2020 Chess.com Daily Chess Championship Round 3

INTRODUCTION:

My name is KnightOnRimIsDim and I am in Group 6 of Round 3 of 2020 Chess.com Daily Chess Championship (tournament link: https://www.chess.com/tournament/2020-chess-com-daily-chess-championship ). This tournament started on January 1, 2020 with 16831 players with the format of time control of one day(24 hours) no vacation allowed for making each move for every player. Other settings of the tournament include that all games are rated, the maximum group size is 12 players, for each group all players play every other player twice with both colors, every player can have a simultaneous number of games in this tournament per round up to 22 games, and the # of players advancing per group is set to 1 but since there are no tiebreaks it is possible that there can be more than one player advancing per group every round as long as all the players tie for the highest score within the group. By round 3 which started on May 17, 2020 the tournament had already narrowed down the field to 147 players with a total of thirteen groups with either eleven or twelve players in each group.

Currently, as of July 26, 2020, out of the thirteen groups for Round 3, twelve of the groups already have their 1st place finishers determined and there is only one group(Group #12) remaining still waiting for its 1st place finisher(s) to be determined. Out of the twelve groups, there are a total of fifteen 1st place finishers and qualifiers for the 4th round since some groups have more than one player tying for first place. Group #12 will either have one or two 1st place finisher(s), so we already know as of July 26, 2020 that there will be a total of sixteen or seventeen qualifiers for the 4th round barring any future withdrawals and changes.

OVERVIEW AND RESULTS OF MY GROUP #6:

My group(group 6) has eleven players total with three titled players(two FIDE Masters(FM's) and one National Master(NM)) and Daily ratings of the eleven players ranging from the lowest in the 1900's all the way up to the highest in the 2300's. Out of the entire thirteen groups, my group 6 is probably not the strongest group since there are other groups with Grandmasters(GM's) and International Masters(IM's) and former chess.com Daily Chess Champion, Runner-Up, Third-Place Finisher, and Finalists, but based on the ratings alone my group is still quite competitive had some of the players actually not timed out. I was only rated in the 2100's Daily rating going into round 3 so I knew that it was going to be a great challenge for me to win my group, but I was still going to try and give it my best shot nevertheless.

Before Round 3 had started, looking at the players in my Round 3 Group #6, I would pick the favorites to win my group to be FM Bobrik31 rated in the 2300's for Daily rating, FM Majkelopulos with an above 2500's rating for Blitz, and Novik89 rated in the 2200's for Daily rating and over 2400's for Blitz. I also thought some of the players such as DEMEMBAN(over 2100's rated Daily and over 2200's rated Blitz), NM TreinadorBR(over 2100's rated Daily and over 2200's rated Blitz), and a few of the other players would have some chances to win the group as well. However, timing out is always a major challenge when playing in this grueling 1-day no vacation allowed time control daily tournament and after round 3 had started for some days, FM Majkelopulos timed out all of his games, NM TreinadorBR timed out eight of his games, and FM Bobrik31 timed out four of his games. This sequence of timing out by the three titled players in my group really shook up the field and this had caused TreindorBR and Bobrik31 to want to make quick draws with their remaining games since it was not that likely that they would be able to get first place in the group and qualify for Round 4 after those timeouts.

Because of the timeouts that occurred to the three titled players in my group, all of a sudden our group was completely wide open and everyone else in our group actually had a realistic chance to win the group. In the end after some long battles, one of my picks as favorites to win our group, Novik89, won our group with 16 out of possible 20 points and I believe Novik89 based on his Daily rating in the 2200's and Blitz rating in the 2400's would make a good representation for our group in the 4th round against all the other 3rd round groups winners. Only four points separate the 1st place finisher of our group from the 7th place finisher in the final results so it was actually a close and competitive fight toward the top. In the end, I finished tying for 5th place in our group with FM Bobrik31 with 12.5 points out of possible 20 points.

