I drew with Martin

Today, I drew with Martin. How did this happen? Well I promoted a pawn causing stalemate.

How did the game develop?

I started with 1.d4 which is my favourite opening. Martin responded with pawn c6 after which I took the centre while Martin made some weird moves which didn't attack the centre much. I then made my first mistake, Nf3, when I should have taken Martin's g5 pawn with my bishop. Martin pushed his pawn forcing my knight away. Next he made a blunder, b6. Instead he should have made the move h5. Then I played Be3 because I was scared of his bishop on g7 attacking my pawn which was an unnecessary feeling. I should have taken Martin's g4 pawn with my queen instead as this would also have kept the centre okay. Martin then played d6 after which I finally took his g-pawn with my knight.This move was actually a blunder because of the light squared bishop and the possibility of h5. Fortunately Martin didn't attack my knight and instead made the miss Kf8 which gave me the advantage back. I then blunder Nc3 trying to secure the centre instead of the best move h3 which would have protected my vulnerable knight. Next Martin played a miss again. I made another blunder, Be2, instead of playing f3 which is the best move according to game review. 

Martin responded with Na6 which is a miss as it misses the chance to continue to attack my weak knight which he could have done with h5. I then castled kingside which was a mistake as I should have played f3. Martin then missed h5 again. I then blundered b3 trying to secure my c4 pawn but I should have instead played e5. Martin then played another miss, Qd7, instead of h5. Next I played another blunder, Bh6, thinking it was fair trade but after I played it and Martin took my bishop with his knight (great move) I discovered it was a terrible move. I then took his knight with my own one. He then captured my knight. I then made a mistake by moving my bishop instead of playing f4. Martin then also made a mistake, Ke8. Next I placed my rook heading towards Martin's king but instead I should have played Qf3. Martin made another mistake and I played my first best move in a while, e5, which I should have played earlier on in the game. Another mistake from Martin who should have played Nb4 (which would have kept his advantage) instead of Ke7 which lost his advantage. I then made the move Qg4 which was a mistake. I have no idea why I played that as I should have played Qh5. Martin then made a blunder which would cost him a bishop.

I then played Qh4+ which is a great move as it forks Martin's king and his bishop. Next Martin played the best move, Ke8 after which I took his bishop. Martin played Kd8, which is a mistake, so I forked his king and his rook. After I had taken Martin's rook he moved his knight from the a6 square back to its starting square. I played Qxh7 in preparation to take his f7 pawn and just eat up some of his pieces. Martin played a5 which is a good move after which I checked him by capturing his f7 pawn. Martin blocked the check with his bishop instead of his knight which was a mistake. I then played d5 which was good but exd6 would have been better. Martin moved his king, I moved by light squared bishop and Martin played c5, a mistake. Next I took Martin's e-pawn which was a mistake as I should have played Qf8+ which was M2. In return Martin took my e-pawn.

I then checked Martin by taking his bishop which was good but Qf8+ would have been best. Martin took my pawn with his queen and we exchanged. Martin took my queen with his knight, the best move there was. Next I captured Martin's last rook with my bishop, Martin played Nf8, I played Rxe5 and Martin moved his knight to h7. We both played some good moves but no excellents or bests, until I took his knight with my bishop. Martin played Kd7 introducing it to the endgame and I captured it on b6. He moved his king back to d8 and I forked his two remaining pawns. Martin then moved his king c7 and I took his c5 pawn, checking him. 

Martin played Kb8, I took his a-file pawn and Martin moved his king to c8. I then moved my rook to d1 to enclose Martin's king hoping this would help me achieve the draw result I was looking for. Then Martin played Kc7 and I responded with Be4 closing Martin's space further. Next I checked him with my rook and started pushing my c-pawn with the goal of promotion as queens are essential in creating stalemate. Thankfully the promotion itself was a stalemate.

Why did I draw with Martin?

I chose to play for a draw with martin as part of a new blog series I'm making in which I will win twice (once as white, once as black), draw twice (once as white, once as black) and lose twice (once as white, once as black) against each bot. When playing bots under 1300 I will not use hints or assistance but after that rating I may need to.

Thanks for reading this blog!