2020 Chess.com Daily Chess Championship Round 2
INTRODUCTION: My name is KnightOnRImIsDIm and I am in Group 103 for Round 2 of 2020 Chess.com Daily Chess Championship. Our group did not have any titled players or super highly rated players in the 2400's or 2300's but was still quite a competitive group since quite a few of the players' ratings were not too far apart and rated in the 2000's and 1900's. I was the highest rated player in my group at the beginning of round 2 with a rating of 2086, so my mindset was definitely to try to win my group. The second highest rated player in my group at the start of round 2 was Climbal with a rating of 2031 so I thought he would be my main rival. The third highest rated player in my group at the start of round 2 was Chess7999 with a rating of 1928. The fourth highest rated player in my group at the start of round 2 was videbimus with a rating of 1902. Thus, at the beginning of round 2, looking at the ratings and win-draw-loss records alone, I thought my main rivals would be Climbal, Chess7999, and videbimus. However, at the end of round 2, it turned out that my group was basically a two horse race between me and Monkey917 going after 1st place and Monkey917 was definitely underrated at the start of round 2 in my group.
After a few days had passed after the start of round 2, Chess7999(who I thought would be one of my main rivals), Gustyper, deepakniol66, and danielhernandezortiz all timed out their games against me in the opening phase, so my 22 games of round 2 were cut down to 14. Thus, I will show my 14 relevant games of round 2 below and share my analysis of those games. I will show the games in the sequence of against players who finished with the worst standings of the group to finally against the players who finished with the best standings of the group at the end of this blog.
Below is my game as White vs. videcv.
SUMMARY: This was a relatively straightforward game for me as White to keep the pressure on Black and checkmate Black in the end since Black made mistakes early on in the game.
ANALYSIS: Black's 7th move Nxe5 was his first mistake since it dropped a pawn and gave up the center control for Black and after seeing that mistake from Black so early on in the game, I knew that I definitely should have a good chance to win this game. White's 12th move e4 seized and dominated the center with a block of rock solid pawns and controlled the center. Black's 16th move f5 really made no sense to me and gave away more material. White's 23rd move d6 opened up the e4 bishop to control the entire h1-a8 diagonal and prepared the start of a deadly assault on Black king. White's 24th move Rxb6 broke through with the attack on Black king and it was all over.
Below is my game as Black vs. videcv.
SUMMARY: This was a game where my opponent as White gave up a pawn early on in the game to exchange queens and I had to basically grind out the game with a pawn up into the endgame.
ANALYSIS: White's 9th move e4 was definitely his first mistake to give up a pawn so early in the game and in return White got to exchange queens and made me to try to win the game slowly into the endgame. Black's 15th move Rhd8 challenged White for the d-file. Black's 33rd move Bxg5 was a decision to trade off Black's g-pawn for White's g-pawn and created two connected passed pawns for Black and set up Black to try to win the endgame with those two connected passed pawns on the f-file and e-file. Black's 35th move Bd5 was a decision to trade off a pair of bishops so that it would be less dangerous for Black to advance his King in the endgame and use the Black king to help promote Black's two connected passed pawns.
Below is my game as White vs. Tomschach999
SUMMARY: This was a game where as White I won a pawn early on in the game and tried to maintain that material advantage into the endgame.