ANALYSIS OF MY GAMES:

I had ten opponents in my group and I played two games(one as White and one as Black) against each of them so I had a total of 20 games in round 3. Because FM Majkelopulos and NM TreinadorBR timed out early against me, I would not show my games against either of them since those games ended early and were rather trivial. In addition, because another two of the players in my group were banned by chess.com, I would also not show and discuss my games against either of them as well. Thus, I would only show 12 of my relevant games against just 6 of my opponents in round 3 and provide my analysis and comments for those 12 games below. I would show my games in the order against opponents who finished with the best final scores first to my games against opponents who finished with the worst final scores last.

For my games analysis, sometimes I would also share the engine analysis as well and what chess.com's engine thought on some of my moves and my opponent's moves. Of course, for all the games, the chess.com engine was only run for analysis after the games were over and in general all engines must never be opened and used at anytime during chess.com's games. In general, chess.com engine would interpret chess moves as Brilliant, Best, Excellent, Good, Inaccuracy, Mistake, Blunder, and Missed Win. I think the slight flaw in this scale of rating of chess moves is that there is a gap between Good and Inaccuracy and that there are some chess moves that would fall in between being Good and Inaccuracy. Thus, for me in order to bridge this gap, I would like to redefine chess.com engine's "Good" moves as "OK" moves in my own words in the analysis sections of my own games below since I think chess.com engine is sometimes too nice to call some of the chess moves "Good" when they are actually just borderline OK. Thus, to clear up any confusion, in the analysis sections of my own games below, whenever chess.com engine would call a chess move "Good," I would redefine the chess move as "OK/Okay."

GAME #1: BELOW IS MY GAME AS WHITE VS. Novik89.

GAME #1 SUMMARY:

This was one of the key games against one of the stronger players and potential winner in my group and I knew that if I were to have any chance to win my group, I would need to do well against Novik89. I played a solid Reti/King's Indian Attack opening and I thought I held my own and even had a slight edge against Novik89 in the opening and middlegame. Then Novik89 tried to make a push and counterattack in the later middlegame but I defended against his attacks and then I even got some chances to go for the win that I missed. Because by the time of the late middlegame/endgame I was already out of the running to win my group and suffering quite a bit from fatigue and also Novik89 pretty much had already locked up his lead to win our group, I was content to just take the draw by repetition and not try to squeeze and look for the chances to win. Nevertheless, I was satisfied to give the winner of my group a tough fight with material advantage for me in the final game position as shown through this game.

GAME #1 ANALYSIS:

Black's 2nd move Nc6 was probably not the most common setup against White's King's Indian Attack and as White I usually like to play against Black's Chigorin type setups because Black's c6 Knight blocks his own c7 pawn and as White I would set up a kingside fianchetto bishop and punch the move c4 at some point to try to dislodge Black's d5 pawn to open up the h1-a8 long diagonal for White's fianchetto bishop. Thus, instead of playing the standard King's Indian Attack type setup move d3, I decided to play the move d4 on White's 3rd move making Black's opening setup to more resemble a Chigorin that I enjoy playing against.

White's 5th move 0-0 and 6th move a3 were OK moves being cautious getting White King to safety and preventing Black from playing Nb4, but White could have punched in the move c4 sooner instead on the 5th or 6h move and tried to dislodge Black's d5 pawn that cannot be defended by Black playing c6 since Black's Knight was in the way sitting on c6 square.

Black's 6th move h5 was aggressive and surprised me and as White I had to reply with 7.h4 preventing Black from playing h4. If Black could get in the move h4, then White could get into a lot of trouble with Black's kingside attacks.

On the 15th move White could have played 15.Bxc7 winning a pawn, but I saw that after 15...Rac8 Black would eventually get a half opened c-file for his Black rook pressuring my backward White c-pawn, so I decided against 15.Bxc7 and played 15.Nd2 instead. The engine liked 15.Bxc7 though so in hindsight it was probably fine taking that Black c7 pawn.

On the 17th move White played 17.Nb3 to prevent Black from playing Na5 with c5 to follow opening up Black's half opened c-file. The engine thought my 17.Nb3 was an OK move but the best move was 17.e4 for White according to the engine. 

