let me have my fork. i worked hard for it and i deserve nice things

the best move is the move u can act on. the move u can understand and follow thru. and for players like me who are new and bad, this means the best move for the engine can be the worst move for me.

first, ignore the beginning of the game. my opponent is also new and the analysis is rightfully unimpressed by us.

my d pawn would go on to become a hero, and like any good heros journey it started with a humble refusal to get involved before finally deciding to take on the mission at the end of act 1.

the first move where I felt pretty good was when the bishop came out, and i saw that it could get a check on my king by taking h2, supported by the knight. that would force me to move into the corner.

i have no idea what would happen from there, and i know my opponent probly doesnt either. i thought they probly hadnt even seen it as a possible move. but i thought i should prevent the possibility if i could. so what to do?

i spent a long time trying to see a way to stop the bishop before i realized i could just “remove the defender” instead. thats my new chess knowledge in action. so i took the knight, and in review the engine was proud of me.

or maybe its "remove the supporter?" not sure if its "remove the defender" if its not defending yet.

either way, now the diagonal was clear for me to go on the attack. ive been learning about forks, and while its easy to do in chess puzzles about forks, its harder to apply to a real game. so i really really wanted to make this knight fork work. 

step 1 goes according to plan. but then i realize theres a problem: the bishop on c1. (look at me using notation! im learning!)

i want my fork. im not giving it up to a bishop. the engine thinks i get my fork anyway, because the bishop would never take the knight, because after that its a checkmate in 3. but the engine gotta understand, we are bad. neither of us are gonna consider this sequence long enough to see a checkmate in 3 from there. can u?

and furthermore, i ask u, what good is a mate in 3 if i dont get the fork that im relying on for my happiness?

if my opponent sees a hanging night they are gonna take it, whether or not its a good idea 3 moves down the line. so if i want to execute on my fork i need a plan.

thats when hero pawn lives up to its name and gets a chance to do a fork of its own! i can be pretty sure the bishop will take, removing the bishop threat and letting the knight in to fork the queen. and if it doesnt, i get to take the rook and make a queen!

thank u for ur sacrifice, hero pawn.

i gotta tell u i felt pretty clever. the engine wasnt that impressed but thats just cuz it doesnt understand me. 

the engine wanted me to fork before removing the bishop, knowing the bishop would not take if it saw the checkmate in three, but then after that i should... not take the queen? and go on to make a long sequence of moves entirely incomprehensible to me and that ended with no benefit i can understand.

it doesnt improve my position if i dont understand the position.

my takeaway is that while game review is useful for certain things, sometimes its best to fork ur forks with no regrets