Hello chess.com community,

Today I played a game on ICC against some 400 points Higher rated than me and I won. After a lot of trades and some sneaky moves, I won. However, I still think He could have played better. Can you guys find any improvements for Black?

Thanks,

Arv123

I think 9. ... Nxd4 was a poor move for black as it allowed you bishop onto the a1-h4 diagonal. He might have considered 9. ... Ne5 to centralize his Knight as well as opening up the c file.

18. ... b5 was a poor move for black as it allowed you Bishop free entry to destroy his pawn structure. Although this also allowed blacks rooks the a&c files, it was to no avail because of your Bishop defending a2.

Well done on maneuvering your Rook into place behind your passed pawn. From there it was easy sailing. 

Thanks a lot Puddle. 

Yeah I bet he didn't see 19.b4. 

you played pretty good

Thanks

9 0-0-0 d5 is mainline not nxd4

16. Rxd2 Bxd5 knight takes may have been better

nice lucena postion at the end

From above discussion you might get an impression that 9... Nxd4 is a bad move. I beg to disagree. Whilst 9... d5 is the most popular move it doesn't mean that all the other moves are bad (or even that 9... d5 is the best). In fact 9... Nxd4 (with the idea 10... Be6) is also a very well known theoretical move and at least in one database containing master games from recent years appears to be the second most popular move in this position. I would be more sceptical about 11. Be3?! After all the bishop is well placed on d4 and the manouvre Be3+Bd4+Be3 creates bit odd impression.

I'm not a dragon expert but i faill to see the point of 11...a6. Why not 11... Qa5 right away? Anyway, I think black is absolutely fine before 18... b5? and maybe the knight could have even proved to be a superior minor piece in this ending.

Why Do you want to find Improvements for the OTHER player?

Ask for improvements on yourself.

Instead of 11. Be3, g4 might have been a nice contination (which is also one of the book moves) 12. Bh6 and 12..Bxh6 would have actually given your opponent a small advantage.

15. Nd5 was okay, but again g4, or Be2 might have been a bit better. :P

18.. b5 was very poor indeed. Better could have been maybe Rc7 or Rb8.

21..Ra3 was actually not too good from your opponent. Rb7 would have been his best continuation.

 23. Bc4 very good but Ra1 not to bad either! :)

28..Rb5 was a blunder from your opponent. He should have played either Ra6 or Ra7. because now your pawns march to freedom :)

31. a6 was your best move or Rc1 :D

35. Ka5 would have been even a little better than Rb4 if you don't mind me saying.

36.. Ra1+ wasn't the best move. Rd1 would have been better.

At move 37 why didn't you play Ra4! :P You win his rook fast. One way or another you already had that game won :) He had no chance to stop the pawn without sacrifing the rook (which he did)

Well played, Arv! I hope you didn't mind what I wrote or that it's to confusing!

Also wanted to tell you that your chess pieces (Cases) are one of my favourites! :)

Jeremy

Yes, Beatrice :-) Im Bored =p =D

Thanks Jeremy