ANALYSIS: Black's 10th move b6 was definitely a very weird looking move for the opening setup with his pawns lining up horizontally on the 6th rank since I thought usually pawns want to form some kind of diagonal pawn chains to be strong and not have so many pawns lined up horizontally like that. White's 13th move Red1 was looking to pressure the d-file and try to win a pawn. Black's 14th move Bb7 was a mistake that lose material and a better try for Black was perhaps Rd8 to defend the Knight on d7. White's 15th move dxc5 opened up the d-file and won material. Black's 18th move Bc6 scared me a bit with his idea to perhaps try to trap my rook on b6. White's 19th move Nd1 and 21st move Ne5 and 26th move Rd1 tried to exchange some pieces so that hopefully my rook on b6 won't get trapped. White's 29th move Rd7 got the White rook back to control the d-file. Black's 36th move Nd6 allowed 37.Rxd6 Kxd6 38. Ne4+ trying to simplify the game but this idea wouldn't work because instead of 37...Kxd6 Black could play an intermezzo 37...Rf5+! and White would just be down an exchange, so I thought this was a very tricky part of the game. Black's 37th move Rf5+ was a nice move I thought on Black's part to maintain his rook on the 5th rank to cut off my King and caused problems for me as White to later advance my King and pawns in the endgame. White's 39th move a3 prepared for the move b4 to try to make two connected passed pawns for White on the queenside and win the game with those two connected passed pawns. White's 45th move Rd4 was a decision to sacrifice a pawn on the queenside to try to breakthrough the position with White's advanced c-pawn and advanced White King position in the endgame. I was a bit surprised that Black resigned already after White's 49th move c6 since Black could have kept playing on for quite a bit and defend against the c6 pawn with the Black Knight, but White's idea was definitely to try to eventually use his advanced c-pawn and advanced King and active Knight to force Black to make further positional concessions as White gobble up more Black pawns and eventually win the endgame. Concretely, one of the lines that I had prepared and analyzed before making the move 49.c6 was 49...Nd6 50.Ne4 Ne8 51.Ke5 Ka5 52.Nd6 Nc7 53.Nxf7.
Below is my game as Black vs. Tomschach999
SUMMARY: This was a game with a surprising opening move from White with 1. b4 and ended with White blundering a minor piece early on in the opening.
ANALYSIS: White's 11th move Qc2 was the mistake that failed to do something about White's hanging bishop on e5 that was only defended once and being attacked twice and then White resigned after Black's 11th move Nxe5.
Below is my game as White vs. videbimus
SUMMARY: This was a game with a Sicilian structure where Black allowed White a Sicilian thematic c5 pawn breakthrough on the queenside that led to Black's demise.
ANALYSIS: White's 14th move f5 was definitely an attempt to try to be aggressive and attack Black's position. White's 18th move Na3 was an idea to further control b5 square against a potential Black b5-pawn break and also with the plan to eventually reroute the Knight on a3 to the sweet looking e4 square via b1 and d2 squares. White's 20th move b4 controlled the c5 square and prevented the Black Knight to post up on that c5 square and also to eventually look for a way to push c5 for White and break through Black's position from the queenside. White's 21st move Nb1 tried to reroute the White Knight to post up on the sweet e4 square. Black's 21st move b5 was a mistake on Black's part since it allowed White to play c5 and break through Black's position and I was very surprised to see this mistake from my opponent. My c5 and d5 connected pawn duo became a nightmare for Black. White's 30th move Qb6 was an attempt to trade queens when being up positionally with the two advanced connected passed pawns. The game was all over after White's 32nd move Nd6 with a fork of two Black rooks and advanced White c-pawn.
Below is my game as Black vs. videbimus
SUMMARY: This was a sharp Sicilian Najdorf game where both sides castled on opposite sides and tried to go after each other's King. Black's attack was a bit stronger and eventually traded queens, won a pawn, and got the pair of Bishops advantage vs. White's two Knights with positional and material advantages.
ANALYSIS: Black's 19th move Nxb3 was my first major decision whether to exchange my Knight for White's Bishop. I was not sure if this move 19...Nxb3 was the best and in hindsight I thought I could have perhaps won a pawn had I played 19...a4 with the following sharp line 20. Bc4 Nxe4 21. Bxe6 Nxg5. On Black's 22nd move, I decided to play Qxa4 instead of Bxg5 because White can counter Bxg5 with 23. f4 with 24. Nc6 to follow and I thought it would be too dangerous for Black to give up the c-file with initiative for White and that It would not be worth the extra pawn and White would have enough compensation with his control of c-file and further attacks through the c-file with the White Knight planted on c6 with doubling White's rooks to follow. Black's 24th move Rfc8 was key and needed to challenge the c-file and not give White total control over it. White's 26th move Ned4 dropped a pawn for White and was a mistake. Black's 31st move Bc2 set up a potential 32....Rxa2+ followed by 33....Ra8++ checkmate. Black was definitely better positionally and also up in material at the final position.
Below is my game as White vs. nestor1949
SUMMARY: This was a game where White eventually won a pawn in the middlegame and milked a superior position with positional and material advantages to eventually convince my opponent Black to resign.
