It looks pretty drawn at the end. Not too keen on 10..c4 as takes the tension out (and no cxd4 possible if white plays e4). Maybe 10..b6/11..Bb7 taking more control of the e4 square. Could also aim longer term to get ..e5 in. You did well not to create any more weaknesses as White had slight advantage.
Accepted Draw to Early?
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The position is definitely drawish-looking. I imagine that playing on would have resulted in a lot of shuffling of pieces back and forth, since neither player can really break through.
If you really wanted to push for a win, you might have had to try something like 40. h4. But still, after something like 40 ... Ke7 41. hxg5 hxg5, it seems unclear what exactly you have accomplished.
You got the better side of the bargain. His rating was much higher than yours, giving you more rating points.
Not a lot to say about critical moments. Pretty good opening and not any huge blunders from either side. In my experience, the game starts getting drawish when White refuses to play c4, or when one side plays c5/c3 like Black did. So after about Turn 11, the game started looking pretty drawish to me. White could have tried to gain space with c4 and Black could have maintained the tension rather than pushing c3 in order to keep things interesting.
It was good sportsmanship by your opponent to offer you a draw when he did. Since you were on time trouble, he could have pressed the issue and stalled out a drawn position in order to maintain his rating. Chess.com needs more guys like him on Live Chess.
I have to agree with ModernCalvin. According to your own annotation you seemed to be getting everything you wanted out of the opening. Yet, you never seemed to have an advantage you could press for a win. Maybe that's just the kind of opening this is, a little bland. If black is conservative and unambitious, it's hard to get anywhere.
Critical points:
13. exd5. I don't see what your motivation is for playing this here. The d-pawn is fixed, so there is no rush to play this move. Strong players rarely break the tension like this without a concrete reason. I think it's better to keep the option of playing d5 or exd5 when it is strong tactically. You had a central space advantage and control of when the tension would be released and you gave up both with 13. exd5
An interesting alternative is 13. Qe2. Black doesn't have much productive to do in this position, so you start building up. (notice that if black moves the e7 knight, 13. ... Nb6 or 13. ... Nf8 you have 14. exd5 exd5 15. Bxf6 and black has to recapture with the g-pawn further weakening the kingside.) Black might try some queenside expansion with 13. ... b5. Now you could just continue to build with 14. Rad1. Then you are threatening to place your knight on d5 because your rooks ensure that opening the center is good for you. Just some ideas.
At move 17 you try to gain control over the e-file. I think black will always be able to challenge you with Re8. Better here might be 17. Ne5. You can support this knight with the other one, Ndf3, or attack the d5 pawn with Qf3. There is an immediate tactic if 17. ... Nxe5 18. Qxh5 and if the knight moves Qxd5.
22. Ng3. You point out in your annotation this wasn't right. 22. Ne3 might be good. You eye the d5 pawn (you made this thing weak on purpose!). You then have a few plans: f4, Qf3 and f5. OR, put the queen on g3 and play Nf5. I don't know that any of this is good enough to squeeze a win out, but you can give black a chance to go wrong.
Hi,
I would be interested in feedback on this game where I accepted a draw offer from a much higher rated player. I am particularly interested in identifying critical moments.
Thanks,
--Kevin