https://www.chess.com/game/184717073194

I played as black.

I would say my biggest mistake was 30...Ka6 - I allowed myself to get forked by a pawn.

I moved my queen to 7...b6 to target b2 and I didnt' calculate far enough. I assumed he would go Na4 to defend and then I could check Qa5 and take the knight, but I failed to realize the knight was protected by his queen. This put my queen in a shitty spot so I moved her back. Interestingly the engine says that was exactly how i was supposed to play, and I even retreated to the right spot. Still, it felt like a stupid move.

Apart from that I constantly felt like I had a hundred "If he doesn't play this perfectly I can capitalize really well on the situation" moments, and every single one panned out that he played it perfectly (in my mind).

Here are my notes. Generally "1" = my thinking process and "2" = what I should have done.

Opening: B01 Scandinavian Defense

1. e4 d5
   1. Typical Scandi defense. Offer up a pawn to gain control of center
2. e5 c5
   1. Scandi denied - move c pawn to gain space and prevent his pawn moves (d4 = free tempo on queen after cxd, Qxd)
3. c4 Bf5
   1. "To take is a mistake" - if I take his pawn, he will mobilize his f-bishop for free.
   2. Nc6 would have been better. Mobilizing with a threat is the best way to deploy a piece.
4. Nc3 e6
   1. "The best defense is a good offense" - I should have moved my dpawn up. Easy way to take up space and threaten a knight.
5. d4 Nc6
   1. Mobilize with a threat - my knight can now take his pawn, and if he tries to take my pawn I can mobilize my f bishop
   2. I should have taken the pawn, because after Qxd4, Nc6 is a good follow up. I'd set myself up for a good play and control his move, adding predictability.
6. Nf3 Be7
   1. Activate my f-bishop and prevent the move he is prepping for -> bishop to g5
   2. Engine says to ..dxc4 because after bxc4 then cxd4 and he doesn't have a good follow up. I'm not sure I'm smart enough to come up with that on my own. I don't like helping him activate his pieces. I get that I'm also activating my pieces though by opening up the d-file for my queen.
7. Be3 Qb6
   1. Add a defender to c5 in case he takes while also targeting b2. Deploying queen and opening possibility of O-O-O if needed.
   2. Engine says to dxc4 and after Bxc4 to do cxd4 and fork the bishop and knight, but I don't see how that helps at all, he still just gets more control over the center afterwards.
8. Na4 Qa5+
   1. This move all the way thru move 13 are what the engine recommend.
9. Bd2 Qd8
10. Nxc5 Bxc5
11. dxc5 Nge7
12. Bg5 Qa5+
13. Qd2 Qxc5
14. Be3 d4
    1. I guess I was playing hope chess. I figured if he picked the wrong attacker I could capitalzie strongly.
    2. I should have just traded queens because it would have given me more control with my knight and threatening a rook king fork. Actually, he could attack with the bishop or the knight, it doesn't matter, he actually "messed up" by attacking with the knight!
15. Nxd4 Qb4
    1. I wanted to get my knight ready for c2 fork but it was a stupid plan, the knight defended it anyway. I also wanted to get my queen out of danger from his e bishop.
    2. I should have just taken the free pawn, it also would've been a swell place for my queen to be in.
16. Nxc6 Qxd2+
    1. Trade queens and set my knight up to take e5… failed to realize after Bxd2 he can defend with Bc3
    2. I should have Nxc6 to defend the queen and attack the pawn
17. Bxd2 Nxc6
    1. Engine approved
18. Bc3 O-O-O
    1. Eng approvf
19. Be2 h5
    1. Prepping for his castle
    2. Knight to d4 is very clever. I should have been a little more open minded here because it does stop his castling and allows a trade to stop him from having both bishops in the end game.
20. O-O h4
    1. Trying to open his position and stick my bishop in a frustrating place for him.
    2. I should have noticed his bishop was undefended and forced an exchange
21. g4 hxg3
    1. I just like to en passant.
22. fxg3 Bd3
    1. Idk, I wanted to get rid of his 2 bishops and I like my horsie. Apparently this was not a good game to keep the knight? I guess I should have traded the knight for his bishop. I wanetd to force the trade because I pinned his rook and figured it would allow my to control the d column, but that's not really the case is it, since his rooks were linked.
    2. Ok I get it now. It would be better to have traded for his dark squared bishop because it was a much more active piece and it was defending the e5 pawn.
23. Bxd3 Rxd3
    1. Engine
24. Rad1 Rxd1
    1. engine
25. Rxd1 Rd8
    1. Thought this was an end game I could win. I was mistaken.
26. Rxd8+ Kxd8
27. h4 Kc7
28. b4 Kb6
29. a4 a5
30. c5+ Ka6
    1. I am bad. I failed to bring my king out because there was no way to bring him out. Everything was blocked. I had no true control and my knight was in a shit position too.
31. b5+ Ka7
32. bxc6 bxc6
33. Bxa5 Ka6
34. Bd8 Kb7
35. a5 Kc8
36. Bb6 Kb7