ANALYSIS: White's 14th move Bd4 challenged Black's fianchetto Bishop on g7. White's 22nd move Qd2 challenged Black's Queen on a5. Black's 23rd move Ne5 was a mistake that eventually drop Black a pawn. White's 28th move e6 pinned down Black's position positionally where in a potential endgame White's e6 pawn would be a huge advantage. White's 29th move e5 tried to create a passed pawn for White. After White's 30th move exd6, White's e6 pawn would become a monster in a potential endgame. White's 33rd move Qb8 tried to trade queens and White's positional advantage was huge with a monster pawn on e6 and Black's Bishop on a8 was very bad and completely blocked and out of the game.
Below is my game as Black vs. nestor1949
SUMMARY: This was a very sharp Sicilian Najdorf game where White and Black both tried to go after each other's King and in the end, Black's attack was quicker and broke through.
ANALYSIS: Black's 15th move was my first major decision where it was probably better to follow the Book move Bc4, but I noticed that my opponent was also following Book moves, so I decided to try to throw him a curveball and tried to get him off the Book with a worse move Nc4 so that White would have to start to think on his own. Black's 17th move b4 was a must to keep attacking in these kinds of sharp Sicilian Najdorf positions where time is essential.
Black's 18th move Nxd5 was made because I felt that it was probably better to keep the Bishop on c4 instead of the Knight on f6 since the Knight on f6 would be kind of trapped and harder to go after the White King while the Bishop on c4 would be easier to go after the White King and closer to the White King. Again, Black's 19th move a5 and 20th move a4 were definitely needed to go after the White King in these type of super sharp Sicilian Najdorf positions. Black's 21st move hxg4 and 22nd move Rxh1 made trades and released some of the built up pressure against Black on the Kingside. Black's 23rd move b3 was a must from my point of view to try to go after the White King even though after the game was over the engine told me that my 23rd move b3 was a mistake and that Be2 was better, but seriously, I totally did not even see or considered the engine suggested Be2 at all. Black's 25th move Ra8 was my idea to try to set up a sacrifice on White's a3 pawn and assault the White King, even though right after the game when I did the analysis the engine suggested that my Ra8 move was an inaccuracy and that Be2 would have been better, but again, I did not see or considered Be2 at all. White's 26th move g5 was a blunder and White should have played Qe4 as the engine suggested after the game. Black's 26th move Bd3+ was the start of a beautiful finish for Black. If 27. Nxd3 then Qc2+ 28. Ka1 Rxa3+ 29.bxa3 Qa2++. If 27.Rxd3 then Qc2+ 28.Ka1 Rxa3+ 29.bxa3 b2+ 30. Ka3 b1=Q++. If as in the game 27.Ka1 then Rxa3+ 28.bxa3 Qc3++ or 28.Na2 Rxa2++. The game was over and all lines led to checkmate after Black's 27th move Bd3+.
Below is my game as White vs. Climbal
SUMMARY: This was a key game where I had to win in order to get into a tie for 1st in my group and advance to round 3. The game felt equal from the opening to the middlegame and I as White had to try to just go for it and took a little bit of risk with an advanced e-pawn to get into a better endgame and force Black to eventually concede some space so that my White King can get into a better King position and then eventually lead to a winning endgame.
