Hello all.  I am completely baffled how I lost a game even though I had a material advantage to begin with.  I would like some serious advice how I could have played this game to win.  Please analyse the game below and any helpful advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

30... Bf6 

if not for Bf6 where would his king go after the exchange that followed in the next few moves?

I moved Bf6 so that I wouldn't be in a position of mate with the queen/rook combination on the end file.

Even after the exchange sacrifice, you still had an advantage. Two rooks and two bishops are no joke. You should have tried to mate the king, not worry about  a possible 2nd queen appearing on the horizon. You played extremely passive in the endgame. That is the reason you lost. The general rule is - he who gets the initiative first, wins the endgame. You had a heavy artillery on your back, but could not coordinate them to work together towards a mating net. Nice game though.

How would a person go about by mating the queen say from move 36 with expected/predicted moves from white?  If someone could show me that would be cool.

11...Rb8 was bad enough, but 12...Bb3 was terrible.  Your in-between moves were unnecessary.  You have a material advantage and better development.  Why not just trade off his only developed piece(other than his queen) then play Nb6, when he has to either retreat his queen or trade into a losing endgame?

Instead of trying to mate, I prefer 40. ... Rb5 preventing white from promoting.

 

But I think the reason you got in trouble despite winning a piece early has two components.

1. You need to complete your development. You could dothis by castling instead of attacking the opponent's queen aimlessly, or later playing Bf6 and Kg7 to bring your h8 rook into the game.

2. You sometimes are inaccurate even one move ahead. For example 28. ... Qa5+ 29. b4 Qd8 indicates that you didn't see ahead one move at move 28. I much prefer 28. ... Bf6 intending to play Kg7.

 

41. ... Bxb8. It's probably better to take the queen than the knight. 

Thank you Loomis for your advice.  I shall go back to the drawing board and try to learn why I attacked, attacked and didn't ever make mate.  I guess one has to develop oneself and then attack.  I didn't castle, I played some amateurish moves and I didn't win.  I played a poor game in the end.

whistleblower - in answer to your question, after white's move 36, you are completely winning.

But you have to exploit your advantages in a more direct and energetic way.

Rd5 is rather weak because it threatens nothing, and vacates the back rank, strengthening white's only hope - his passed b pawn.

my first instinct would be to try and blast open the position with 36...e5. However White responds,  both your Bishops and rooks have lots of play against the exposed King.

(i started to work through some examples, but actually, i don't think its necessary. better you look for yourself!)

 

 

 

crikey wrote:

my first instinct would be to try and blast open the position with 36...e5. However White responds,  both your Bishops and rooks have lots of play against the exposed King.

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Perfect response considering the circumstances. My move should have been 36...e5 with the pawn.  It would have pressured white more.  I am shaking my head with loss at this game though, I should have won it.

yeah, i know the feeling - it happens to us all.

i still shake my head when i think of the way I blew a won position against a 2300 player.

In a OTB tournament!

It was mate in 4!!

After only 19 moves!!!

It was soooo obvious!!!!

There was a massive crowd watching!!!!!!

I had to resign 5 moves later!!!!!!!

Doh.