Post Mortem Chess Snacks
Post Mortem Chess Snacks & My return to Live Chess.
About 1,5 month ago I was frustrated by bad results in live chess (standard time controls) and at the same time other things in life demanded attention. I decided it was time for a break, and I took it.
Now little more than a week ago I started playing live games on a regular basis again, and I noticed how such a short break can help bringing back the joy in playing. And with that, also playing strenght it seems. Before the break I fell from 1597 to 1480, but after this week I'm confident that full recovery is possible.
One of my ways to improve is doing post mortems, and I've decided that it would be nice to share the things that caught my attention while analyzing all my live standard games of the last 5 days. The first 7 games I looked over are in this blog post.
The level of play varies (naturally), but as I prefer to play with a 10 second increment time usually isn't the biggest factor. I hope you enjoy looking over my shoulder, and perhaps you can point out interesting things as well. (I'd be glad to hear!)
The point of these games isn't to go over the whole thing with very deep annotations. Rather, I tried to focus on critical moments and provide some nice chess snacks.. 
I tried to point out what I found the most interesting part of each game.
1) Opening:
A bit of opening research in a new pet line against the Ruy.
2) Opening and Middle Game:
I found a book move against a surprise move while playing! I won this game after a series of nice exchanges of material in a comfortable endgame.
3) Endgame:
In the game below I exploited an opening mistake (the whole game is in the move list) only to lose it in the middle game. I managed to come back nicely, but overlooked something simple but deadly..
4) Very Unique Game:
Every now and then we play a game that is simply astounding (this doesn't necessarily equal astoundingly accurate) or very odd. In the following game I played ambitiously only to find myself in an awkward and strange middle game. I managed to come out on top. Did I win on time or is the position won too?
5) Defending and Perpetual Check:
In the game below I misplayed a bit in the opening/early middlegame and I came under fire. At first I did well, but a cheap try backfired as I lost a lifesaving tempo. In defense, accuracy is everything! Certain that normal play wouldn't help me anymore, I went crazy hoping for a perpetual. Which brings me to my second point - If you think there is a perpetual, make sure there is. :)
6) Finishing an Attack:
I sacrificed in the opening/early middlegame to reach a position where I should be winning on all accounts. Yet, I didn't quite make it happen..
7) Awesome Sacrifices - Lethal Middlegame:
I'm not allowing myself to skip the 'ugly' games (though I won't always focus on the fact that I lost), but of course I'd love to close with a good game. Lucky me, I didn't have to work through to game 20 .
