Don't show your opponent mercy!

This is part of my column Move by Move: Chess Improvement. To get your game analyzed, please join the group:

Move by Move Chess Improvement

I would like to thank WhiteAnemone for submitting this game.

White missed this idea, and the game continued on:

White has to choose a way to deal with the pawn tension between the White pawn on c3 and the Black pawn on d4. What to do?

Due to Black's dark bishop on b6, White is advised to advance his c-pawn forward, not allowing the a7-g1 diagonal to be opened. This also prevents the d3 pawn from becoming a weakness.

However, White gave Black a chance to exchange on c3:

White is up a piece. However, he must find a way to crash through:

in this game, we saw White gain a massive attack and subsequently earned a large material advantage. However, after winning a piece, he started playing less strongly than he had done before the game - perhaps he had thought the game would win itself?

This is something that ALL chess players need to learn to overcome. White then lost the advantage, and did not take the draw (or did not look for the draw) when given the chance, and thus even lost. White learned a great lesson in this game - when winning, you need to keep playing strongly to convert a "winning position" to an actual win. And when the advantage slips, you need to take a second to look for the best chances to stay in the game. Next time, White will be ready!