Today I finally surpassed 1600 points in the 10 + 5 rapid section of Lichess. I played two games, the first I won after my opponent left the game early on and in the second I should have lost except my opponent failed to take advantage of the position. Figure 1 shows the progress of the game in which I had the White pieces:
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Figure 1 |
As can be seen for most of the game I was hopelessly lost. I knew I was in trouble. Black had mounted a massive attack with his two Rooks and Queen. Figure 2 shows the crucial moment.
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Figure 2: link to game |
I moved my King to g2 because I wanted to bring my Rook on f1 to h1 to oppose the Black Rook. At this point, I was relieved because, even though Black was about to double up Rooks on the h file, I knew I had time to bring my Rook across and defuse the situation. Black played his Rook on h8 to h7 as I anticipated and all was well. Little did I know that the game was lost. All Black needed to do was to sacrifice his Rook to h2. Even with the computer analysis, it took me a little while to see why this won the game for Black.
So while I may have surpassed 1600 with this badly played game and will continue to improve my rating, my opponents will soon not miss golden opportunities like this one that Black squandered. The moment Black played castled Queenside, I mishandled the position and allowed Black to mount his formidable attack.
