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A Sunny Day to Walk Around the Chessboard

A Sunny Day to Walk Around the Chessboard

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nobidy
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     Since i started playing in a competitive format I have only won a single game.  I have learned from everything so far and I continue my studies.  Tonight was a win in the learning column but a loss in the tournament.  This was a fight throughout, and fun to boot.  I felt the intensity in this match and it actually drew some spectators. 

     Before the match I knew I wanted to play aggressive.  I have been too timid in my short career and tonight I was going to change this.  I wanted to focus more on critical squares, which is something I think I am missing.  I was not perfect in that goal but I felt I was seeing the board better.  Another focus is calculation.  I have had trouble planning moves and seeing the opponent's potential.  For the most part I felt good about how I did in this game.  I saw some of the critical moves and I did okay in my plans. 

     7.h3 and 8.Bc4 were not great moves early, but I was able to fight myself back into the game.  I also know the rule about trading pieces.  When you have a material advantage you should trade pieces off the board to simplify the game.  I was down a bishop and pawn yet I felt trading was called for in the positions that were present.  48.Rxf6 and 55.Kb2 probably were the two moves that prevented earning a draw in this game.

     At move 43 I started to feel like I should offer a draw.  I kept pushing that feeling out of my mind because I wanted to play this out to: A. See if I could either win or draw on my own and B. See if he could prove his mating ability.  In the end I lost this game, but I have learned a lot during the match and in reviews since. 

 
     I will eventually climb out of the low rating I currently have.  I am learning every game and I spend time studying chess.  I have read Silman's Complete Endgame Course through Part One (beginner to 999) and Part Two (1000-1199).  Reading this helped a little but the knowledge is not completely inside my brain yet.  I am sure if I had not spent time in endgame studies that I would have been lost much earlier.  My goal was to get his two past pawns (which I did) and either reduce it to K+N vs. K or K+p vs. K (which I did not).  I never felt I had a chance to promote.  However, 54.b4 may have been a better choice as it would have eliminated his A pawn.