On the 19th move White could have played 19.Bxd6 and doubled Black's pawns and it was tempting to do so. However, I was concerned with helping Black opening up the c-file for his Black rook on c8 putting pressure on my White c3 pawn so I did not play 19.Bxd6 and instead I played 19.Kf3. The engine thought 19.Bxd6 was the best move and my 19.Kf3 was an OK move.

Again, on the 21st move the engine thought 21.Bxd6 was the best move but I played 21.Rec1 instead trying to push for c4 and opening up the c-file for White's rooks.

On 25th move White could have been greedy and taken Black's f5 pawn with 25.Kxf5, but my chess sense was telling me that it was just too dangerous and risky to move the White King solo into opponent's territory while the opponent still has some heavy pieces such as the two rooks and a knight along with the Black King and some pawns close to my White King, so instead I played 25.Kf3 and retreated. The engine agreed with my decision to play 25.Kf3 and even called my 25.Kf3 a "brilliant" move, even though I thought 25.Kf3 was very logical and natural and not difficult to find at all.

Black's 30th move h4 was aggressive and trying to make something happen and break open White's kingside. The engine thought Black's 30...h4 was a mistake though and on White's 31st move I played 31.gxh4 which the engine thought was a Missed Win for White and that White should have played 31.Nd2 winning instead according to the engine. 

Black's 35th move f4 was aggressive and trying to break open White's defense. The engine thought Black's 35...f4 was a blunder and that Black should have played 35...Ke7 instead. The problem with Black's 35...f4 was that it allowed White to play e4 later on to push away Black's d5 Knight and then White would be able to take Black's c7 pawn with the White Rook.

Black's 39th move Rg4 was a mistake and that Black should have played 39...Rg6 according to the engine.

White's 40th move Ke2 was a blunder and that White should have played 40.e4 winning according to the engine. White did not try to go for the win and instead just took a draw through repetition through move 42. This game was definitely a missed opportunity to possibly score a win for me as White since Novik89 as Black definitely did not play as well in this game as he could have played in many of his other games.

GAME #2: BELOW IS MY GAME AS BLACK VS. Novik89.

GAME #2 SUMMARY:

This was one of my key games against one of the stronger players and potential winner in my group and I knew that if I were to have any chance of winning my group, I would need to do well against Novik89. As Black, I played the Modern Defense Rossolimo Variation against Novik89's flexible opening move 1.Nf3 and it was a sharp tricky battle. The Modern Defense is always challenging for Black to play since Black would need know thematic ideas from several Black openings such as the King's Indian Defense and Pirc and put some of those ideas together and be flexible to be able to play the Modern Defense well and avoid getting crushed. Against a tough and higher rated opponent such as Novik89, perhaps I should have chosen an easier opening to play as Black. This game was quite sharp and intense and at the very end my opponent White won in the endgame after a long fight.

GAME #2 ANALYSIS:

On Black's 7th move, taking the White Knight on f3 and then planting Black Knight on d4 square on Black's 8th move was the thematic idea in the Rossolimo Variation of Modern Defense. Black's 9th move c5 tried to further cement the Black Knight on d4 square.

Black's 14th move f5 was aggressive but risky as it tried to open up the position and the engine thought my move 14...f5 was an inaccuracy. Instead, the engine thought I should have played 14...Nxf3 instead capturing White's bishop on f3.

Black's 16th move Qb6 was an OK move trying to defend the d4 pawn but better was 16...c5 using a pawn to defend the d4 pawn for Black. The Black Queen was also misplaced being on the b-file with the White Rook on b1 x-raying her.

Black's 17th move c5 was an inaccuracy and Black should have played fxe4. Black's 18th move Nxf5 was an inaccuracy and Black should have played cxb4. 

White's 25th move Nxd4 was an inaccuracy that give Black an opportunity to get back into the game and White should have played Qf3. However, Black did not follow up correctly and missed his chance to equalize and Black's 25th move Qxd4 was an inaccuracy hastily going into an endgame and Black should have played Nxd5 capturing the White Bishop and had Black played this move the position would have been close to even.

On 33rd move Black's Rxa2 was an inaccuracy and Black should have played g5. Black's 34th move a5 was an OK move and Black should have played g5 as the best move according to the engine.