ANALYSIS: White's 21st move f4 was definitely trying to be aggressive even though the move exposed a potential weak a7-g1 diagonal for White against the White King. White's 22nd move Nf3 was made instead of Nxe6 because I thought even though Nxe6 felt good to get rid of Black's Bishop and give Black an isolated pawn, it opened up the f-file for Black's rook on f8 and I did not feel comfortable with that open file for Black's rook on f8 putting pressure on my kingside, so instead I played Nf3. White's 24th move Qf2 was an attempt to trade queens since White's position felt more open and exposed, so I thought trading queens would be a good idea. White's 28th move Ne2 was made instead of Nf5 because I thought after Nf5, Black's reply 28...Bg6 would be strong to put pressure on White Knight on f5 and White's e4 pawn, so I took a very careful approach with Ne2. Black's 28th move a5 was a powerful idea to eventually push a4 and attack White's pawn formation on the queenside and perhaps eventually create a passed pawn for Black on the queenside. White's 29th move Nc3 tried to help guard the a4 square and prevent Black from playing a4. White's 35th move e5 was a critical decision in the game where I felt that if White did not make this pawn push with e5 and tried to push the Black King back, then eventually Black will push his pawn to c5 and push the White King back and then White's position will be worse. White's 37th move Bg4 help to control the crucial e6 and d7 squares for White. Black's 38th move b6 tried to prevent White from advancing to c5 with the Knight. Black's 40th move Bg6 was a mistake and I thought Black had to fight for the control of e6 square with the move Be6 instead. White's 42nd move Bxg6 was played because I thought it would be nice to get Black's Knight to go to g6 square where it would have no good future with White's pawn on g3 square three squares in front of the Black Knight. White's 43rd move Kd5 I felt was very strong since it was far more important to advance the White King and the King position was more important than trying to pick up an extra pawn with Nc8+. There was simply no hurry and sometimes it is important to be patient in the endgame; with the superior White King position and active White Knight and menacing White passed e-pawn, the Black pawns will not get away and the Black position will eventually crumble. Black's 44th move a4 was a desperate attempt to try to trick White to help Black create a passed pawn if White had played bxa4. White's 49th move Kd5 was necessary to get the White King to stay close to White's passed e-pawn and not allow Black to play Ke6 and threaten White's e-pawn. Black's 53rd move Kg5 was desperation and a blunder and Black failed to account for White's next move e6 followed by e7 and the game was all over. After White's 55th move e7, had Black played Kf7, then White will play 56. Nd6+ forcing a trade of Knights and then White will have a simple winning endgame with passed pawns. In the other variation after White's 55th move e7, had Black played Nxe7 instead, then after 56.Nxe7 Kxe7 White will simply have a simple winning endgame as well with an outside passed pawn.
Below is my game as Black vs. Climbal
SUMMARY: This was a game against one of my main rivals where I thought we had an equal opening and the start of middlegame, but then my opponent White allowed me to seize control of crucial diagonals and files that eventually led me as Black to gain positional and material advantages and then eventually win.
ANALYSIS: Black's 4th move Nh6 was an attempt from me to show some humor since my name is KnightOnRimIsDim. Black's 6th move c5 was a pawn gambit that try to sacrifice a pawn for center control. Black's 11th move d4 was strong to open up the position and fight for the central d4 square and seize center control and then eventually win back the c5 pawn. Black's 16th move Bd4 got the fianchetto Bishop back to the h8-a1 diagonal so that it can come back to help defend the Black King when needed, even though I also debated for a bit with myself whether I wanted the bishop back on the h8-a1 diagonal or let it stay on the a7-g1 diagonal. White's 20th move a4 tried to attack Black's pawn formation on the queenside. Black's 21st move Nh4 was a major decision to risk putting my Knight on the rim to try to attack White's kingside. After 22.Bf3 Nxf3, this led to doubled pawns for White and Black was better positionally at this point. Black's 27th move Kh7 was played to prepare for the eventual f5 pawn push to attack the White Knight posted on e4. White's 31st move Be3 totally missed Black's tactic with 31...Rxe3! and if 32.Qxe3 then 32...Bc5 pinning the White queen and White started to lose more material. White's 37th move Qe5 allowed a trade of queens and I thought White should have avoided trade of queens. After the trade of queens, the rest was mop up and the game was basically over.
Below is my game as White vs. earlybird69
SUMMARY: This was a game where White played very solidly in the opening and built up a steady Catalan opening advantage that led to White eventually winning a pawn when Black made a mistake and then eventually with more mistakes Black allowed White to win even more material and then Black eventually gave up.
ANALYSIS: Black's 16th move Nxe5 was a mistake that drop a pawn for Black. White's 22nd move Qc6 was an attempt to trade queens and Black should have probably try to find a way to avoid trading queens. White's 26th move Bxe6 was a major decision to trade a White Bishop for Black's Knight and with this trade the game simplified more while avoiding having opposite colored bishops. White's 29th move Rc7 controlled the important 7th rank and usually it's nice to put rooks on enemy's 7th rank and try to control that rank horizontally. Black's 33rd move f6 was a blunder that dropped material for Black since it allowed White to pawn fork Black's pieces with the pawn pushes g5 and f5 and the game was basically over after this point.
