Be calm and cool to play daily game
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So...I posted a general question a few days ago. The game was ongoing so I couldn't be specific about it, but now it's done. I wonder if any good (or even not good, lol) daily players would like to comment?
My own comments are included, and are mostly the notes I actually wrote during the game. I don't know if it's odd, but this means all my comments (Black) are written as a text on White's previous move. On the other hand, there are a few comments inserted after the game, using Stockfish and Lc0, but these should be obvious since they are alternate lines.
Here are a few specific things too:
1) I thought 7.Qb6 was pretty good for the reasons given in the annotations. But the engines don't like it.
2) 8...e6 gave me trouble, because I really thought 8...e5 might be better. But I couldn't satisfy myself after a long time. So I played 8...e6, thinking it's safer. But also felt like I was wimping out. I'm not so much asking which is better, but what do you do when you aren't sure?
3) On move 12 (and even before that) I had been trying to work out whether it was better for Black to castle kingside or queenside. I was pretty sure I wanted opposite sides, but wasn't sure if it was worth delaying. I'm still not sure.
4) Also on move 12, it took me a very long time to realize that White's best reply would be 13.a3. In fact, it was almost an afterthought when I noticed it. I might easily have played 12...Nd5 without considering it at all. It would have turned out OK, but only by luck.
5) I very much underestimated 36.h5 and felt I had to come back in defense at the last minute instead of playing 36...a1=Q. The engines say Black is still OK, but I'm not sure I'd have found the defense--could have thrown the game away.
Anyway, here's the game...