Black's 42nd move gxh5 was an inaccuracy and Black should have played a3. Black's 43rd move Rb1 was an inaccuracy and Black should have played Rb3. Black's 47th move Kf8 was a mistake and Black should have played Rb1. The game was pretty much over at this point with the White King very advanced and the White g-pawn impossible to stop from queening. White was very wise in this endgame to use his f-pawn to shield his White King from Black Rook checks from behind.

GAME #3: BELOW IS MY GAME AS WHITE VS. daktera.

GAME #3 SUMMARY:

This was a game against one of the group points leaders and I thought that I would have to do well against daktera for good chances to qualify for 4th round. I played very solidly with a Reti Opening that eventually turned into a Neo-Gruefeld and I thought I had a slight edge in the opening and middlegame. However, I lost that edge later on in the late middlegame and daktera eventually won a clean pawn. However, I was very surprised that daktera offered me a draw when he was up a clean pawn with a superior position and of course it was hard for me to turn down such an offer. This totally did not make sense to me though since daktera was one of the leaders based on overall scores in our group and every half a point should matter to daktera if he wanted to win the group and it was still early on in round 3 and no one was even close to clinching 1st place yet in our group. For some odd reason, daktera was just content making draws with everyone regardless of his position and his wins were due to timeouts of his opponents. 

GAME #3 ANALYSIS:

I thought Black's 9th move Bd5 was quite annoying placing his light square Bishop to counter my fianchetto Bishop and would be able to exchange the Bishops if I were ever to move my Knight on f3. 

Black's 12th move Qg4 I thought could not be good and I was happy to see that move from Black and then chase that Black Queen around. 

White's 15th move a3 trying to prevent Nb4 was probably not very necessary and White should have played Nce5 instead as the best move.

White's 18th move Nfd2 was an inaccuracy and White should have played Ne1 instead as the best move.

White's 20th move Nxd2 was an inaccuracy and White should have played Rxd2 instead as the best move.

White's 21st move Nf3 was an inaccuracy and White should have played Bxd4 instead as the best move.

Black offered me a draw after playing his 22nd move Rad8 and it was hard for me to not accept such an offer being down a clean pawn with an inferior position. The engine evaluates the final position as -1.88 in favor of Black. Once again, I do not understand why daktera as one of the points leaders of our group did not try to win some of his games such as this one and was content making draws with many of his opponents when it was still early on in round 3 and no one was even close to clinching 1st place of our group yet.

GAME #4: BELOW IS MY GAME AS BLACK VS. daktera.

GAME #4 SUMMARY:

This was a game against one of the group points leaders and I thought I would have to do well against daktera for good chances to qualify for 4th round. Against daktera's English Opening, I elected to play the King's English with an early Bb4 sortie and eventually pushed f5 as Black and tried to set up a reverse Grand Prix Attack against White. I tried to play very aggressively against daktera and go for the attack and checkmate. This backfired at some point as I made a mistake and then I had to basically fight for a draw being down in material. Somehow, daktera offered me a draw while daktera was up in material so it was hard for me to not accept it. I thought I definitely had some chances in the game but blew it and it was definitely disappointing and relieved at the same time to be able to get the draw.

GAME #4 ANALYSIS:

Black's 6th move f5 tried to be aggressive and set up a kingside attack. 

Black's 9th move Qe8 was very thematic in this type of Sicilian/Reverse Sicilian kingside attack attempts to get The Lady to the kingside for a checkmating attack.

White's 10th move Bd2 was an inaccuracy and did not look like a good move to me so I was happy to see this move from my opponent. Instead, White should have played Ne1. White's 11th move a3 was also an inaccuracy and I did not understand the point of this move from White. White's 12th move Qc2 was also an inaccuracy. White's 13th move Re1 was also an inaccuracy. White's 14th move Qb3 was OK but a little weird since White had just moved his Queen two moves earlier. Then White on the 15th move retreated the White Queen back to d1 square and this was definitely weird to see but the engine actually thought this move by White was the best move. Then White on the 16th move moved the White Rook back to f1 square and this was also weird to see but the engine actually thought this move by White was the best move. My confidence grew as I saw these moves being made by White and I was starting to think to myself more and more that it was time to crush this guy.

