You hung material.
Double check your moves.
Slow down.
Trying to improve my positional game.
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Sep 4, 2019
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#3
The problem might be that you don’t have a long-term plan.
With 13. cxd5 you wanted to “open up the c-file”. OK, good point. However you forgot your initial idea just three moves later and played 16. Ne5. The knight looks good on e5, but it has nothing to do with the c-file. 16. Ne5 and 17. Bb1 are essentially a waste of time (the black kingside is rock solid) that gives black time to strike back with 17... a5.
Instead, you could have kept up with your plan and played 16. Rc3 (intending to pile up on the c-file), 16. Qb3 (consolidating against a possible ...a5) and even 16. Bc7!? (squeezing the black pieces). It’s difficult to say which move is best, but having a plan is always better than not.
BTW I checked the time stamps which said you spent no less than 2 minutes on the blunder 24. Qc2. It could be that you already felt you had spoiled a promising game and was kind of panicking. Don’t do that. Panic does nothing but makes your game worse.
With 13. cxd5 you wanted to “open up the c-file”. OK, good point. However you forgot your initial idea just three moves later and played 16. Ne5. The knight looks good on e5, but it has nothing to do with the c-file. 16. Ne5 and 17. Bb1 are essentially a waste of time (the black kingside is rock solid) that gives black time to strike back with 17... a5.
Instead, you could have kept up with your plan and played 16. Rc3 (intending to pile up on the c-file), 16. Qb3 (consolidating against a possible ...a5) and even 16. Bc7!? (squeezing the black pieces). It’s difficult to say which move is best, but having a plan is always better than not.
BTW I checked the time stamps which said you spent no less than 2 minutes on the blunder 24. Qc2. It could be that you already felt you had spoiled a promising game and was kind of panicking. Don’t do that. Panic does nothing but makes your game worse.
Thanks! That is really helpful. Now that I think about it, I definitely “switch gears” too often thinking of different ideas that I think are better when I should stick to one plan.
As for the blunder, I definitely was panicking. I thought I had a strong position and I realized it all was crumbling after he played b6.
As for the blunder, I definitely was panicking. I thought I had a strong position and I realized it all was crumbling after he played b6.
Hey guys,
Hoping to get some help in here. When it comes to my overall level. I feel like my opening and endgame skills are pretty solid for the most part. However, I really struggle with my positional understanding. Here is a game where I felt like my position was really strong and then I blundered it away positionally.