Annihilated by unorthodox player...

So I was playing a 10min game with a player, and they were making super unorthodox opening moves. I made, what I thought were sound opening moves, but I just couldn’t seem to beat them after a bunch of games.

They made good tactical moves, but didn’t seem to follow any sort of system whatsoever.

By the third game I was fully tilted. I tried a bunch of different strategies, but nothing seemed to work. The closest I got was a draw through repetition. 😩

This is the player here: https://www.chess.com/member/ghoshsaday

Any thoughts on playing against an opening like this?

Cheers,
Nate

[Site "Chess.com iPhone"]
[Date "12/18/2020 12:28am"]
[FEN rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1]
[White "ghoshsaday"]
[Black "NateTea"]
[Result "White Wins"]
[WhiteElo "1103"]
[BlackElo "1051"]
[Termination "White Wins"]

1.d3 {10:00} e5 {10:00} 2.h3 {9:59} d5 {9:57} 3.g3 {9:58} Nf6 {9:55} 4.g4 {9:57} Bc5 {9:49} 5.b3 {9:50} O-O {9:46} 6.Bb2 {9:46} Nbd7 {9:41} 7.f3 {9:42} c6 {9:32} 8.h4 {9:41} Qb6 {9:19} 9.g5 {9:35} Ne8 {9:13} 10.Nh3 {9:24} g6 {8:57} 11.Rh2 {9:20} Nc7 {8:37} 12.a3 {9:17} Nb5 {8:32} 13.b4 {9:16} Bd6 {8:27} 14.c4 {9:14} dxc4 {8:20} 15.dxc4 {9:09} Nd4 {8:10} 16.Bxd4 {9:07} exd4 {8:08} 17.Rg2 {9:01} Be5 {7:59} 18.Nd2 {8:59} d3 {7:57} 19.Rb1 {8:57} dxe2 {7:54} 20.Qxe2 {8:54} c5 {7:26} 21.b5 {8:50} Qa5 {7:20} 22.Kd1 {8:39} Qxa3 {7:12} 23.f4 {8:27} Bc7 {6:59} 24.h5 {8:25} Qa4+ {6:45} 25.Ke1 {8:16} gxh5 {6:35} 26.Qxh5 {8:14} Nb6 {6:19} 27.Bd3 {8:12} Re8+ {5:40} 28.Re2 {8:08} Rxe2+ {5:35} 29.Kxe2 {8:06} Kf8 {5:26} 30.Qxh7 {8:00} Ke7 {5:22} 31.g6 {7:51} Be6 {5:15} 32.f5 {7:45} Be5 {3:56} 33.fxe6 {7:36} Kxe6 {3:54} 34.Qxf7+ {7:34} Kd6 {3:44} 35.Ne4# {7:22} {White Wins}

I just looked at a couple of games you played against them and you were clearly winning on both of them. You had far superior openings and in the first game I seen you missed a mate in 3. Where your fault lies is that you didn't capitalise on a clear winning position. I recommend doing checkmate puzzles as these will help you make better moves when you are in a winning position. 

If your opponent is behind in development and you have castled, then open up the centre with a pawn break and attack. Dont wait until you are retreating your pieces from their advancing pawns. You hesitated. Once your king is safe and you have one or two pieces more than them in the field, rip it open.

I agree. Check out this game where I do exactly that.

 

Thanks for the advice guys and thanks IMBacon for posting the game properly – I tried from mobile but didn’t work.

Yeh I was a bit miffed to be honest, felt like I was opening well and controlling the centre, castling etc. and he was just keeping his king in the centre and storming my king once castled. Felt like everything I tried didn’t work and I had no answers. 😂

Will try some of the suggestions in future. 👍

The pawn structure in the posted games makes all dark squares weak and you could try to use them as outposts. After 7. f3 my first intuitive move would have been Be3 and then try to protect the bishop. It will make the position cramped for white and very hard to play. In general the dark square bishop will be a strong piece in these kinds of positions as IMBacon demonstrated. (If the light squares are weak, the light squared bishop will be similarly a strong piece.) Also instead of 9. ... Ne8, my intuitive idea would have been to reposition the knight to f4 via h5. With the strong dark squared bishop controlling e3, the knight could not have been kicked out easily and it would have been an active piece even without moving anywhere.

Your problems were not developing all your pieces (once the active ones were traded off, White was perfectly fine) and breaking your king side defence with gxh5. Isolated pawns do not do a good job in defending.

I just pasted the .pgn from post #2

Thanks Harri. Yeah to be honest I was titled and not really thinking that clearly by that point. 😂

But yeah good advice on attacking and controlling the weak squares, I’ll look for that more purposefully in future. 👍

Not that you would want my opinion, but against that kind of playing style, after you have done the "right thing", a way to go is to sacrifice a piece or a pawn to dismantle that kind of moronic play. It usually works well in the end, because it gets those playing in that moronic style to have to "think" a bit.

Its beneficial just like writing down how much time you use on each move in OTB play.

...following !

like in ur 3rd game w/ them tonite (game w/ 51 moves) they play 12...f5. u NEEDTA play 13. exf e.p.

this setsuppa devastating bishopric check at g6. u needta blow them away on the K-side right here & right now. and to helps things out they dont have any imm threats on the Q-side...which is where they're playing.

so. u needta (lotsa needtas... yee !) turn this song up to like 30 and dont wait. chess is a one move game my dear. gettim when u can ! L, L<3  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rlQqWbp7rY

Your 9.Ne8 was a sort of reflex, 'he attacks my knight I need to move it.' 9/10 times you need to save your piece by moving it away or whatever, but there are times when you can do something or threaten something stronger instead. You need to be on the lookout all the time for these chances. Look for alternatives first and only if there is nothing then make your safe retreating move. Often this can be where the chances lie...your opponent is also thinking 'I attack his piece, he needs to move it' and alternatives can be missed. 

@Strangemover yeh I usually do exactly that in most of my games. But they’re usually much more conventional.

Somehow this guy managed to bamboozle me even though it didn’t seem like he was playing the “right” moves.

As a general rule, to benefit from your lead in development you need open lines towards your opponents king for your pieces to infiltrate their position and to control squares around the king. The open dark diagonals have been mentioned. Lines are also opened by trading off one or both of the centre pawns. Hence my earlier comment to rip open the centre with a pawn break. In this position, your opponent would be wise to keep the centre closed, so they would seek to push centre pawns in an attempt to lock the centre in response to your break. So a pawn break may need preparing to prevent this and may require support from pieces. Sacrificing a piece is justified given your advantage in development, you may well get it back via a tactics once their king is fully exposed. If the centre becomes locked then advancing pawns on adjacent c and f files, to get a pawn break there may be necessary,

 

When someone does not castle, rip the center empty of pawns and get your rooks on the d and e files.

That seems to work for me.

king in the middle king in the middle...kill it ! lol !