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.

Meeting Blunder With Blunder

Even though I ended up winning this game, I missed a wonderful opportunity when Black blundered. This is shown in Figure 1 where I thought I'd blundered by allowing my Queen and Bishop to be forked by the Black pawn.

Figure 1

I captured the pawn with my Bishop, reasoning that I'd at least get two pawns for my lost piece. However, this was a blunder because capturing with the Knight leads to a catastrophe for Black if he captures my Knight. The Black King is brutally exposed and must block the Bishop's protection of the Knight. See Figure 2.

Figure 2

I totally missed this unfortunately but it goes to show how great opportunities can be missed. I'm currently rated at 1464 after two wins and one loss for the day.

French Defence Victory

After a disastrous game with White where I lost 12 rating points, I played a good game with Black using the French Defence which I've decided to use consistently against White's e4. I made no blunders and only one inaccuracy on the very last move, after which White resigned. I was a little annoyed that my last move was deemed an inaccuracy. However, looking at Figure 1, I can see why.

Figure 1

The recommended move was Nexd2 and not the Ng3+?! that I played almost instantly because it forks Black's King and Rook. However, by eliminating the White Bishop on d2, the second Knight on c4 is ready to move to d3 and fork the King and Queen. The lesson to be learned here is to not jump at the first opportunity that presents itself. As in this case, there was a better opportunity in the position and I had plenty of time to consider it as I was not under any time pressure. 

White was clearly uncomfortable with the French Defence and that set me up for a relatively easy victory against a slightly higher rated opponent. My accuracy was an impressive 95%. Here is a link to the game. After watching Magnus Carlson blunder in his Round 3 Armageddon game against Yu Wei, I felt a little better knowing even the number one player in the world can miscalculate. Figure 2 shows my single blunder is the previous game where I lost 12 rating points.

Figure 2

Instead of passively retreating my Bishop to d7, the recommended move was c5 challenging the centre. White should have taken the Bishop with his Knight but instead retreated his Bishop to d3 which the computer deemed a mistake. Here is a link to the game.