Below is my game as Black vs earlybird69
SUMMARY: This was a sharp game in the Sicilian where both sides as White and Black made a few little mistakes throughout the game and the game was basically equal and even at the end and should have been a draw until White fell for one of Black's final desperate endgame tricks that led to a win for Black. In hindsight it was actually very fortunate for me as Black to be able to win this game and not just get a draw otherwise I would have not been able to get 20.5 points and advance to round 3.
ANALYSIS: Black's 18th move Rac8 was played because it felt better to not passively defend the b7 pawn and instead try to play actively as Black and counterattack White's pawns as well on the c-file. Black's 19th move Qxe6 was a mistake for me that led to a weak isolated d-pawn and potential pins against my Queen on h3-c8 diagonal and a2-g8 diagonal and I should have played fxe6 instead solidifying my pawns in the center. After White's 23rd move Rb6, I definitely felt that I was worse as Black and was in danger of eventually losing. Black's 25th move Nf4 was an attempt to play actively even though the move was risky. White's 26th move Rd1 was not what I expected from my opponent and I thought White could have put even more pressure on me with 26.Rb1 attacking my b-pawn. Black's 27th move Qxa4 was the correct approach to play actively and go after White's pawns and White's position instead of defending passively. Black's 31st move Qf6 was probably too cautious and not playing actively enough and keeping up with pressuring White's position. After Black's 33rd move Qe6, I thought I would have an advantage in the endgame with a passed pawn had I traded queens, but I was wrong since that kind of an endgame would just be a draw. Black's 40th move Rb6 was played with the idea of Rb5 forcing a trade of rooks if White ever mistakenly move the White king to the 5th rank. White's 45th move Kxg5 was a major blunder that allowed Black to force a trade of rooks with Rb5!!! and win with an outside passed pawn. The game was basically over after this major blunder from White and the rest of the endgame was just a matter of technique. Black definitely got lucky that White allowed this kind of a swindle in an otherwise drawn endgame.
Below is my game as White vs. Monkey917
SUMMARY: This was a very important game against my main rival in a two horse race battle for first place in my group. As White I played a very solid and strong opening with center control and I felt that I definitely had the advantage that led White to eventually win a pawn and should be able to win this game, but my opponent was very resourceful and battled so well and somewhere in the middlegame my opponent as Black eventually was a bit better and put a lot of pressure on me as White so that I had to give back my extra pawn. In the end the game was settled into a drawn endgame.
ANALYSIS: White's 11th move e4 seized the center and I thought White was already a bit better with its opening setup at this point. White's 16th move Qc2 was not as good as if White had taken the opportunity to play e5 instead blocking Black's fianchetto bishop and leaving Black Knight stranded on h5. White's 22nd move Rbc1 lined up the White rook against Black's queen and tried to control the c-file but this move turned out to be a mistake and White should have played 22.b5 directly instead. White's 23rd move b5 tried to break open Black's position and attack Black on the queenside. White's 26th move Nd3 retreating was not the most accurate and White should have played 26.f4 instead grabbing an even bigger hold of the center. White's 32nd move Nc5 felt to be a strong move here and that I was going to win a pawn and be better. Black's 33rd move Bc6 was an attempt to activate the bishop and fight back for Black's position and put a lot of pressure on my e4-pawn. White's 34th move Qxc8 being eager to trade queens turned out to be a mistake and White should have played Qb2 instead according to the engine. White's 37th move Nb3 was an inaccuracy and White should have played f4 instead. White's 39th move f3 trying to solidify the e4 pawn was actually an inaccuracy and White should have played a4 instead. White's 42nd move dxe5 was an inaccuracy and White should have played a4 instead. After 42.dxe5 Nxe5, Black's Knight posted up very nicely on the e5 square and was very annoying and pressuring White's position very nicely from that outpost. Black's 46th move Rc3 infiltrated White's position nicely with the Black rook and even though White was up a pawn materially, it did not feel that White was better at all while playing the position as White. White's 48th move Rb4 was played instead of Rxb6 because after 48.Rxb6 Rxd4 49.Rb8+ Kh7 50.Rxa8 Rd2 and I felt the White King would be in some danger and Black should at least be able to force a perpetual check and that I did not like the Black rook and Knight gaining up on my corned White King and pinned Bishop while my White rook is out of the position in the corner on the a8 square and hard to get back into position and also that I did not want to lose my good White Knight posted on d4. White's 49th move f4 was a risky attempt to try to get that Black Knight away from the strong e5 post. White's 50th move fxe5 was played because it felt necessary to just kill that Black Knight before it hops into White's position on the d3 square, even though this line would just lead to a drawn endgame. White's 57th move Rb6 was played to try to make Black blunder had he played 57...Kh5 then 58.g4 fxg4 59.hxg4 Kh4 60.Rxh6++. White's 70th move Rb2 was played to defend White's 2nd rank against Black's Rc2+. On the 73rd move, it was crucial for White to play Rb3 and kept White's rook on the 3rd rank and not make the mistake of playing Ra2. If continuing into the theoretically drawn Philidor position later on, the White rook on the 3rd rank would be necessary to provide the 3rd rank defense. However, Black never pushed f4 to trade more pawns so we never reached the theoretically drawn Philidor position with White as the defending side having an extra outside passed pawn and instead our game was just drawn by repetition.