Black's 16th move f4 was being very aggressive sacrificing a pawn and going for the kill with kingside attack. This kind of f-pawn push sacrifice was thematic in Sicilian/Reverse Sicilian Grand Prix Attack though.

Black's 17th move Bh3 was trying to exchange off White's fianchetto Bishop even though the engine thought Black's best move here was 17...e4 instead.

White's 18th move Bxh3 was an inaccuracy and White should have played Ne1 instead.

White's 19th move Qa4 was a mistake and White should have played c5 instead according to the engine. Black is definitely doing very well here and winning.

However, Black did not follow up well on the 19th move and made a mistake with Na5 instead of playing Ne7. 

Then on the 22nd move Black blundered with the move Rf6 giving away the edge back to White. Instead, Black should have played 22...d5 according to the engine.

Black's 23rd desperate move b5 was played sacrificing the a5 Knight to try to save Black's g4 Knight and kept Black's attacking chances on the kingside. 

Then after White's 25th move Qxc7, White offered me a draw while White was up in material and it was hard for me to not accept it. I thought daktera should have and could have kept playing with the material advantage though and made me as Black to try to prove equality with Black's kingside attacks instead of offering the draw so easily to me. daktera was one of our group points leaders and every half a point would have mattered to his chances of getting 1st place and qualifying for 4th round, so this was definitely a bit weird to me.

GAME #5: BELOW IS MY GAME AS WHITE VS. DEMENBAN.

GAME #5 SUMMARY:

This was a game against one of the stronger players in our group and I thought I would have to do well against DEMENBAN for good chances to get 1st place and qualify for 4th round. As White I played solidly with Reti Opening that turned into a Neo-Gruefeld. I had good control of the center in the opening and middlegame while Black tried to generate some counterplay on the queenside. Unfortunately the game ended prematurely due to a draw by repetition when I thought we only repeated twice and not three times yet so it was an accident on my part that the game ended in a draw. I definitely would have liked to play on and tried to push for the win with the White pieces.

GAME #5 ANALYSIS:

Black's 7th move dxc4 was an OK move but not the best move as it conceded the center. Better for Black was to play a5 instead.

Black's 11th move Qc7 was an inaccuracy and the best move for Black was to play b5 instead attacking the White Queen.

White's 13th move dxe5 was an inaccuracy and the best move for White was to play e4 instead grabbing a stronger share of the center.

White's 15th move f3 and 16th move e4 built a strong center for White and opened up the diagonal for White's c1 Bishop to come out.

Black's 22nd move Qc7 was an inaccuracy and Black should have played c5 instead as the best move.

White's 24th move Nd4 was not the best and started to repeat the position and White should have played Qc2 instead. After White's 26th move Nd4 I was playing to play Qc2 on the 27th move. However, a draw by repetition was claimed by chess.com and the game was over even though I thought it was only two times repeating moves and not three times and that the game would not end yet in draw by repetition. It was a rather unfortunate accident to draw by repetition for me as White in a position with center control. The lesson learned here is that when not having the intention to draw, don't risk repeating moves and instead just play a different move instead. This was definitely a missed opportunity on my part.

GAME #6: BELOW IS MY GAME AS BLACK VS. DEMEMBAN.

GAME #6 SUMMARY:

This was a game against one of the stronger players in our group and I thought I would have to do well against DEMENBAN for good chances to get 1st place and qualify for 4th round. My opponent as White played the King's Indian Attack and I chose to fight White's setup with my own kingside fianchetto as well and controlling the center. My opening idea here was to fight White's King's Indian Attack with a reverse King's Indian Defense Fianchetto Variation for Black's setup. I thought it worked fine and as Black I actually got the opening advantage. Unfortunately I blundered horribly in the middlegame and completely lost the game. This was mainly due to some personal issues with uncomfortable contact lens causing some eye irritation problems for me and having a few bad days in general. In daily chess tournament with 1 day time control, having bad days can really affect chess play. It was rather unfortunate that I blew it with this game since I felt that I definitely had good chances out of the opening with the Black pieces.

