My 'best' win

I think the title of this post is slightly incorrect, but it is a review of the game is listed here on the site as my best online game. This simply means that it is the highest rated player I've beaten. The game was played a couple of years ago, so I figured it would be interesting to see how I assess the game now that I've learned a bit more about this complex game.

As the late David Bowie said: Let's dance!

The game began as a quite common King's indian defense. I had never faced off against this particular variation, so I was probably improvising a bit. To be honest, I don't know. It was a few years ago.

The first improvement I discovered was that I played a bit passively in the opening. Instead of striking in the center and trying to attack black, I chose a more quiet line and tried to build up a solid position. The idea is ok, I guess, but the execution was not up to the mark.

The position below is an example of where I could have, but did not, take advantage of my opponent's moves.

Throughout the game, I make several mistakes and waste a lot of time making unnecessary moves. Also, I apparently missed a positional tactic. To be frank, I would probably never have seen it without the help of a computer. Take a look below to see if you can find it.

Ok, that was a tricky one. At least, I think so.

The rest of the game is not very interesting. I had a very nice position, and made some bad calls, and my opponent managed to equalize. And then suddenly he blundered the entire game away in one move.

The thing is that the endgame that would result in accurate play from my opponent is quite interesting since both players can tie each other's pieces down. There are a lot of tricky lines that you can take a look at if you want to.

So, based on my analysis of this game, what have I learned during the past two years? Well, most of all, I have become more attentive towards tempo-wasting moves. I have always been very aware of tempo-gaining moves, but as shown in the game, I wasted a lot of time. And I think/hope that I have become better at seeing them. The fact that I spotted a few of them in this game should at least be a sign that I have taken a step in the right direction.

Another thing, which I think I am still struggling with, is timing. In the game, I found many of the right ideas, but didn't play them at the right time. That is something that I need to work with in the future.

Timing and time!