showed your colors in this one.>

Thanks! When I was your age I saved many games by giving up material at the right time for counterplay. My teacher used to tease me on it, but also praised me for my resourcefulness.

<Round 5... One of Black’s plans would be to form a concentrated attack on the d-pawn.> Yes, the d3 pawn is White's one weakness, but all the strengths more than compensate for it. I forgot to mention that White also has control of the d6 square, which makes ...Bb7 for black difficult or impossible.

<Round 6...<Here he had to play 16.g3, which holds well. Black's attack gets stopped and White is slightly better.> But Black remains better on the kingside, with more space. The rooks can use the semi-open files later. :-)> The computer says White has a slight edge, but I agree that Black has game.

<Good game, and great job!> Thanks! :-)

<Round 8... < And here he played 4...Nxf3?! which has to be dubious and I had never seen.> I think the correct play for White would be d4-c4-Nc3, etc.> That sounds reasonable. The capture on f3 took me by surprise and I assumed that I would just end up better by continuing with the KIA set up.

<Round 9: < Position after 20...Ra8> White can also switch to King-side play by Kg1-Rg2-Rg1-h4, etc. Defending on the queenside achieves nothing effective in the long run.> True. She had clear advantage by then. Or at least she had plans to follow and I was just in passive defense hoping for a break such as ...b5 that was not guaranteed to succeed and could potentially backfire. But she was low on time and couldn't change her mindset quickly enough to play on the kingside (thankfully).

I've been looking at some games with this line on this database. White fares better than Black by a comfortable margin. The games are generally slow. If Black is able to counterpunch, things go well, but if not, Black gets cramped the whole game. Also, I found out that Black generally castles long, or even plays ...Kd7, ...Kc7, etc.

Here's a nice Black win: Seirawan vs Ulf Andersson, 1983.

You have to click on the "fight" button again after you click on the link to get the right result.

This one was closer than I thought it would be- hats off to you for putting on a good show:

Uh oh, this is worrisome: