Nova Daily - 6 January 2025

Hi!

Today was a fun game. I believe that I missed some attacking ideas during the game, but it was nice calculation practice all the same.

It started off as a Jobava London, which is more nuanced than it looks at first sight. I got a promising position with black, but it turned out to be hard to convert it. At least it worked out practically, in that it was hard for my opponent to find the right moves, and he collapsed under the pressure.

My thoughts during the game:

Aftermath analysis:

My strategical sense was quite good in this game. There are some pretty great moments to extract from this game that could be great exercises for calculation training. I should save these positions.
Next time I'm playing an attacking game like this and botch it, I should take some time to delve deeper into the variations before consulting my sources.

What else can I take away from this game:

1. Better calculation training would definitely have paid off. The attack was interesting to analyse out after the game. During the game it wasn't too bad at times, but I missed some of the critical moves. Most importantly I missed 24...Rxc4+!! which would have ended the game.

2. Throughout my blogs I've kept talking about the idea to keep queens on the board when you have a piece for a few pawns. I did have a solid reason for getting them off the board here, but all the same: here too it would have been better to keep them on.

3. I got through the opening phase fairly well, but there is definitely a merit in studying an antidote or two against the Jobava London.