Nova Daily - 20 March 2025

Hi!

Today I was supposed to meet with someone, but they were unable to make it. A couple of hours before the appointment I got a message consisting of an apology, a reason, and a suggestion to reschedule.

The only thing that's not okay about this is that it meant that I was double booked, because I was supposed to meet up with someone else for a cup of tea.

Cancelling

It shouldn't surprise you to learn that I'm not the most organised person in the world. Daily planners have never really worked for me. As an unfortunate consequence, being double booked happens to me remarkably often. Fortunately I've never had to try my hands on a Madonna Gambit (see #9 in this article), but I'm not that far off.

I don't forget appointments on purpose (usually). But when I'm double booked, I'll have to cancel one of the two. If I have to cancel my appointments, I'll do like the person above did: apologise, maybe share the reason if it's relevant, and suggest a new place and time to rearrange. It's just a little act of consideration. Basic human decency.

Sometimes when you arranged to meet up with someone, you can just feel that the other person won't be showing up. It's a bit of a dilemma what to do then, because you don't want to be the person who won't be showing up, you don't want to cancel your appointment with them because of how you see them, and you don't want to be the idiot who goes to appointments knowing that the other person won't show up because that'd be just a waste of your time. On the other hand, you don't want to get in a fight with them because it's not worth your time, and for all you know there could be something serious at play.

The person that I was supposed to meet for tea hasn't sent me any messages since last weekend, so I suspect that this appointment would be falling through anyway. I'm not going to avalanche them with messages because that's just annoying behaviour, but if by tomorrow noon I haven't received any messages from them, I'll say that something came in-between and propose to reschedule.

Update: Sure enough, I got a message from them this morning saying that they'll be too busy and won't be able to make it. I let them know in return that it's no big deal, and that we could reschedule for a time that's more convenient for them.

Hey, sorry, I have the worst bad bad hair day I ever had on a Thursday. I'm really sorry!!!

- Bald person

Provided that my klutzy brain managed to remember an appointment and I'm not sure if it's still on, I normally shoot them a message on the morning of the appointment (or on the evening prior if it's a morning meet-up). The response I get (or lack thereof) usually tells me all I need to know.

I value communicattion, and my time is valuable so I appreciate it if it's being respected. I don't have much time for people who don't respond.

The game

Speaking of lack of response: when I wanted to start my game it took chesscom well over 5 minutes to find an opponent for me. That's rather long, and I decided to do something else in the mean time.

The fact that my today's appointment fell through meant that I had a few extra hours to work on my chess anyway. I did some work in organising my games with the English.

My thoughts:

It doesn't strike me as a perfect game, but I'd have to look into it.

Model games:

By the looks of it, 11...Rb8 has never been played in this specific position. It's not the first out-of-book move, however: the database shows 17 games with this position. 12.e3 is played most often; Jobava has played 12.h3 in this situation and won. I'll share that game below.

The first new move of the game was 13.Nd2. It might not be that good after all, then. 13.Qc2 has a few games, but its 80% win rate may be explained away by white usually sporting the better rating in those games. 13.Re1 is the most-played move. I have a beautiful game that shows what can happen if black takes his own chances on the kingside too seriously, with white sweeping the board with an opponent over 350 rating points higher.

The analysis:

So, although the game feels quite one-sided, I did allow more counterplay than I should've. But it's interesting to do.

What can I take away from this game:

1. 11...Rb8 isn't bad, but it's not critical. White should proceed with preparing d3-d4. 13.Nd2 doesn't meet that demand, while 13.Re1 is okay anyway.
2. Black can greatly overestimate their chances on the kingside. This was the case in the second sample game as well as my game. In both cases the lower-rated (for now) white player got a winning position out of the opening.
3. In endgames with a rook vs two minor pieces, the two pieces can outperform a rook if the side with the rook can't infiltrate or produce a passed pawn. The rook can outperform the pieces if it has at least one extra pawn, or if the communication between the pieces is disrupted. This would have been the case if black had seized the opportunity to play 36...g5!.
4. Speaking of 36...g5!: it's always worth being alert to positional shenanigans that allow the opponent to get back in the game. I was lucky enough that my opponent was so low on time and the position had been so difficult to play that my opponent missed this chance, but it certainly would've allowed him to get back in the game.