My Mistakes in April
In this article I’ll share the key mistakes I made in April. It was an okay month, though I didn’t play too many games. Instead of my March article on my mistakes, where I commented on many of my mistakes, this time I’m only focusing on the most important lessons learned.
Part 1 Drama on Defense (why I’m quitting Blitz for now)
Part 2 Endgame Errors (why I need to work on my endgame skills)
Drama on Defense
The first part is dedicated to a terrible Blitz game I played last month. The title Drama on Defense should be self explanatory.
Game #1 OzymandiasX-8 vs Duckfest
Puzzle
We reached this position on move 17. The evaluation is around + 2, so the game is not over yet. There is still a game to be played.
But I made a mistake by playing 17. h6 to attack their Knight. My opponent could have played 18. Rxe5+ and I would have been in trouble.
Full game
In this Blitz game I played an absolutely terrible middle game. We were equal for the first 9 moves of the game, but I made a big positional mistake on move 10 (b6?). Another mistake on move 17 (h6?). And another on move 21. And another on move 26. I didn’t deserve to win this. Here is the full game.
Overall, not a good game. Multiple mistakes and many inaccuracies on top.
Endgame Errors
The next section of the article is about some horrible mistakes I made in the endgame, causing me to lose game I really shouldn't have.
Game #2 Duckfest vs Capturesandcapture
Puzzle
Of the many mistakes I made in the endgame, there was one that really puzzled me. Even the second time I analyzed the puzzle I made the same mistake.
My calculation
Full game
This was a low quality game even if you take into account it was a Blitz game. I made a lot of bad decisions in the endgame.
Game #3 corum vs Duckfest
Puzzle
The game could have gone either way until we reached this key position.
Alas, I played Rd8 and the game was over.
Full game
The full game against a slightly stronger opponent was challenging but interesting. It was a challenging game. I experimented in the opening, though I didn’t fully understand what I was doing. It became a good learning experience.
Game #4 Duckfest vs Sergius44
Puzzle
The game could have gone either way until we reached this key position.
Alas, I played Rd2 and the game was over. I had completely misjudged how the game would play out. I thought that after trading Rooks, black had no way of saving the a-pawn and I figured a pawn and a Knight would draw against 3 pawns. I hadn’t actually calculated what would happen and how many moves I needed to even reach the a-pawn in the first place, let alone get back to the other side of the board. What made it worse was that I had spent a lot of time on one of the positions just before this moment, but that was all for nothing.
This game was a crucial game for this tournament. Winning would give me a decent shot at making the top 3, losing would secure third place for my opponent. The middle game went well for me and for a while I expected to win the game. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Still an interesting game to play.
Wrap-up
Only two Blitz games were played last month, but both of them were very low quality games. After looking at some of my other recent Blitz games, I realized that most of them were on average low accuracy games. In contrast with Rapid and Daily games, where I gain new insights when I analyze them afterwards, I don't feel the same way about my Blitz games. Most of my mistakes in Blitz are due to time pressure (or perceived time pressure) and they don’t really feel like learning opportunities. Maybe it's better if I stop playing Blitz games for a while.
The second realization is that I need to work on my endgames. I especially need to pay more attention when playing them, because it’s easy to lose a game immediately without even realizing it. That's going to be a priority for me in the weeks to come.
Thank you all for reading, any feedback is welcome!
