Converting advantages into winning positions

Hi all,

This game was not the first where I managed to obtain a large advantage in the opening, before squandering it in the middle game. I'd like to know where I went wrong. Were my tactics not good enough? Did I not have the right focus when I was attacking my opponent's uncastled king? I've included my own commentary on the game, explaining to the best of my knowledge the mistakes I made.

Yes, your tactics were not good enough.  Some of the available tactics were quite complex and above what a 1600 is going to spot in a blitz game, but it should have been obvious that 12. ... bf5 was much better than be6.  That is a move that you should make by reflex, even in a very short time control blitz game.  And at move 15, if you spot that nge5 is bad, bf5 should look very attractive even if you can't see everything that happens after bf5 e4 nd4 kg3.  Or you could reason that if the knight was protected, e4 wouldn't be possible, and therefore look at 15. ...h5, which is also crushing.  

Blitz games are discouraging sometimes.  Look for lessons you can absorb, like 12. ... bf5, but don't beat yourself up about not spotting every tactic and letting one slip away.  It happens.  

Hi Joe!

On move 6, ...e4 is already very strong. E.g. 7. dxe4 Qxd1+ 8. Kxd1 Nxe4 threatening xf2+. 

It was also strong on move 9, when White could've avoided some trouble against your ...Ng4 with 10. e4. 

I think putting the knight into the pin with 17. ...Nd3 was a bit unnecessary; ...Qc6 was more natural. Sometimes the less 'fancy' moves are the better ones!

Overall you played with a lot of energy and gusto, so don't feel bad. It only went wrong right at the very end. Play with confidence, and try to accept that it's just a part of chess that you're occasionally going to lose games from completely winning positions!  

 

 

It appears you’re spending an equal amount of time on each move. Whether intentional or not, this is not the best way to manage your 30 minutes.

10...e4 is a great move, but it could’ve been played one move earlier. Instead you spent half a minute on 9...Ng4 without considering other possibilities.

15...Rxd3 wins an exchange. You missed this easy tactic because inadequate time was spent on moves other than 15...Nge5.

13 seconds was used on 20...Qg6 even though you had 10 minutes on the clock.

Don’t blame it on tactical abilities. Most of the time we miss things because of not thinking for long enough at critical moments.

The first half of the game was very well-played by you. You successfully attacked your opponent's king and dragged it all the way to f3. The key at that point is to not let it escape to h2. As long as White's king is in the center, you'll have an advantage. Focus more on cutting off squares and White's king being stuck will lead to big problems for him. As a general principle, once the King comes to f3, begin looking for sharp ways to win (checkmate or material gain) immediately, without delay.

Thank you to all of you for your feedback. There are many instructional points from this game to learn from.

On move 22, just moving your bishop away doesn't lose material because of the pin on the pawn-queen. Overall in these kind of positions you should look for some kind of tactical shot or sacrifice.

Some wonderful and insighful moves concerning the knight and it's attack on the second and third squares I have seen that knight offensive is the best defence and any move concerning the knight will be powerful effective and very fast in eliminating any pawn offensive.