Annotations for improvement - Post #2

Just last weekend, I played in a 5 round tournament at the local chess club. It consisted of 24 players, and I was the third seed.

I had to take a round 1 half point bye due to prior arrangements, but scored two wins and two draws in the games I played to score 3.5/5, finishing in joint 2nd.

Today, I will be analysing both of my draws, where I had the black pieces. These were games that I was much worse in, especially in the 2nd where I was losing, but luckily held on to save the draw.

Game 1:

This was a shaky start to the tournament, yet I had just about escaped. The second draw will be in the next post, but for now, here is the evaulation of the game:

Skills summary:

1) Calculation: I managed to calculate a line which I thought was much better for me at the beginning of the game, however I misevaluated the position resulting from it. The seocnd long string of calculation I did was also 6-7 moves deep, but I missed the Nd6 trick (in all fairness, it was tough to see from a distance). Clearly, evaulation is an issue for me.

2) Positional understanding - I tried to immediately create an imbalance by seizing the bishop pair and trying to play for a win. I also understood that his e and c pawns were weak. However, I perhaps placed too much emphasis on this in the game, and ignored the dynamic play he got in exchange for the weaknesses.

3) Tactics - I missed this Nd6 trick that led to me getting an inferior position. However, although it never materialised, I identified the loose and trapped bishop on h6, which was good.

4) Time management - The time control was 90 + 30.  I was slightly behind on the clock during the game, but never in serious time pressure.

5) Opening knowledge - He ventured into a line that is not very common, and I was out of book very quickly. However, my setup was very reasonable, and I was slightly better out of the opening.

6) Endgame play - My opponent offered a draw before the actual endgame could have actually been played out. However, I would have had to defend an inferior position if he had, and I would have felt relavtively confident.

Key learning point: Correctly evaulating a position after several moves is vital. I misevaluated in this game, giving me a poor position. This needs improvement, and I will look harder at the final position to check for all the details.

The second draw will follow in the next post, make sure to check that out soon!

Edit: I was writing the 3rd post for this blog (the second draw), when, for reasons unknown to man, the chess.com website decided to completely delete it all. I spent three hours writing that post, and am very upset - I probably will not be able to redo that post. Sorry.