A bad tournament...middlegaming understanding only extension of opening prep?

I had a bad tournament over the weekend with some frustrating games, so I thought I'd post them to see what advise was out there. But before going on, a few thoughts on a theme that might have been seen in a couple games...

I've sort of realized that in general, I only understand middlegames in the context of the opening they come from; that is, I know what a good plan or idea is only because I saw that plan or idea when preparing the opening.

Sure, I know how to target backwards pawns, general pawn structure knowledge (minority attack, attack the base of the chain, pawn breaks...on and on), and all the other things that club players are expected to know. But more than once in this tournament alone, I had no idea what to do in a position and sort of fell apart.

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Let's see some games. As usual, I tried to extensively annotate the games, not only to help with getting feedback, but also to hopefully be instructive to lower-rated(maybe even higher-rated?) players:

 

Game 1: Me (2130) vs 1800

I won, but I was not very happy with how I played...

All in all, not happy with this tournament and am concerned with my lack of dynamism in certain positions, stupid errors (as in the last game's ...Rd7), and the aforementioned problem where I played cluelessly in middlegames I didn't understand beforehand (game 1, game 2). Please share your thoughts, suggestions, or questions!

In game 2 your position around move 10 looked pretty decent. Your bishops point at the queenside and you have no weaknesses. I guess you can just try to find good squares for your pieces there -- put the queen on a5 or b6, maybe transfer your a6 knight to d5, maybe push the a pawn to a5 or a4, just make life more comfortable for your pieces and try to restrict your opponent. My only concern for you is that white has a central majority, and could try pushing in the middle at some point. But I'm not sure that would threaten much and it could just give you a target... have to keep it in mind though.

But I didn't like allowing white to play bxc3 and get lots of center pawns and the b file. I think that's where it started to go seriously downhill. Ideally you would want white to trade his knight c3 for your knight d5 with Nxd5, because then his queenside is more exposed on the long diagonal. White won't oblige easily of course but maybe you could put some pressure on it with the queen on a5 or something -- white could put a bishop on d2 to defend that but it would make b2 softer.

But yeah there is no quick idea there. You want to try to make trades that'll soften his position -- like trading the c3 knight for one of your knights. You would like to find something for the f6 knight to do so that it will conveniently open up your g7 bishop. Like I said, gain space, find better squares for your pieces, that seems like most of the fight.

That's true - isn't my bishop not really so stable on e6 though? I was always worried about Ng5 or something like that. I agree opening the b-file was wrong, but I thought it might be too late to change direction after 12. Bd2, because next will come a3 and I will have to go back to a6.

Well, first of all in game 4 you were simply lost after 23. ... Bb7. White plays Rxe5 with decisive advantage.

Also, I think that the plan with dxc4 and e5 should be played without b6 and Bb7. If you go e5 the bishop might be better on the c8-h3 diagonal.

In the first game after move 14 the e6 square looks very weak and juicy. First thing I would look at is Ng5 to occupy e6. 15 a4 looks somehow wrong. Nxf6 is clearly wrong as you force his bishop to his best square, Ng3 looks more sensible.

In game 2 10. Qa5 looks natural, inteding Qh5 and maybe Bh3 if he allows. To exchange on c3 gives white the better game. The exchange sac seems to give white good compensation, especially when your rook ends on e6 and your Bc8 is practically out of play. Not to mention white's passed a pawn and your lack of any counterplay...

How do

How can white play 24. Rxe5? There's no rook on the e-file.

Thanks though!

Oh, sorry you're right. Did set up the wrong position on my wooden board...

But I thought a knight on e6 wouldn't really be stable - the other knight can be kicked away with ...c5 or ...h6 and a rook will show up on e8, with pins. Nonetheless, the tactics work out...but can I really be blamed for missing this in a G/60 tournament? )

No, you can't be blamed, but it may be a weakness to work on, I know i suffer from it myself. The above statement is entirely generalistic in nature and not concrete. The first move I calculated was Ng5, it is obvious like you said, yet to be worried about c5 and h6, is of course false. Once you see that Re8 is not even a playable move, there are not pins to really worry about. And the e-file which cant be conteseted with Re8 is going to cause real damage to black. 

