Defeated by the Scandinavian Defense: Mieses-Kotrč, Main Line

Hey! Both you and your opponent played very strong in the opening. Played like GM's for 8 moves. Therefore, the loss had nothing to do with the opening. 

The loss (and almost every single loss at this level will be) was about missing basic tactics. After hanging your bishop move 10, the game would be very tough to win. 

So my suggestion is FORCING MOVES. Before you play a move, look at each of your opponents forcing moves. These are:

1) Checks

2) Captures

3) Threats

I would concentrate on the first two, seeing all checks and captures! At the start of the game there aren't toooo many to look at, but it becomes more difficult.  

I know this isn't Scandinavian or opening advice, but hope it helps! 

Yes you are correct: my blunder was castling on move 10. From the notes, I was considering Nb5 or Ne4 or even Nb1 as alternatives. I did not seem to consider Bb3. I seemed to have been more focused on his Queen than on his Knight. The notes suggest that I didn't see Nxc4 and was expecting Nxd5 instead.

Can someone help explain 9 d5?   (As in, was it a good idea or not).

I feel particularly ignorant about when it is a good idea to push a pawn, and when it isn't.  In this case, the pawn harasses black's knight, but it's like an IQP because his c pawns are blocked.  My (very limited) understanding is that one might push an IQP when there's a pawn exchange up ahead (or some sort of attack), but that isn't really the case here.

Thoughts on that one?

The engine rates the move as "good" but it wasn't the best move I've ever played. I was hoping he would capture but that was really just hope chess.

Simpaq started the game rated 800 so I clearly underestimated him.

I'd say it wasn't the best time for the d5 push because:

1) You weren't castled yet. You don't want to open things up and start attacking before castling, unless a very good reason for it.

2) The knight had good squares to go to, like Ne5, where it attacked a hanging piece, so attacking it didn't accomplish much, but rather allowed them to chase your bishop around.

Having a central pawn that can be pushed is a deadly weapon, which is often best to save until you see a concrete reason to push.

I'm no expert , just my 2 cents!

I don't like 8.Bd2. It's a passive move that relies on tricks. Your attitude in the opening was incorrect - white played very strong developing moves, so he should not have to adopt such a passive stance on move 8. Better was Be3, anticipating long castle by protecting the pawn, or maybe Bf4, preventing any Ne5 ideas and restraining black's pawns. 

I also don't like 7.f3, because it unnecessarily weakens the king's diagonal. Right now, the bishop pin does nothing to white, so he should simply castle on move 7. After black castles queenside white simply plays Be3, and is very solid.

8. Be3 is definitely the move I would naturally think of playing in a live game, but in this daily game I was swayed by the opening explorer which says 8. Bd2 was played 24 times with 46% win rate, and the second most popular is 8. Bb5 which was played 4 times with 25% win rate. 8. Be3 is not on the list at all.

Same for 7. f3, opening explorer says played 45 times with 49% win rate, versus 0-0 played 4 times with 25% win rate.

Of course, there is a whole big question of whether that opening explorer actually helps more than hinders.

See, this is why I don't like using the opening explorer in daily games... You're not thinking with your own head. Instead of thinking, "this lines scores better than the others so it must be the best move" without considering alternatives then how are you going to play normal chess? 

If it's a logical move, you should play it.

It's an interesting point. I do try to think for myself and not just blindly follow the book, but it is hard to know whether I have the balance right. It's a bit OT so I posted this question in the Chess Openings forum: https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-openings/is-using-the-opening-explorer-during-daily-games-a-bad-idea

Additionally, to the points that B1zmark made, when the sample size is small, I'm not sure how much percentages tell us, because we don't know who the players were.  (Carlsen could play the Bowdler defense and still beat most folks, right?).  

OTOH, the explorer does tell us something if, say, this move was played 10,000 times, and the other move was played 100 times.

But the larger point still stands: if we don't know *why* a move is played, then we're not necessarily learning anything.

This looks like a great game! Have you checked out the Gubinsky-Melts defense by chance? It's the Qd6 variation of the Scandinavian, I think it's worth trying if you enjoy playing the Scandi!

blitzblunderz

There is a game played between two British GM's up to a point. Hodgson, faithful to his style, made an early piece sac as Black (I think it is quite correct).

White's strongest move seems to be the quiet 9.a3!

And of course, after 9.d5 Ne5 10.Bb3 as played by GM Rowson is pretty much forced.