GAME #6 ANALYSIS:

After the 3rd move from Black with e5, I already started to like Black's opening because Black had the same fianchetto setup as White and yet Black also had planted a center pawn first in the middle of the board, so I believe Black had definitely equalized if not better already after move 3!

White's 6th move Bg5 was an inaccuracy and I was definitely very happy to see this move as it developed White's Bishop prematurely where it could get harassed and I did not think White would want to give up his Bishop pair that early on in the game. White's 7th move Bc1 basically admitted that White's 6th move was a bad move and at this point I was already feeling quite good about my position as Black.

Black's 9th move Be6 was a mistake according to the engine and instead the engine liked d4 instead. White's 10th move Nxd5 was an inaccuracy and instead White should have played exd5.

White's 15th move c3 was played to prepare b4 to chip away at Black's c5 pawn with a Marozcy bind kind of setup for Black with Black's c5 and e5 pawns clamping down White's d3 pawn. Black followed on the 15th move with Rad8 trying to build pressure against White's weak d3 pawn even though the engine thought Black should have played f5 instead.

Black's 19th move Rb6 was probably not the best as it will basically create a pawn weakness for Black on the b6 square after trading rooks and instead Black should have played f5 instead.

Black's 21st move Rb8 was an inaccuracy and Black should have played Ne7 instead.

Black's 22nd move Qc7 was a horrible mistake that subjected Black to a discover check attack on the Black d5 Bishop and Black should have played Ne7 instead. This mistake was attributed to having a busy day and rushing to make this move for Daily chess.

Black's 25th move f6 was a horrible blunder that ended the game and this blunder was attributed to having some personal contact lens issues causing eyes discomfort and that I completely missed seeing the White Queen moving horizontally across the board. This game was definitely very disappointing on my part and it also showed that to be able to play 1 day time control competitive grueling Daily chess tournament well, one needed to maintain good health and minimize bad days and personal issues. 

GAME #7: BELOW IS MY GAME AS WHITE VS. luizzfernandess.

GAME #7 SUMMARY:

This was a game against an opponent with a respectable Rapid rating 2100+ so it was definitely not an easy task to try to play luizzfernandess. As White I played solidly with the King's Indian Attack and my opponent elected to go for an exchange variation by exchanging pawns on e4. I tried to push for some sort of advantage as White but in the end could not get the edge and in the end the game was settled into a draw.

GAME #7 ANALYSIS:

Black's 7th move dxe4 showed that he wanted to play the exchange variation of the King's Indian Attack and this line opening up the center could be tricky and annoying sometimes when your goal was to win and not draw. This was similar to the White players who play the Exchange Variation against Black's King's Indian Defense or the White players who play the Exchange Variation against Black's French Defense. They just wanted to get you out of your comfort zone and be annoying playing the drawish Exchange variations when you were playing for the win.

White's 10th move Qe1 was played to get the White Queen out of the pin even though the engine liked Qe2 instead.

Black's 11th move b5 was an inaccuracy and Black should have played Qc7 instead.

White's 13th move Be3 was an inaccuracy and White should have played a5 instead.

White's 20th move Kg2 was an OK move but the engine thought Nxd7 would have been best.

White's 24th move Rd1 was an inaccuracy and the engine thought Rc1 would have been best.

After the exchange of Queens on the 30th and 31st moves, the position was pretty even and it became difficult for both sides to make good progress. White tried to push on for a bit but eventually the game was settled into a draw in the end.

GAME #8: BELOW IS MY GAME AS BLACK VS. luizzfernandess.

GAME #8 SUMMARY:

This was a game against an opponent with a respectable Rapid rating 2100+ so it was definitely not an easy task to try to play luizzfernandess. As Black I tried to play for the win with the King's Indian Defense and my opponent elected to play the more drawish Exchange Variation. I had to slowly battle my way for an edge and tried to push for an advantage. In the end I think I got lucky and was able to pull off a win in a theoretical drawn endgame, but it was definitely not easy at all and I believe my opponent definitely missed his drawing chances in a theoretical drawn endgame position with three vs two pawns on the same side and a Rook and a King for each player.

