An important ego boost
Today, I played a game that is very important for my chess ego. I faced an opponent whom I have played a couple of times before, and I have felt that I should be able to win. However, in our previous encounters, I have lost 2 of 2 games. I have provided one painful example in a previous post. A couple of weeks ago, I managed to swindle a win from the same opponent in a lost position. And today, I managed to beat him again. My chess ego rubs his hands and says that this is how things are supposed to be.
First, here is the game from a couple weeks back. In this position, I am down two pawns and need to do something to prevent being run over.
Can you find black's best move?
Today's game does not have the same dramatic turn of events as in the example above. This is more of a positional struggle, and eventually, the pressure became too much for my opponent to handle, and he made a decisive blunder.
When reviewing these games, it is interesting to see how many mistakes are made by both sides. There is so much to learn, and so many deficiencies to iron out. My impression from these games is that I do not identify and calculate the critical lines well enough.
After these two games, I have won 2 of the 4 games, and thereby equalized the score between us. My ego has received sufficient evidence that we are at least equal. This is a much needed ego boost.
This being said, my ego has to accept that there are many mistakes and problems to solve. In the first game, it seems to me that the bishop sac is not decisive, and in the second game, it seems that black stood better before the big blunder.
So, if you have read everything the entire post up to this point, I have two questions for you.
- In the first game, can white save himself after 31. Kf2 Rxa1, 32. Qxa1 Rg6, 33. Kxf3?
- In the second game, does black stand better after 32... Bd4?
As usual, all comments and suggestions are welcome.
