***I Apologize for the horrible formating. It will be fixed in upcoming posts.***
Hello! My name is Zach Kasiurak. I'm 19 and from the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago. I am a college student who has taken time off from school to seriously study chess and improve. I'm currently rated 2135 USCF and am working hard to improve!
I have started this blog to share my experiences as I learn on a daily basis. Essentially, the blog will start out with any thoughts or recent problems I have encountered in my studies. Then I will introduce a somewhat complicated tactic puzzle. Lastly, an analysis of a serious game through my perspective and own analysis will be included. A quick warning. I will rarely if ever use an engine unless I am truely and hopeless lost. All of the analysis is my own thoughts. Although this promises mistakes, it also promises I learn much more! Please don't hesitate to point out my errors.
Also, PLEASE SEND ME YOUR GAMES! I love to help others improve and I may even extensively share them in my blog! If not, I will certainly have no problem sending some brief comments of my own analysis. Please do not hesitate to send me your interesting games!
Through this blog, I hope to improve but also share my experience and, in turn, help others improve. I hope you find my blog interesting and wish you all the best in your chess endevours!
Recently: I have been analyzing my games from my tournament, the Cardinal Open. Please view my previous post (http://blog.chess.com/zkman/game-analysis-kasiurak---vilenchuk) to view what I believe to be one of my more interesting games. After I finish my analysis, I will continue on to more regular study habits.
Exercise: The following day I will post the solution to the exercise. White to move and win.
Game Analysis: This game comes from a forum post of sapientdust. He asked for feedback so he shall receive!
Briefly addressing the opening: I really like your attitude in the very beginning of the game. 4. ...Ne4 looked appealing to you, but there is no reason to go for something like this and 0-0 looks like a good move. When you are out of book normally the most natural moves are best, especially in a practical situation.
However, you could make the "Trompowsky" move. ...Ne4 makes sense to put a question to the early position of the bishop. Which is similar in both your game and the Trompowsky. Also, a c5 break and Qa5+ after the common Bf4 move is present.
In next part of the opening, I have a seriously problem with black's fundamental goals.
A better continuation would be...
On 8. ...Kh8, Unforutnately black does not have the luxury to make this move. He has to develop! Also on move 10. ...Nbd7, sapientdust gives "??". However, black is completely fine!
White does win the exchange, but he has a much more promising continuation!
Black's continuation in the game is forced and leaves him with a fine position.
sapientdust expressed some concern with his position. However, black should be fine. He has a strong unopposed dark squared bishop, his king is completely safe, and he has equal material. This position should be roughly equal. However, black's position takes a turn for the worse very shortly.
This position is very sharp and a single bad move sends black spiraling out of control. 18. ...a6? sapientdust does mention the nasty threat of Nb5 and the discovery on his queen. How can black more effectively meet these problems?
The next phase of the game, I didn't find too many interesting point until a set of rooks comes off. Both sides make logical moves that progress into an interesting endgame where white is a fair amount better due to his extra material.
The only real criticism of either side is the final move of the previous diagram, ...b5. It makes sense for black to maintain a compact structure in order to force white to create his targets. Moves such as ...b5 only help white. Making a passed pawn is not a realistic goal. After a few more moves, it seems apparent that black's pawns will become stretched thin and will struggle to hold on.
However black does hold on! How does he do it? Well, a little bit of help from white
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sapientdust mentioned he thought on move 36 for a while whether to play Bb6 or defend the bishop with his king. What is wrong with the second option?
Black manages to exchange pawns on the kingside and obtain a solid looking postion. Is there anyway for white to breakthrough?
White manages to draw up an exchange and pawn! What can white do to guarentee this doesn't happen?
White did miss quite a few chances at the end of the game to wrap up the full point, but some great defending by sapientdust gave white just enough problems to donate the half-point.
I hope this analysis was informative. I appreciate any questions or comments about format or content or anything else! Feedback is defintely appreciated and I hope the reader has learned something today. Thank you sapientdust for providing the game!
All the Best!
Zach Kasiurak
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