I forfeited the game after making a massive miscalculation on this pivotal position. Discuss, propose continuations, analyse.
Here's the game log up to that point if you're curious:
1. c4 Nc6 2. a4 e5 3. Nc3 d6 4. Nf3 Be6 5. d3 Nf6 6. Qb3 Na5
7. Qa2 Nc6 8. Bd2 Qd7 9. Nd5 a5 10. e3 Be7 11. Be2 O-O 12. Qb3 Rfb8
13. Nxf6+ Bxf6 14. Qc2 d5 15. e4 d4 16. h3 h6 17. Nh2 Rf8 18. b3 Bg5
19. O-O Bf4 20. Bxf4 exf4 21. Qd2 f5 22. Qxf4 g5
Quatrarius, binder, wasoxygen (?). Tournament background: you have to make at least 25 moves every hour or you lose the game. Time situation: I had 18 seconds left until the end of the first hour, my opponent had comfortable 8 minutes. Style of my opponent: Despite the game so far, I got hold of some of her earlier games and it leaned toward aggressive development. Mental state: increasingly nagging "I'm going to lose this" combined with "shouldn't have skipped breakfast". OK, so what I did was Here's my reasoning: I thought that the best course for Black would be to follow up with g4 and continue kingside development. It's a very good move which would resolve to 24. hxg4 … Now we have a branch: 24. … fxe4 opens the centre for exchanges and would break the terrible stalemate, which is a type of game that I prefer. 24. … fxg4 is like fxe4, but would be even more decisive. As far as I could calculate it, response/evasion 25. Qg3 wouldn't be a bad position. Alternate responses I calculated were: 23. … Rae8 - gather more material on the kingside, prepare for/deter from centre exchanges. 23. … Re6 - strengthen e lane, possibly move Qe7 next turn and prepare for an aggressive push. 23. … Qf7 - poorer version of the above move that unnecessarily risks queen but isn't strictly bad for positioning. and I got a bunch of branches for each of those moves. Then I got served something that didn't even occur to me: 24. Qh5 Qg7 25. g4 fxe4 Board situation afterwards: Now that I sit in the comfort of my room, it's not completely lost, but it's really, really bad. Queen has no mobility, my defences are separated and I'm likely to lose material trying to prevent the nigh-inevitable promotion on d line. What can I say, I got bested. Time pressure is one thing, but I felt like I'm on the ropes since move 8 or so. Despite everything, it was a good game, if not for any other reason that by being a great example of how volatile chess positions can be. 23. Qf3 23. Qf3 g4 24. … f4 debilitates my position and I'd call it as extremely strong (!!) move. 23. … g4 - block my queen and prepare to make a trap 23. Qf3 Ne5
what a nasty situation you were in i feel like Qd2 would "reset" the situation so to speak with a severe loss of tempo / board control - if i was black i would keep pushing with those pawns afterwards, probs with the f-column pawn but i don't know a damn thing about chess compared to you so i'm interested to see what you would have done if you hadn't forfeited in my amateur chess experience i don't think that's a game-losing move necessarily, but it's a kick in the dick
Qd2 is good. Move from the way of your f/g pawns and let them develop defensively. I'd also follow it up with f-pawn, or consider Ne5. Good intuition! Don't cut yourself short. Qc1 is also a good choice for falling back, but perhaps not as good if you want to pursue a-c lines. Qc1's drawback is the possibility of knight putting pressure on d3 after Nb4 move, which immobilises bishop and shifts position in favour of black even further. However, hindsight is always 20/20. Both of those positions seem very obvious when you aren't pressed for time, something I still struggle mentally. Hah! You gonna laugh so hard once I'll show my blunder and explain why was I even thinking it's a good idea! :D Keeping it secret for a while longer (only a few hours most likely) to see other propositions.but i don't know a damn thing about chess compared to you so i'm interested to see what you would have done if you hadn't forfeited
it depends on your skill level - if you both suck things are less forfeit-worthy because even if you have a giant advantage you can still fuck up as a poor chess player if you're actually skilled at chess it's polite to forfeit when you really screw the pooch because it's dull to play things out when it's a foregone conclusion
That I'm going against the consensus may say something, but I personally like Qg3 better than Qd2. It gives some wiggle room, but doesn't put you completely on the defensive.
OK, so let's play it out from there: IMO, the best response for White is Qf3, but even then there's an immediate response: which puts pressure on king's line and gives two possible counter-moves: 26. Qxg3 Which opens f-line Rook's mobility and allows you to threaten up to f4. or 26. Qe4 Qxe5 Which isn't bad, but essentially forces an exchange of queens while at disadvantage. or and whatever happens, Black e-line Rook takes control of its line. Overall, Qg3 isn't a bad move, but it leads to mobility at cost of position almost as my Qf3 did. It's still better than what I have chosen under pressure, so take it however you want. :) 23. Qg3 f4 24. Qf3 Qg7 25. g4 fxg3 25. e5 Rae8 26. Nxg4 Bxg4
Wait, am I missing something? Wouldn't the response be Black's, since White is the one doing Qg3 (i.e. move 23). If that's the case, the Black queen can't move to f3 directly.
Maybe it should be "IMO, the best followup to Black's pawn to f4 response for White is Qf3, but even then there's an immediate response:" for clarity sake. Each numbered line is a pair of moves (first White, then space, then Black), but I should be more careful. Sorry!
Oh I see. If Black moved f4, I would've done Qg4. You'd lose the queen to the bishop, but if you're losing the queen anyway, this at least creates some coverage for what's left. Because then you could have the knight (on h2 in your original picture) take the bishop. The Black queen could take the knight, but the pawn at h3 would be covering, so that seems like an unlikely exchange.
Nah. Chess is great. It's just the right combination of cunning, strategy and imagination that I don't get in most other (competitive) hobbies, especially now when my RPG group's schedules can't seem to line up for another month in a row. Maybe I'll give Shogi one more try, but I'm likely too far-gone to switch gears between those games. Never tried, or heard much of, Boggle. Speed-based Scrabble where everyone gets the same letters sounds better than most other word games I tried so far.
shogi is lots of fun and very different feeling from chess from a mental perspective - i almost find it easier to forget what i know about chess when playing shogi because the drop/promotion mechanics make things so different plus it's a lot more defensive at the start which i enjoy more - i feel so rushed at the beginning of a chess game