Could Be Better

Hi,

Here is a game I just played against Fritz in friend mode (it plays to your assessed rating). For some reason it jumped from around 860, which I am probably, to 1295 before the start of the game. I've no idea where it pulled that number from as normally it is quite good at following on from a previous game and ranks accordingly.

Here is the game and I'd be very happy to hear suggestions on how I could improve, especially anything I missed. The opening was a Caro Kann, which I am very unsure of at this time. I just played defensively hoping to get through the opening with a fairly stable position.

Yes, that was a Fritz analysis, so the ?? blunder comments were not mine. Fritz can be a bit over zealous with those I've noticed, usually they are directed at me though :)

I did add in the variation for Caro Kann from the powerbook so that I could go over it several times to get a better understanding of the opening.

That computer was pretty terrible. Almost every move was inferior and many of them were outright game ending mistakes. This was level 15? What level does it go up to?

I've no idea, I know that the Fritz 15 engine at full power would destroy me hence the 'Friend' mode.

1...c6 "Consolidates b5". This is not the idea behind this move at all. The idea is have a pawn in a position to take back on d5, should White choose to exchange there after Black plays d5. It is a preparatory move. You're preparing d5.

Okay, these are Fritz's comments. I'll add your comment to the game analysis. Thank you :)

An engine said that?!? OK, simple solution. Don't use that engine.

I have the stockfish engine. How do I set it to a reasonable level where it doesn't play badly but also where I don't get butchered. Can I set the parameters in the Fritz interface?

Stockfish on mobile?

No, on my laptop. 64 bit Stockfish

This was a live game played tonight. Fritz used the stockfish engine to analyze and I have added comments of my own to show some of my thoughts. I am usually pretty uncomfortable playing black. I wanted to try the caro kann but my mind suddenly went blank.

Thanks for the input, I'll add those comments to the pgn file.

It's hard to comment on your games because your self analysis is so confusing. The computer analysis possibly makes even less sense... Maybe...

First of all I want to talk about this Bishop pair nonesense. I'm not a strong enough player worry about the Bishop pair. It's absolute gibberish at your level and I don't know what Inexorable is talking about because his ratings here suggest that he isn't yet 1800.

Moves 6-9 - At all four opportunities I'm playing Bxe3. What is your Bisop going to do all game? Stare at his? It can't do anything. He has his pawns on the opposite colour to his Bishop. It can do all sorts of things... Also, why are you giving him the option of messing up your pawn structure?

11...Qe6?? - You apparently disagree that hanging a whole piece for nothing should be labelled as a "blunder", but rather as an "inaccuracy". I don't understand what you're talking about at all so I'm just going to move on.

Moves 16-18 - The computer never labels any of these as blunders which I don't get. Surely one of either Bxd4 or c3 must be a blunder. In fact it says that c3 threatens to win material... Huh?!? I haven't run this through my engine but I don't see any reason why White has to lose a piece here. What am I missing?

Move 20 onwards - Twice you talk about your opponent allowing a quick checkmate and it's complete nonesense both times. He blunders material on both occasions but neither of them allow any sort of quick checkmate so I don't understand these comments at all.

Summary: Blundering a piece is not the same as allowing a quick checkmate. In fact, you shouldn't be focusing on checkmating your opponent as soon as possible anyway. Focus on not hanging pieces and you'll win. How fast you win doesn't matter.

If you're up five pieces with an hour on your clock, is missing an opportunity to mate in one a blunder? That's not such an easy question to answer.

If you hang a Bishop on move eleven in an equal position for no compensation whatsoever is that a blunder? Yes. Of course, yes!

You attacked when appropriate, that was nice to see. Your tactics were suspicious, but if you didn't hang your Bishop I would be saying well done, you can definitely improve upon your rating tactically speaking.

P.S. The abbreviation usually used instead of displaying a player's name is "NN" - No Name. Also, probably best not to include that nonesense analysis from your engine next time. It's complete gibberish and somewhat distracting.

I did realize after it was pointed out that the queen move was indeed a blunder as I hung my bishop. This is where the beginner eyes come in, they miss these points. I now know ?? was correct for that move (regardless of my inaccurate comment I made afterwards). My comments about the checkmate were made post game, obviously, and I saw his errors as alowing me in to mate him. His queen blunder wasn't forced but the mate was then just a matter of time. The following knight move and the failure to block with the g3 pawn just sped things up. I don't know if he felt under pressure which is why he made that series of errors as he had plenty of time left on the clock. I just feel that that game for me was one of my better ones so far. If I learn from the mistakes I made then I should improve slowly.

I've looked through a couple of openings but I have decided that my current abilty doesn't justify worrying about it too much yet. My time would be better spent on opening using basic principles and concentrating on not leaving unprotected pieces that an opponent can take advantage of. From there I need to learn how to co-ordinate them properly and identify any weak/undefended pieces he/she has that I can apply pressure to. In my mind I have the basics of what I should be doing but once the game starts it is a different matter. Once I can get a firm grip on not hanging pieces and leaving weak spots that can be attacked then I will have taken a step forward.