DHLC Slow Chess League Qualifier

Inspired by my desire to get better at chess and by reading many of the award-winning Novice Nook columns by NM Dan Heisman, I joined the DHLC Slow Chess League as a way to get more consistent long games. Before joining any of the leagues or tournaments, I was required to play in a qualification tournament, and so I have the games here for your viewing pleasure. The games were all 45|45 played through chess.com; I set up a board in my bedroom to make it as close to OTB as possible, entering the moves into the computer as though I was notating.

My first game turned into a no-show by my opponent, so I ended up playing a friendly against someone else who was in the same boat. I reviewed the game in an earlier post (it's the third one down). To summarize, I was surprised by a weird Hungarian thing by white, to which I ended up dropping a piece but managed to claw my way back in. In the endgame, I sacrificed the exchange for no good reason, putting white in a position to queen first--though since I was queening with check the next move, I still ended up winning.

My second game I faced an accelerated dragon. I've been trying to play the Maroczy Bind against the accelerated, since the Yugoslav Attack is a bit slow in the accelerated, and I wanted to learn another system. I messed it up however, and then played a whole series of bad moves, culminating in a royal fork (to which I resigned).

My third game was also decided quickly by my own stupidity. I replayed InspiredSquare again, and faced a 5. Bd2 Winawer. Normally I would just play Nc6 and keep going, but for some reason I took (not bad) and then followed it up with Qa5 (losing). We struggled it out for twenty or so moves, and then I threw in the towel.

This was a disappointing series of long games. If I expect to get better as a player, I can't be dropping pieces to one-move tactics or silly oversights. My resolution is to play my next five long games without losing to any tactic under four moves long.