GAME #8 ANALYSIS:

White's 9th move Qxd8 trading queens was an inaccuracy and it was best for White to play Qb3 instead not giving up control of d-file entirely.

Black's 17th move Nf8 was an inaccuracy and it was best for Black to play c5 instead.

Black's 21st move c5 was an inaccuracy and it was best for Black to play Nf8 instead.

Black's 29th move Bxd2 was played with the idea to eliminate White's strong Knight that can potentially hopped to e4 and d6 squares and in closed positions Knights can be more valuable than Bishops, so this is why I chose to trade my Bishop for opponent's Knight here.

Black's 42nd move Rc8 was an inaccuracy and Black should have played Re5 as the best move instead. White's 43rd move Be4 was an inaccuracy and White should have played Ba6 instead as the best move.

After 45th move the endgame was basically three Black pawns versus two White pawns on the same side and a King and two Rooks each for both players and I knew that this is close to a theoretically drawn endgame. However, White would need to know how to defend accurately and prove the draw.

White's 59th move Rb5 was an inaccuracy and White should have played g4 instead. At this point this is a theoretical drawn endgame with three Black pawns versus two White pawns all on the same side and each player having a King and a Rook each. If White was able to just trade off more pawns and get it down to a White King and Rook versus Black King and Rook and Pawn endgame, then White would be able to reach the theoretically drawn endgame Philidor Position. 

White's 64th move Re5 was an inaccuracy and White should have played h5 as the best move.

White's 67th move Kg2 was not the most accurate keeping the White King on the same file as the White g-pawn so that both the White King and g-pawn could get potentially forked by a Black Rook. Instead White should have played Kf2.

Black's 68th move Re4 was winning and threatening to go to g4 with the Black Rook and win White's g5-pawn. In the end, White gave up and resigned and Black definitely got lucky to be able to pull off a win in a theoretical drawn endgame.

GAME #9: BELOW IS MY GAME AS WHITE VS. FM Bobrik31.

GAME #9 SUMMARY:

This game was against a strong titled player with the highest Daily rating 2300+ in our group so I knew that it was definitely not going to be easy at all playing against FM Bobrik31. As White I played solidly with the King's Indian Attack against Bobrik31's French setup. As in a typical King's Indian Attack, White gathered all his pieces onto the Kingside and tried to do some serious damage to Black. In the middle game I missed an opportunity to sacrifice and and break Black's kingside open and then later on I blundered with an oversight and Black won easily.

GAME #9 ANALYSIS:

White's 10th move e5 was just trying to be aggressive and kept the center locked even though the engine did not like my move and called it an inaccuracy and the engine liked c3 instead as the best move.

White's 11th move h4 was played with the idea of expanding on White's kingside and eventually rerouting White's d2 Knight to g4 via f1 and h2 squares.

White's 13th move Bf4 was played to x-ray the Black Queen and so Black wisely moved his Queen out of the way on Black's 13th move.

Black's 20th move Bf8 was a blunder and Black should have played Rd8 as the best move instead according to the engine.

White's 21st move Ne3 was a blunder and White missed an opportunity here to play Bxh6! breaking open Black's kingside. 

White's 25th move b3 was an inaccuracy and White should have played g5 as the best move instead.

White's 32nd move Kh2 was a major blunder and oversight that lose the game and White should have played f3 instead. After this blunder, Black followed up with a nice puzzle rush like tactic with 32...Qxg2!!! 33.Kxg2 Nxf4 winning material and forking the White Queen and winning everything and the game was all over after this point. This was definitely a disappointing game for me.

GAME #10: BELOW IS MY GAME AS BLACK VS. FM Bobrik31.

