My OTB game against an 8 year old kid!

Hi, 

So I just wanted to show you this game I recently played against an 8 year old kid. It was OTB I was white he was black. It was a 2 hour game for each player, no increment or such.

I thought the kid played quite well, or did I play really bad? In the end I managed to win it, but I was slightly worse for most of the game (he offered me like 4 or 5 draws during this period, I mostly declined them out of pride, I mean he was just a kid!)

Anyways I first analysed the game myself, and than with houdini. My conclusion is that the kid played pretty well, until the endgame. And I played bad in the opening (a common theme for me) but played pretty well in the endgame. This is by the way the longest game I've played OTB, only started playing official OTB chess in august. My performances seem to indicate I'm about 1700 ELO.

Anyways, what do you guys think, did the kid play really well, or was it mostly me getting myself in trouble?

I also added some of my thoughts in the notes.

Both of you played really well. I hope to one day be this good! Cheers

What is OTB?  I hate timed games.  Can I play untimed on chess.com?

Heh, then be thankful the kid you were facing didn't trash you so bad there was no draw offer to begin with ;)  There are some very strong youth players out there (even if they aren't the norm).  Best not to get caught up in the age.

OTB= Over The Board (Playing chess in real life, not online).

I agree with your conclusion.  It seemed like the kid was just convinced that it was a draw, and forgot about trying to win the endgame at all.

Yeah Wafflemaster, but 8 years old, come on, that's really very young.

But who knows, maybe I played a future GM or something.

#30....pe5 wins a pawn-----no? He played better all things considered .

No 30 ...e5 doesn't work, well it keeps the game equal, he doesn't win a pawn.

rxd6,rc6 ?

Rxc6, Rxc6 and than just Ng3, and white is very happy I think(a pawn up).

Yes, you can. Online Chess, 14 days/move is actually untimed. Because it's almost impossible to lose on time.

The variation above doesn't work.  6. Nd6 wins the exchange.

The game had a lot of maneuvering so I am sure it was fairly tense...

Unfortunately, most of the shuffling was inaccurate/ineffective.

Your moves 10-12 were questionable as they allow d5 - almost

always good for black in the sicilian particularly here where the dpawn 

is weak on d6. 24..b5 was a great move for him. 25 nd4 led to 3 weak pawns

versus one. But thereafter he seemed  very unsure. Your king centralization and rook penetration paid off.

My impression is that you  are a patient player but need to concentrate on finding crisper moves. 

Yeah, he might not be a certain future grandmaster. I just played quite louzy, especially the Ne2 maneuver.  d5 would have really been very good for black, and it's also quite natural for him indeed, I off course didn't pay attention to it. Guess there was also a big understimation on my part.

Another lesson learned.

Just went to my first tourney in ~19 months, 3 wins 1 loss... guess who I lost to... an 8 year old kid ;)   Age doesn't matter! 

(reminded me of this thread so I thought I'd mention it).

Say what? 8 years old?

Cmoon. I hope i will play so good in the next 8 years.

Is it just me or is it really just insane how good young players play? 

(Sorry  that my post was -perhaps- a little offtopic)

Yeah, I think about all the pre teen kids at the (admittedly small) tourney were better than me.  I know some people on the forum don't like the notion of age making a difference, but to me it's crystal clear that starting young offers huge advantages.

Do they put in work?  I know they do, they work a lot.  But their work clearly gets bigger pay offs.