Always Check for Check

Here's an example of how quickly one's fortune can turn in a game of chess. Figure 1 shows a position in which I had the Black pieces and had a decisive advantage.

Figure 1

Had I played Qc5+ my advantage would have been - 4.73. Instead I panicked and played Rf1+ and my advantage was suddenly a disadvantage of + 5.63 had White captured with his King. As it was he captured with his Rook and I had some counterplay. See Figure 2.

Figure 2

The lesson to be learned here is to always look for a check, especially when faced with a Knight fork. A check cannot be ignored. It must be dealt with by the opponent, by moving the King, capturing the attacker or by blocking with my pawn or piece. Currently my rating on chess.com is 1329, down from a recent high of 1353. I seem to be stuck around the middle 1300's. It's rare that I'm on the back foot right from the start. In most of my games, I have a decisive advantage at some point but manage to squander due to poor choices or blunders.

It occurred to me how little chess I actually play. I'm hardly battle-hardened and I need to be if I'm going to improve my rating. I play terribly on a phone but I should make use of the chess app that is on my phone or even open a new account on one of the online platforms where I can just play, get extra practice and not worry about my rating.

Missed Opportunity

Today I won another game and am now at my highest rating ever (1487) but I did miss an opportunity which the computer analysis flagged as a blunder but is more properly termed a missed opportunity I think. After all, my position was was still fine after the move that I made (b5). Figure 1 shows the situation. I should have played 11 ... Nxd4 and if 12. Nxd4 then 12 ... Qb4+ winning the Knight.

Figure 1: link to game

The lesson to be learned though is to always keep on eye on a King that's exposed in the centre of the board. I saw that the d pawn was protected by the Knight and didn't look any further. In the game that followed White spent too long on his moves and abandoned the game with less than a minute left on his clock. Two more wins and I should climb above 1500 which will be satisfying.