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Onward to 1800! - Episode #2, All Things Being Equal

Updated: Feb 15, 2024, 3:39 PM | 0

I ended my first "Road to 1800" post with a reminder that every game is a new opportunity, so I should try to shake off being On Tilt and just play. With that in mind, I decided to try and clear my head a bit this evening and play some more Rapid. I only ended up fitting one game in and I both started and ended the session with a rating of 1700 because this game ended peacefully. I don't tend to have many draws in Rapid, but I thought this game was a good one to unpack a little, both to get myself in the habit of doing so more often (per Ben Johnson's suggestion in Perpetual Chess Improvement) and to provide some insight into where I am as a player right now. This game doesn't have any staggeringly brilliant moves or blunders worthy of Guess-the-ELO, but instead highlights some of what I do well and some of what I need to work on. So, we begin - me with the White pieces, and my opponent with the Black.

It's a Philidor, which frankly kind of disappoints me. It's just not my favorite and I've never really buckled down and learned the key lines as a result. This means that when it shows up on the board I'm always a little adrift in terms of what exactly my plans should be and mildly grumpy about the whole thing. Here, this ends up meaning I just sort of develop pieces for the next few moves without many great ideas behind the moves - let's get the Bishops out if we can, I'd love to castle, blahblahblah. I sort of know this is where I could get myself in trouble, but I also don't feel like my opponent is enthusiastically pushing me into a trap, so I'm willing to reset a bit once the dust settles. At Move 10, we find ourselves here as a result.

At this point, I'm feeling pretty good. This has some properties in common (at least to my eye) with a position I end up in often on the White side of the Scotch Game. With the heavy pieces stacked up and my Bishop and Queen both looking right at e5, pushing that pawn at e4 forward seems to lead to good things for White a lot. I really like the idea of doing this, and it turns out to be the best move! But here is where I start second-guessing myself: Am I sure I shouldn't stop that knight from sneaking off somewhere troublesome? I decide a quick f3 supports the e4 pawn and cuts off those support points, but I'm not being bold enough.

He follows with 11 ... Nh5, threatening the Bishop, and I retreat with 12. Bg3. See, I think I'm being sneaky here - I kind of want to let him have this Bishop (and I assume rid himself of a Knight he kind of hates) so I can open up the h-file for my Rook! He obliges, and now we find ourselves here.

I'm starting to feel excited about this game because I suspect there may be some neat tactics afoot soon. That open h-file looks like a problem for him and a playground for me. I know there are occasionally patterns involving Rook sacs on h7 that might let me do fun things, and I figure that I just need to look for a sneaky way to get my Queen in the right spot (hopefully by making some other kind of threat while targeting h7) to set off the fireworks. With 13 ... Bf6?, I think he's given me a bit of a gift: Isn't this a great excuse to relocate my Queen somewhere better? I miss a chance here, though, for a familiar reason - my 14. Qd3 is intended to set my sights on h7, but 14. e5 is best (again!). I feel like I need to just write "PLAY E5" on my hand at this point when I play so I remember not to be so timid. His 14. ... h6 makes my visions of ripping open the h-file more distant than I'd like. The two of us sort of fumble around with our pieces for the next few moves, with my mind set on a few plans: I like the idea of my Knight on d5, and I would love to get g4-g5 to happen so I can fully open up the h-file somehow. Meanwhile, he's clearly set on trying to create some counterplay with a bit of a Zerg Rush with the a-pawn. I decide to mostly ignore this while trying to execute my own plan - I decide that I've been too slow thus far and should just COMMIT. I shove my kingside pawns forward, letting a few die in the hopes that these are clearance sacrifices, all while he snatches some of 'em up and pushes that a-pawn further down the line. At Move 23, we reach this position where I finally do something I should have done a while ago.

23. e5! It's the best move (again!) and actually making it this time gets me a "Great Move" from the engine. A threat on h7 if you let the Rook and Queen team up and a pawn in your face. 23 ... g6 blocks the former idea, so what to do with that pawn? I decide to leave it be in favor of claiming another kingside file with 24. Rdf1, but this is the wrong idea. Best is 24. e6! (again! Geez, this freaking e-pawn is a BEAST) after which Black can't take that pawn with either the f-pawn (25. Qxg6+) or the Rook (25. Qh3) without getting into trouble, but 24 ... Kg7 ain't much better. But I missed all this and end up too slow to the party I decided to throw on the kingside and after a few more moves, I'm feeling pretty busted.

Le Sigh.

I am at least clever enough to work out that 27. bxa3 is really important right now because of that Black Queen staring me down on the long diagonal. But his 27 ... Re2? in response finally gives me a glimmer of the attack I was looking for with my second Great Move of the game: 28. Rxf7! If you take with the Queen, I deflect the King with Rh8!, take the Queen and I like my endgame chances with an active Queen against two rooks and a decently exposed King. Black takes the hint and opts for a mostly forced repetition draw.

All in all, this game feels like a decent snapshot of where I feel like I am with my game right now. The good is that I think I'm getting better at making specific plans for my pieces and thinking about concrete objectives both in terms of tactics and positional ideas. Obviously I'm far from an amazing strategist or tactician, but I feel like I'm at least making those kinds of plans more often. The bad is that I often forget about good ideas, or simply get worried about phantoms. That e-pawn was frankly screaming for me to just move him up the board and play a little more aggressively, and my timidity cost me a clear advantage a bunch of times. Still, in the end, against other 1700-ish players, I tend to hold my own. Climbing higher (I think) is going to mean really figuring out how to shore up these weak spots in my planning and balance offense and defense more effectively.

Anyway, the full game is below if you want to see the whole thing top-to-bottom. Also, let me know in the comments if you have this issue of abandoning good ideas just because you get nervous! Better still, if you've got ideas for how to wave off the doubting devil on my shoulder during 10-minute games, let me know down below. Thanks for reading and hopefully I'll have a fun win (or a gloriously bad loss) for next time.

Onward to 1800! - Episode #2, All Things Being Equal

Science of Chess