Subtleties

After last week's positional disaster, I was happy to test myself again with a quiet, strategical early-endgame. I think it's fair to say I didn't mess up so bad this time, but the post-mortem analysis proves I was lucky my opponent wasn't Kramnik: I made two subtle mistakes in the game that could have made things a lot harder for me.

As I'm planning to do for each blog entry, I have shown critical positions in seperate diagrams to summarize the key points of the game. I believe the game is analyzed deep enough to cover almost everything, so make sure you use the MOVE LIST to see the variations and explanations. Comments and questions are  always welcome. So here's the game, I was white.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 So let's point out the critical moments and the key lesson to be learnt from the game:

 

This is the position after my first inaccuracy. The move that is good for black looks just a little bit unusual, and that was enough for me to discard it. That shouldn't happen in long games like these, and I should've been aware of the critical factors of the position, like the e4 threat lurking in the air.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the position after my second mistake in the game. And this one, although a little hard to see, is the kind that no positionally strong player would forgive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So the key lesson from this game was that it's always important to watch out for subtleties even in slow, quiet-looking positions. Endgames may look calm and steady, but things can get messy very quickly if you miss one small detail. My opponent has luckily missed both of my positional mistakes, but this may not be the same next time.

I guess that's it for this game, hope you liked it. See you in the next one, and in the meantime, watch out!