Don't trade pieces as white without a plan

Dude thats the slav defense and it is a very good opening. 93% accuracy as black.

Being down a pawn is far from a lost game. He won the opening, I won the rest of the game. If you're a pawn down with a positional advantage it does not matter-- this is the definition of a gambit opening... black was not playing a gambit but the point remains. White thought exactly what you are thinking and lost badly with one mistake.

Yes the blunder decided the game, but the underlying theme of this post was he was just making random trading moves that were easily defended while playing the white pieces. One mistake and he's out of so much material winning becomes very difficult. At best he was +.8. For a human, even a 1700, that is not a guaranteed win. Black was just fine even down a pawn.

Exactly, this was the point of my post. It is not my best game, but I was down a pawn and white made some lazy easily defendable attacks and burned all of his material. Lost all of his pressure and one mistake cost him the game.

Of course. The key is having a plan. If you are an elite endgame player, you can subtly set up a winning pawn structure, trade pieces by force, and get into a position that you know you can win 100% of the time. The point of this post is if you are just trading pieces because it's there or your random check didn't work out, your advantage might crumble.

White moves first, and especially in this game usually attacks. Trading pieces without a plan will kill the momentum of your attack. One mistake with not too much material and you are cooked, as seen in this game.

but just so you know @trw0311 . Bf5 is a well known mistake from black due to cxd5 cxd5 Qb3! and black will be under serious pressure and have no compensation for the material that will be lost

if you like bringing out the bishop then do this.

@AngryPuffer

Exactly

@trw0311

You tried to play the slav. But Bf5 at the move order you played is an inaccuracy. Also your opponent was a pawn up and if he had played Bd3 instead of Be2 he also had a more active king and he would trade your active bishop. He was winning until the blunder.

Until the blunder you're playing for a draw at best. Also check the early Bf5 lines because i see you have blank spots

I do like that much better than the position I got. I don’t study openings so I just play for similar positions and this one threw me off a bit. Qb6 was the engine move. Black ends up with a double pawn but material is equal.

This game was 5|0 so it’s not going to be perfect. It was still 93% accuracy in a 34 move game for black. Qc8 was the major inaccuracy in the opening, Qb6 is the engine move. In a rapid or classical game black would be down bad and you are correct.

Point taken about the openings but I don’t study them. I play for similar positions and analyze my games. I think I should be able to get to at least 1800 with this method and then I will go for detailed memorization (I think I probably already am based on my lichess rating but I have been playing unrated on here).

The engine classifies that bishop move as a book move so there is no way for me to know that’s an inaccuracy; I do see why from the other player above so this is good insight.

@trw0311

No problem. I hope you reach your target 🙏and yeah no need to memorize openings, just this little tweak so that you don't face any unnecessary traps