GAME #10 SUMMARY:

This game was against a strong titled player with the highest Daily rating 2300+ in our group so I knew that it was definitely not going to be easy at all playing against FM Bobrik31. As White, Bobrik31 played a solid queen pawn opening and I countered with a King's Indian Defense setup for Black. The game was close to even throughout the opening and middlegame but somewhere in the late middlegame and early endgame I made a mistake and slowly FM Bobrik31 grinded me down and I eventually lost in the endgame.

GAME #10 ANALYSIS:

White's 8th move dxe5 was an inaccuracy and White should have played Re1 instead. 

Black's 20th move Nf6 was an inaccuracy and Black should have played Rxd1 instead.

White's 21st move b3 was an inaccuracy and White should have played b4 instead.

Starting from move 32, White basically tried to slowly grind down Black and showed the maturity of a chess FIDE Master. I thought White's 33rd move Kg3 was brilliant and slowly improved his position and grinded me down and told me that there was nothing I could do about it.

White's 37th move b4! tried to break through on the queenside and I knew I was definitely in trouble after seeing this move.

After the exchange of queens on the 38th and 39th moves, I believe White was basically very close to winning in the endgame with a potential outside a-pawn passer and it would be very difficult for Black to defend such an endgame. It was no surprise that I as Black gave up and resigned after playing for some more moves and not being able to adequately defend the endgame. The FIDE Master definitely showed me who's boss in this transition from middlegame to endgame phase.

GAME #11: BELOW IS MY GAME AS WHITE VS. seabuck.

GAME #11 SUMMARY:

This game was against one of the players in our group with a similar Daily rating as me in the 2100's so I was expecting a tough and even game. With the White pieces I played the Reti Opening and transition it into an Symmetrical English Opening where I tried to keep a slight edge and put the pressure on Black. In the middlegame I missed some opportunities to gain advantages and then it got down to a very close endgame where I took some risks and went for the win but blundered and ultimately my opponent won in the end. Overall this was a very up and down game for both players.

GAME #11 ANALYSIS:

Black's 10th move cxd5 was an inaccuracy and Black should have played exd5 instead as the best move.

White's 14th move Bd4 was a mistake and White should have played Nxd5! instead as the best move breaking open Black's center.

Black's 14th move f6 was an inaccuracy and Black should have played Rc8 instead as the best move.

White's 15th move f4 was an inaccuracy and White should have played e4 instead as the best move. 

Black's 15th move Kf7 was an inaccuracy and Black should have played f5 instead as the best move.

White's 16th move Bf2 was a mistake and White should have played f5 instead as the best move.

Black's 18th move Qc7 was an inaccuracy and Black should have played dxe4 instead as the best move.

White's 19th move Rac1 was an inaccuracy and White should have played exd5 instead as the best move.

Black's 20th move Rxd1 was an inaccuracy and Black should have played g6 instead as the best move.

Black's 21st move Qd6 was a mistake and Black should have played Qd8 instead as the best move.

White's 23rd move a3 was an inaccuracy and White should have played Nb5 instead as the best move.

White's 24th move Rxc3 was an inaccuracy and White should have played bxc3 instead as the best move.

White's 32nd move Qa7+ was played to exchange queens and force an endgame and look for chances there.

White's 38th move h3 was an inaccuracy and White should have played a4 instead as the best move.

Black's 44th move e4+ was an inaccuracy and Black should have played Nd6 instead as the best move.

White's 46th move Ke3 was an inaccuracy and White should have played Bc3 instead as the best move.

White's 48th move Kf4 meant that White was going all out to grab Black pawns on the kingside and going for the win.

Black's 51st move Kf3 was a mistake and Black should have played Kf5 instead as the best move.

White's 53rd move Bb4 was a major blunder and White should have played Kf4! instead as the best move. This was the opportunity that I missed and it was rather unfortunate despite all my efforts.

Black's 53rd move Nd2 was a Missed Win and Black would have been winning by playing a5 as the best move.

White's 54th move Kxg4 was a major blunder and White should have played h5! instead as the best move to try to at least hold onto a draw. After this blunder, Black was easily winning by eventually queening the e-pawn and White would not be able to stop it, so White resigned and I lost a game that I had many chances and opportunities.

GAME #12: BELOW IS MY GAME AS BLACK VS. seabuck.