I only mean help and respect with my comments, as i know you are a strong player. But working more in concrete calculation and less in generalizations as much as possible may help you be a stronger player. Especially in tournamnents with some time to think

 the line in question is in game 1 

15. Ng5  Re8? 16. Nc6 is the point and i assume what you missed in ur calculations so...

15. Ng5 Qe8 is like the only move because Be7 is hanging so; 16. Re1 and black is going to have to do weird stuff to save material.

I only briefly looked at the game so forgive the brief and maybe shotty analysis but i think if i saw this much even in a game i would perk up and smell blood (or i hope i would haha)

So try to work more in concrete and less in generals to become better chess players, is a problem of mine 

Yes, I definately agree, that's another thing I need to work on. A lot of times I've gotten lazy, especially at quicker time controls, and only cauclate when I absolutely have to, and otherwise just make normal-looking moves and usually end up beating lower-rated players that way, but it's a bad habit

All right. Game1. The important thing is you won.

Game 2. You got yourself into a bad position from the start. Nf3 was good, but C4 was just a dumb follow up. 3...dxc4 should have been followed by 4.e4 e5, 5.Qxc4, putting massive pressure on blacks center. Instead, you take e4 already and now your Q gets pushed around. The only good thing is that you castled before you played the D pawn.(I would have played d4 not d3.)

The middle game. You've both castled, but the difference is that you are blocking your pieces, and black's opening up his queenside. 13.Nd5 should have been followed by 14.c4 Nf6 15.Ng5 Bf5 (or d7) 16.Nxh7 Kxh7, opening up the H file. Indeed, Qa6 is what black wanted to play, so you just gave black an excuse.👎 16.c4 Nb6 should have been followed 17.c5 Nd5 18.Qb3,creating a battery on the B file and threatening the knight(unless I'm missing something?). However, since you were clueless, 17.Be3 was a good choice.17.Rad8 should have been followed 18.Bxb6 axb6 19.c5, clearing holes for your pieces.22.Nc3 should be followed Rc1, not Rb2. Finally, don't let the R stand there.your still going to be taken anyway. 24.Rxb5 cxb5 25.Bxb7 would have been my choice.

Game 1 I don't blame you as 16. Ng5 is not a natural looking move. The fact there is only one good line shows that black had a very solid position and a draw was a likely result. The endgame was completely drawn until you got the gift.

Game 2 I don't like 4..Be6?! because the bishop looks uncomfortable there and it seems like an over-reaction to me, making the queen move to an equally good square.  I would have played 4..Nf6 and either 5..Bg4 or 5..e6 depending on what happen next, getting into a favorable version of the QGA (white will almost always play d4, eg. 4..Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. d4) where you have none of the QGA drawbacks as white has spend moves moving the queen.

I think that is why after 10. d3 you are stuck on what to do. 10..Nb4 was okay but after 11. Qd1, 11..Nfd5?! was not precise. 11..Nbd5! is more accurate (also more natural as you don't want the knight on b4 as it is not safe) as it is much more flexible after 11..Nbd5 12. Bd2, you don't have to take the knight and comp recommends either 12..b6 or 12..c5 and that looks very solid. In your line you were basically forced to take on c3 and after bxc3 your queenside was somewhat vulnerable as a result.

After that it was white squeezing your queenside. It was difficult to defend and you did not realize that b6 was necessary for defence (it is an open file and your b-pawn is weak on b7. Any ideas?). 15. Qb6? was bad (the queen on a6 suck) and after that 16..Nb6? was clearly bad because your pieces are clumped and your knight is in the way of the backward b-pawn. 16..Nc7 with the hope to eventually play b6.

After that the position was bad as your queenside collapsed and white got an outside passed pawn. 23. Rb2! was a very good exchange sac (the alternative Rbe1 is okay but not great) with the correct evaluation that the outside passed pawn is worth at least the exchange. The idea to get your bishop off the a1 square and maximize the outside passed pawn with Ra1 and the 2 bishops support. You have huge problems even getting your pieces to the a-file and once there would be tied to passive defense. You would probably need to sac back and maybe you have a draw somehow.

The last notable mistake was 32..h5? which obviously did not consider the passed pawn and just weakens your kingside as well. You needed to play 32.. Ba6 to clear the backrank so your rook can actually try to defend the position. 33. e5? was one last chance given (33. a4 was excellent), which after 33..Kh7?? was good game.

What are you talking about? 1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 is just the Reti.