Below is my game as Black vs. Monkey917
SUMMARY: This important Sicilian game against my main rival in a two horse race was equal at the opening and I thought my opponent White allowed me as Black to equalize easily. However, at some point I as Black overextended myself a little bit and exposed my Black King too much and then mistakenly opened up the center thinking that I would win a pawn, but paid a dear price for it and lost material. The pressure against my exposed Black King was too much and I eventually lost in the end.
ANALYSIS: Black's 9th move Ng4 was an inaccuracy and Black should have played b6 instead. Black's 15th move d5 was a thematic Sicilian pawn push to fight for the center and equalize for Black. Black's 17th move Ba6 was played to activate the Black bishop to control the a6-f1 diagonal. Black's 18th move f5 was a risky move to try to gain space on the kingside and fight on the kingside at the cost of perhaps exposing the Black King. Black's 20th move Rae8 was probably not the best and Black could have played d4 instead cramping White's position a bit. Black's 22nd move g5 was risky and played to further gain space and control and fight on the kingside at the cost of exposing the Black King and the weaknesses of light squares. Black's 27th move Bxe5 trying to win a pawn was a mistake opening up the center and exposing the Black King. White's 30th move Rxe4! was a shocker and winning and after this move I knew I was definitely in trouble and will probably lose the game. Black's 31st move Rxf2 was a desperate attempt to attack White King. Black's 32nd move Qf6 was an attempt to trade queens in a dangerous open position against Black King but with the exchange of queens would lead to a losing endgame for Black as White's rooks were threatening to infiltrate Black's position on the 7th rank. Similarly, another attempt 32...Qc5 trading queens would also lead to losing endgames for Black as White's rooks were threatening to infiltrate Black's position on the 7th rank. However, keeping the queens on the board would just be too dangerous against the Black King and Black King would just get checkmated had the queens stayed on the board. Black's 33rd move Qxc3 was necessary to trade queens otherwise White's rooks were ready to infiltrate Black's opened 7th rank and Black's King would get checkmated. Black's 34th move R2xf3 was the best option available because had Black tried to hold on to the rook with 34...Rb2, then White's two rooks along with the bishop were ready to infiltrate Black's position along the 7th rank and the Black king would get checkmated by the combination of White's two rooks and bishop. Black's desperate 38th move Kh4 was played hoping for 39.Rdxh6 Kg3 with Rf1++ to follow. Of course, White did not fall for that and went on to trade a pair of rooks and then win easily with the White rook versus Black bishop endgame.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS: Playing in the 2020 Daily Chess Championships with the format of time limit one day for making one move has been quite a grueling process. Round 2 has definitely been a lot more challenging than round 1 and it is definitely not easy at all and sometimes you also need some luck. I only scored 0.5-1.5 against my main rival Monkey917, but luckily, Monkey917 lost a game to earlybird69 while I won both of my games against earlybird69, so it turned out that at the end of round 2, Monkey917 and I tied for first in my group with 20.5 points each and we both advanced to round 3. Some of the things that I have learned from playing in 2020 Daily Chess Championships include opening ideas and preparation, middlegame strategies and tactics, endgame techniques, chess psychology, etc. I learned a lot from this experience of playing round 2 of Daily Chess Championships and I definitely look forward to the thrilling experience of playing round 3 in the near future.