I beat a CM! (Game Analysis)

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Avatar of Hobalalaa

Hello and welcome to the game analysis of my game against a CM. I will tell you some details about this game:
1. This game was played in the community freestyle Friday.
2. This is Chess 960 (Fischer Random).
3. It's a blitz tournament (3+1), so mistakes may happen!
4. I'm playing black.
This game was actually pretty cool; it had a bit of tactics in it, sacrifices, and stuff, so I want you to stay with me until the end, so without further ado, let's get started, ladies and gentlemen.

I was playing Black there, so anyways, White's idea from playing g4 is to gain space on the kingside (if you're playing standard chess, that's the kingside) and also to activate the white queen's vision from the h1-a8 diagonal. This is pretty common in Chess 960.
I replied with d6; I want to put the bishop in infront of the queen. It's a really good square for the bishop since that diagonal is weakened, and also to neutralize any dangers of the white bishop going there before my bishop.
He replied with e3, setting up Bf3. I play Bc6 anyways, and we both trade off a pair of bishops.
Now what you should realize is that I was literally SHAKING irl (pause). Why? because I'm playing a titled player, so I was trying to be as solid as possible.

I played e5 after all these trades, taking space in the center and also preparing Ne6, pushing the pawn and then putting the knight behind the pawn.
He played d3, opening the diagonal for the bishop; he may have future prospects of going to c3 or something. Also supporting his idea.
Ne6, continuing normally with my development, a great square for that knight.
Now he plays a weird move in my perspective: a4. I think he wanted to make a kingside attack and slide the rook with Ra3-b3, for example, but I think it's way too slow and it's not that effective.
I replied with "h5"! I think it's a great move from my perspective (not arrogance or anything), but it just stops White's future plans on the kingside and also forcefully opens the h-file, where I will probably have many counterattacks from.

He played Qg2, quite a weird move; there's no reason to make me develop with a tempo for free.
And after taking and then developing with a tempo, he slides the queen to b4, which means he has the intention to bring all his pieces to the kingside and make a great queenside attack on the king.
I centralize my knight with a tempo; Nd5, he retreats with a tempo on my knight, Qb3.
I play a weird move: c6. I should've just gone Ne7-c6, where the knight will control the center and defend the king more, instead of just weakening the central pawn chain and specifically the d6 pawn. Although it cannot be attacked efficiently at that moment, still, a weakness is a weakness, and if it is fixed, you're probably cooked.

He played c4, kicking my knight out and also taking a share in the center; however, this pawn move weakened the b1-h7 diagonal and also the d3 pawn.
I retreated to f6. Why f6? Well, I thought that the future prospects of the knight are better on f6 than on c7 or e7. If Ne7, I think the knight is awkward, and although the f5 square is good, it can be kicked out eventually, and I also want to use this weakened diagonal and pawn. I cannot do that if the knight is in the way, and if the knight is on c7, then the knight is basically dead; it has no future prospects at all. So I played Nf6; the knight is nice and controlling a bit of the center, and no pawn breaks are here soon.
He continued with Bb4, attacking the weakness I made on d6.
I played c5, shutting down the center, and also the rook can maneuver to b6, for example, in the future, via Rc6-b6.
He played Bc3, pressuring the center and also maybe supporting the d4 break.
I played Qh7, attacking the d3 pawn and putting the queen on the weak diagonal that was left behind by this c4 move. Remember, moves have consequences, guys, and pawns cannot go backwards. There you go, you learned 2 new things today; thank me later.
He played a huge blunder: e4?? Thinking that he closed the diagonal and everything is safe. Can you spot the tactical blow? Find it, then scroll to the next diagram. Also tell me in the comments if you found it.

Taking advantage of the weak diagonal and the unprotected knight on f3!

He plays Nd2 (if I take the pawn, he forks my queen and pawn), and the reason I didn't take those pawns is because the central d6 pawn is way more valuable than these 2 weak pawns. That pawn is the beginning of this strong pawn chain; it supports it, and it's the most important pawn there. If it falls, other pawns become weak.
So I retreat to c6.
He then plays Rd1. I think he's lining up these pieces right there. As if I play f5, f4 might be strong or something, or maybe he's just centralizing the rook.
I play Be7, just developing that sad bishop, also protecting the d6 pawn. I think it's a bit passive; for example, g5 was a way better square, or even f6.
He plays Rad1, lining up some pressure along the d-file.
I reinforce the center; I think playing Nd4 was way better. It was played, but the position of the rook on c8 is better because it pressures the c-pawn via X-ray, like if he takes the knight, then cxd4 is a discovered attack on the pawn.
Ne4, attacking the d6 pawn, it's already protected, but I want to close that file, preventing any doubling ideas.
Nd4 is played. 
He takes the knight because the knight is too strong; I recapture with the c-pawn, not wanting to open the e-file and allow counterplayfrom my opponent.
The rest are just easy, logical moves.

Most of these moves are just unexplainable, because we were both in a time scramble, but I entered an endgame up a couple of pawns, and he hung a knight, but yeah, it was already winning for me, I think. So anyways, that was the analysis of my match against a CM. After this match I got a 3/3 in that tournament. I played against a cheater the next round, and I lost. Then, because my endurance is way too low, I performed poorly in the next couple of games, and because I was actually pretty tired because I didn't sleep well and I strained myself in the other rounds, I decided to withdraw and just study some chess. I have to work on endurance, but anyways, I hope you found this match interesting, and I hope you have a great day. Later.
If you found this interesting, check out the other forums I made!
https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/how-to-analyze-your-own-games-1https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-lessons/time-management-in-chess