My Best Game Against Computer Level 9 So Far

[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2016.04.25"]
[Event "Vs. Computer"]
[Round "1"]
[White "gchess33"]
[Black "Computer Level 9"]
[Result "0-1"]
[CurrentPosition "1r5r/1b3k2/8/2bppPp1/P3P3/1P3PKq/3NQ2N/R6R w - - 0 30"]

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Be3 e5 6.Nf3 h6 7.Bb5 Nf6 8.Bxc6 bxc6 9.O-O Ng4 10.Qd3 f6 11.h3 Nxe3 12.Qxe3 h5 13.Nbd2 Ba6 14.Rfd1 g5 15.c4 Rg8 16.g4 hxg4 17.hxg4 Bc8 18.Nh2 Rb8 19.b3 Kf7 20.Qxa7 Bb7 21.Qe3 Be7 22.Qe2 Rh8 23.f3 Bc5+ 24.Kg2 d5 25.Kg3 Qb6 26.cxd5 cxd5 27.a4 f5 28.gxf5 Qh6 29.Rh1 Qh3#
0-1

I just didn't see the 3 move mate the computer could do. Otherwise it would have been a pretty long game.

Overall I feel pretty good about the game. This time I did not rush through the moves (although I also did not spend too much time either, no more than 40 seconds per move). I think if I can replicate this rate of moving in my 30 minute live games my rating will increase dramatically.

That level is 2000 rating strength.

Here's another one.

[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2016.04.26"]
[Event "Vs. Computer"]
[Round "1"]
[White "gchess33"]
[Black "Computer Level 9"]
[Result "0-1"]
[CurrentPosition "3rr1k1/pp3pp1/3q3p/1P1P2b1/5p2/1PNn4/1P1B1RPP/R2Q2K1 w - - 0 24"]

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 Ne7 4.Bc4 Na6 5.d4 Ng6 6.Nc3 Be7 7.O-O c6 8.Nd2 O-O 9.Nb3 Bg5 10.Qf3 Nb4 11.Qd1 h6 12.a3 d5 13.Bxd5 cxd5 14.axb4 dxe4 15.Nxe4 Bf5 16.Nc3 Re8 17.Bd2 Qd6 18.b5 Be6 19.Be1 Bc4 20.Rf2 Bxb3 21.cxb3 Rad8 22.d5 Ne5 23.Bd2 Nd3 24.Bxf4 Nxf2 25.Bxd6 Nxd1 26.Rxd1 Rxd6 27.h3 Bf4 28.g4 Rg6 29.Kg2 Re3 30.Rf1 Rg3+ 31.Kh2 R3xg4+ 32.Kh1 Rg2 33.Rxf4 Rg1+ 34.Kh2 R1g2+ 35.Kh1 Rg1+ 36.Kh2 R6g2#
0-1

You barely survived those last 10 moves. You did OK before that though.

Here's an interesting one where I made an unsound sacrifice and failed to see the deadly pin that Black could make.

[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2016.04.27"]
[Event "Vs. Computer"]
[Round "1"]
[White "gchess33"]
[Black "Computer Level 9"]
[Result "0-1"]
[CurrentPosition "r1b1kb1r/pp4pp/2N5/4pp2/4p3/2N1B3/PPP2PPP/R2q1RK1 w kq - 0 11"]

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nxd4 Nxe4 5.Bd3 d5 6.Bxe4 dxe4 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.Be3 f5 9.O-O e5 10.Nxc6 Qxd1 11.Raxd1 bxc6 12.f3 f4 13.Bc1 Ba6 14.Rfe1 e3 15.Bxe3 fxe3 16.Rxe3 Bc5 17.Kf2 Bxe3+ 18.Kxe3 Rd8 19.Rxd8+ Kxd8 20.Ne4 Bf1 21.g3 Rf8 22.f4 Bg2 23.fxe5 Bxe4 24.Kxe4 Rf2 25.e6 Rxc2 26.Kf5 Rxh2 27.Ke5 Rxb2 28.Kd6 Rxa2 29.e7+ Ke8 30.Ke6 Ra3 31.Kd6 Rxg3 32.Kxc6 Rg2 33.Kb7 Kxe7 34.Kxa7 Rg6 35.Kb7 Kd7 36.Kb8 Rb6+ 37.Ka7 Kc6 38.Ka8 Kc7 39.Ka7 g5 40.Ka8 Ra6#
0-1

I had a good game this time. I would have won if I didn't make the mistake with my king the last move.

