A Game of Many Blunders

I haven't made any blog posts for over a month, mostly because I have been extremely busy at work but also because I have been despondent about my recent poor play. Ironically, the next four games I will be posting (including this one) are all games that I won but I then lost two terrible games in December, both from positions that were clearly better, if not winning, for me.

On November 24, a few days before Thanksgiving, I played my friend Miguel Acosta (rated 1757) in the sixth and final round of the Fall Challenge in Arcadia. Miguel and I often play racquetball together on Friday mornings but we had never played chess against one another. As I had not played Miguel before, I wasn't sure which openings he played or even really his style of play. It turned out that we both played quite poorly, missing numerous "best" moves and opportunities, before Miguel finally hung a couple of pieces (though I accidentally gave one back at the end!). Miguel was white and I was black. I also showed parts of this game to GM Jesse Kraai and I have paraphrased some of his comments below.

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.c3 g6 4.g3 b6?!

Not terrible but not the best either. Jesse said I should have just played 4. ... cxd4, a move Fritz agrees with.

 5.Bg2 Bb7 6.0–0 Bg7 7.Bf4 d6 8.Nbd2 0–0 9.Nh4?

This is rather dubious from white and effectively gives black a tempo. After a trade on g2, white is going to "owe" black a move (a tempo) in order to reactivate his knight.

9. ... Bxg2 10.Nxg2 cxd4 11.cxd4 Nc6 12.Nf3 Rc8 13.Rc1 Qd7 14.Qd2 Rfe8?!

For the last five or six moves I have, amazingly, been playing Fritz's first choices. Most of the moves were fairly obvious, though. Indeed, white has also played some nice, natural moves. The position before black's 14th move was slightly in black's favor but 14. ... Rfe8  was not the best. Jesse said I should have just played 14. ... Ne4  followed by 15. ... d5. Perfectly natural looking moves, right? I am not sure why I didn't play them. I know I saw 14. ... Ne4  and, remembering back to the game, I think I wanted to bring all my pieces into play first. However, it's not totally clear if my rook wants to be on d8 or e8 yet, so why commit it?

15.Bh6 Bh8

An interesting moment. Fritz says that this is a blunder by black and that I should have played 15. ... Bxh6 16. Qxh6 Qe6!, hitting two of white's pawns at once. However, I think allowing white's queen to get to h6 (and then potentially a knight to g5) looks very unnatural. A computer doesn't feel any nerves and will go into this type of position and grind out a win but, for a human, that is very difficult to do psychologically.

16.Qg5 Qg4 17.Qd2 Ne4 18.Qd3 Nf6 19.Nf4 e5!

Jesse said I could have played this earlier and it would have still been good. Indeed, Fritz says that e5 is black's best move on both moves 16 and 17. Better late than never!

20.dxe5 dxe5 21.Nd5??

A horrible blunder that costs Miguel a piece. White had to play 21. Qb5, hitting the knight on c6. Fritz puts black up more than half a pawn still after 21. Qb5 exf4 22. Rxc6 Rxc6 23. Qxc6 fxg3 24. hxg3 Rxe2  but that would have been better for white than tossing a piece.

21. ... e4 22.Qc3??

Another unfortunate blunder. Miguel must have just forgotten that his knight on d5 was en prise. The game is now over.

22. ... Nxd5 23.Qc4 Qh5 24.Ng5 Nce7 25.Qxe4 Qxh6 26.Rxc8 Rxc8 27.h4 Bxb2 28.Qf3 Qg7 29.e4 Nf6 30.Qf4 Nh5 31.Qd2 Qd4 32.Qe2 Qg7 33.Qd2 Bf6?

A blunder in time trouble. Now my knight has no escape square. Strangely, Fritz doesn't think my move was that bad and still rates the position as only half a pawn worse than if I hadn't trapped my own knight at -7.5.

34.g4 Bxg5 35.hxg5 Ng3 36.fxg3 Qe5 37.Kh2 Qxe4 38.Rc1 Rxc1 39.Qxc1 Qxg4 40.Qe3 Qe6 41.Qf4 Qxa2+ 42.Kh3 Qe6+ 43.Kh2 a5 44.Qb8+ Kg7 45.Qd8 Nf5 46.Qd3 Qe5 47.Kh3 Qxg3+ 0–1

Here is the full game score:

Acosta,Miguel (1757) - Hayes,Matthew (2133) [A49]

Arcadia Fall Challenge Arcadia (6), 24.11.2014

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.c3 g6 4.g3 b6 5.Bg2 Bb7 6.0–0 Bg7 7.Bf4 d6 8.Nbd2 0–0 9.Nh4 Bxg2 10.Nxg2 cxd4 11.cxd4 Nc6 12.Nf3 Rc8 13.Rc1 Qd7 14.Qd2 Rfe8 15.Bh6 Bh8 16.Qg5 Qg4 17.Qd2 Ne4 18.Qd3 Nf6 19.Nf4 e5 20.dxe5 dxe5 21.Nd5 e4 22.Qc3 Nxd5 23.Qc4 Qh5 24.Ng5 Nce7 25.Qxe4 Qxh6 26.Rxc8 Rxc8 27.h4 Bxb2 28.Qf3 Qg7 29.e4 Nf6 30.Qf4 Nh5 31.Qd2 Qd4 32.Qe2 Qg7 33.Qd2 Bf6 34.g4 Bxg5 35.hxg5 Ng3 36.fxg3 Qe5 37.Kh2 Qxe4 38.Rc1 Rxc1 39.Qxc1 Qxg4 40.Qe3 Qe6 41.Qf4 Qxa2+ 42.Kh3 Qe6+ 43.Kh2 a5 44.Qb8+ Kg7 45.Qd8 Nf5 46.Qd3 Qe5 47.Kh3 Qxg3+ 0–1