Lost a (seemingly) won position

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gabrielconroy

In the early middlegame in this game, I had (as Black) a position that I thought was very advantageous. However, I ended up losing the game, so any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Darryn

Your opening is good and advantageous from a strategic point of view.  You advanced your pieces into enemy territory, threatening white's defense.  I went through the gameplay a couple of times and here are the moves I would have done differently:

Move 14... instead of Rxf6, maybe Qxf6 would be better?  This would keep your Rook from leaving his post protecting the King and the all-important 8th Rank.

On Move 19... yeah, that seemed like a blunder.  Bishop's are pretty important for their diagonal protection, and forgetting about why white moved his Knight to d3 might have been a mishap.  Because now, even when you do capture on your next move, axb4, it leaves your pawn completely open and unprotected.  So, like any other player, white seized that file and advanced his pawns for their promotion.

And, then, Move 22... Qb6.  While it seems like a strong move, putting white's pawn in check, the capture was easily avoided and left your Queen in a tight spot.  The only way to move the Queen is moving back to where black's queen came from which loses tempo.

Also, now that your Rook is not defending your king, always look out for that open diagonal that can leave your King exposed.  I hope this helps.  Your opening game was excellent, your middlegame was good, and I can tell your endgame is good also, your opponent just had the upperhand here.  Yell

mistermax

Since I am a longtime Dutch player I couldn't resist taking a look at this. So I downloaded the PGN file and ran it through my chess engine (Fruit). The big miss on your part was at move 29, where you played 29...Qh5 while Fruit recommends instead 29...Qd2 with a rapid crush for Black, the main line being: 29...Qd2 30. h4 Qf2+ 31. Kh1 Bf3+ 32. Qxf3 Qxf3+, etc. - don't you hate computers?

gabrielconroy

Thanks for both comments, it's definitely appreciated. Although, mistermax, the line you posted doesn't make sense, maybe you misread the notation? 29...Qd2 is definitely much better, looking at it now, but if 30. h4, then Qxh2#.

30. h4 would be forced, after which 30...Bf3 31. Rxf3 would obviously be winning. Thanks for the feedback, though.

gabrielconroy

Thanks DerlisFdez: 31...Qf2+ is even better, thanks!

mistermax

Not sure I follow: 30.h4 prevents Qxh2# thus 31...Qf2+, etc. follows.  I thnk thats the line I posted.  (BTW, as you know, I also play the Birds ;-)

gabrielconroy

Er...yes, my mistake, I was being an idiot (sorry). The board's reversed, and so's my head, it seems.

mistermax

No worries - I am old enough that I still think in descriptive notation (P-K4, P-Qb4, etc...).

stochasm
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