[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2016.04.27"]
[Event "Vs. Computer"]
[Round "1"]
[White "gchess33"]
[Black "Computer Level 9"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[CurrentPosition "2k5/2P5/2K5/p5p1/P5P1/8/8/8 b - - 0 46"]

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Be2 d5 8.exd5 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 Nxd5 10.Nxd5 Qxd5 11.Qxd5 exd5 12.O-O Be7 13.Bf3 Be6 14.Rfe1 Rc8 15.c3 Rc7 16.Rad1 h6 17.Bxd5 Bxd5 18.Rxd5 Rd7 19.Rxd7 Kxd7 20.Rd1+ Ke6 21.g3 Bf6 22.Kg2 Rd8 23.Rxd8 Bxd8 24.Bd4 Bf6 25.Bxf6 Kxf6 26.f4 b6 27.Kf3 a5 28.b4 Ke7 29.bxa5 bxa5 30.Ke4 Ke6 31.a4 Kd6 32.Kd4 Ke6 33.c4 Kd6 34.c5+ Kc6 35.Kc4 g6 36.h4 f6 37.Kd4 Kc7 38.Kd5 g5 39.hxg5 hxg5 40.fxg5 fxg5 41.g4 Kd7 42.c6+ Ke7 43.Kc5 Ke8 44.c7 Kd7 45.Kb6 Kc8 46.Kc6
1/2-1/2

I realized then that as long as I don't make blunders, my tactics and positional knowledge are in fact good enough to win against Level 9.

I play way better OTB than online in chess, which is why my rating for this site is so low. In OTB I play much better for some odd reason (probably because I am distracted less and I am more used to the aesthetics of that situation). I am doing really well in my lessons right now as well compared to my other ratings.

I'll share this one because it's so weird. I grabbed a "free pawn" on move 5 which loses to a simple tactic, and I almost resigned right there, but the computer let me back in the game. We have a pretty big margin for error against this thing! Stockfish tells me I had a slight advantage (+0.68) after move 24. I traded down to a rook endgame which I thought was favorable, but Stockfish says no, I was already losing. Misplayed the endgame pretty badly and I wanted to resign, but I don't think there's a resign button when playing the computer. Garbage time from there so I made random moves until I got checkmated.

gchess when you post your games, from the browser use the chessboard icon to insert the game, click PGN/FEN, and enter the PGN text in the box. Then people can play through the game on the page.

I have tried several times but when I click on the icon, it now just displays part of a chess board in starting position (with the 1 row cut off in the middle) and no place to enter PGN. You are referring to the icon to the far left, right?

Icon on the far left when I make a post on the browser. Here's a game I should have won easily (using your 2. d4 against the Sicilian - unusual move order but seems perfectly playable). Then I made a horrible blunder toward the end to give it away. Gotta put won positions on lockdown!

I guess 25. Rg1 and I can keep playing, so the resignation was premature. I was just so disgusted with how I let the position get away from me.

The Computer Level 9 on my computer seems to play quite a bit more strongly than yours. Your Computer played some moves that seemed a little too passive in the opening, rendering its control of the center weak. Kudos for your opening play though. As for the insert game feature, for some odd reason it appears to be broke on my end. 17. Qxd7 may not have been the best idea (although it wins a pawn) because it exchanges your very strong Queen for Black's very weak Queen (which relieves pressure on Black's kingside). In this case I suggest 17. Bd3 followed by 18. Qe4 and also use the dark-squared Bishop as a backup attack. If you can create enough threats on the kingside at once, Black will at the very least have to abandon some of his posts on the queenside to protect his King and at worst be checkmated. You can take advantage of the well-known overload problem here to win the position. Also, please make sure your major pieces are in places where they are readily available to protect both sides of the board should Black choose to pull off a sudden attack on the opposite side from which it was formerly attacking. Overall good job with the positional play and keep practicing!

I have no reason to believe we're playing against different computers, and while I haven't looked at all your games, I can tell you it's making mistakes against you, too. If my Computer Level 9 isn't the same as yours, any comparison of the games would of course be meaningless. But gchess I just compared your rating with mine, and you probably shouldn't be telling me how to play. Your advice about not trading off queens when I'm two pawns up is ridiculous. I was doing just fine after the queen trade, my big mistake came later.