Handling Time Pressure

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Here is a crazy game for which I made the following comments on Lichess:

Another comedy of errors in which I made four blunders compared to White's five. I should have lost but managed a draw by three-fold repetition in severe time pressure. My mistake was advancing my e-pawn instead of my d-pawn. The opening was a Sicilian after all and Black needs to advance his d-pawn if he hopes for equality. After White's advance of his d-pawn to d5, my position became hopelessly cramped. It was a miracle that I was able to salvage a draw but once again it reminds me to never give up no matter how hopeless my position looks. A draw by repetition is what saved me in this game. I was happy with how I handled the time pressure. By the way, both of us received zero points for the draw.


I haven't played the Sicilian for a while, preferring the Caro-Kann or Pirc Defence, both of which lead to fairly cramped positions for Black. However, before I start a game I should have a definite idea as to the defence I'm going to adopt if White plays d4. I'll experiment with the French Defence. Remote Chess Academny has this video and another video that discuss the opening. Let's see how I go with this. I'd like to play a game that is free from blunders on my part. There'll be inaccuracies of course.

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