A won game isn't always a win.

Jan 20, 2018, 7:14 AM |

Have you ever tried really hard to win a chess game and later had to take a draw simply because you made one thoughtless move out of the whole game? Granted, in this game, I made another fatal misjudgment, however, it was remedied by a thoughtless move from my opponent, but I was the one that made the last thoughtless move that turned this game into a draw.

The takeaway from that game is that though I was ahead on time it didn't amount to a hill of beans because I made fast moves in the ending and had to take a draw after the last blunder that cost me the win. In the future, if I plan to move quickly in the opening game like that, I should learn to gradually start thinking more and more about my moves so that I don't make those types of ending mistakes and lose games I should have won.

We both had a lot of time on our clocks. I was moving fast, and it forced him to move fast, and because he was thinking a lot longer than me in the last moves of the game he won. I didn't think at the most critical moment. I need to build the habit of not making the first move that comes to my head, and instead, think of a list of moves along with possible candidate replies from my opponent, with each and every move. So I need to work on my time management. I need to spend more time on my moves. To do that, I am going to apply Dan Heisman's basic algorithm for coming up with chess moves.

A won game isn't always a win.

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