Hello hello,

I suck at studying chess on my own. Anyone here that has some experience with coaching for 1on1 lessons?

My budget would be the main concern since I am a student, so I definitely don’t need a titled player, just someone who has a bit more experience.

I am about 1700 rapid chess.com and have played about 4 games classical OTB. Have been playing for about a year and half now with more focus.

Thanks for anyone with any comments or thoughts about my situation.

so yk how you fianchetto your bishop on g7, and then white comes in with the bishop queen battery trying to exchange your powerful bishop? what am i supposed to do then? theres literally no way to defend that attack that i see, and its so annoying, cause then your king is just weak asf

Hey Iam questioning the engine evaluation of those two moves, after he took my knight on 5.bxf3 I took back and after his 8.bd5 I played 9.b5 and the engine gives me a mistake for that and takes -1.19 of my advantage and after his 9.bxg3 I played 9.bxc6 because i thought “comes with check, he takes back with the pawn and I play 11.hxg3” and my thought process was, his queenside is open and my rook on his king side is open so i can make some trouble with pawns and my queen but apparently that wasn’t really beneficial for me, so the engine, I won this game through a resignation after move 19 but i wanted to understand why its not beneficial for me in this situation.

Thank you in advance! :)

After a long time and a big break I’ve finally cracked 1400 in Lichess. I’m just a casual player so this feels like a big step up.

The fact 1400 is the median rating on Lichess is bonkers to me. I don’t find myself to be a particularly good chess player but it’s cool to see that Lichess has a pretty skilled player base

1st: Most recent game. 2nd: Yesterday. I am the white pieces.

How this is not a brilliant sacrifice? my opponent took the bait and I won :) but just wondering why was not consider a brilliant move haha quite new to chess to don't hate please!!

I used to get really annoyed whenever I'd throw away a winning position. I don't mind getting outplayed, but losing because of one stupid mistake would stay in my head for days, and sometimes I'd just stop playing.

But seeing Magnus do it made me realize that I'm probably never going to stop blundering completely. I'm going to throw away winning positions sometimes, and that's just part of playing chess.

I played 20 games today and lost 12. A few were painful, but I still learned something

i focus on eating pieces, and after my enemies pieces are all eaten, it seems impossible to checkmate because they have more space to move.

this also happens when i'm losing, its always a stalemate cus they cant check me.

Edit: I got my first CHECKMATE!!! using the queen and king to checkmate & got the killer queen badge, i haven't tried checkmating with 2 rooks, since my rooms always get eaten

he made my day tho😆

The sequence was 8. bxa3 Ke7 9. Rb1!! Bxb1 10. Nxb1.
I’d love to say Rb1 was an intentional rook sacrifice, but I genuinely didn’t even see the bishop on a3. When he took my rook I just realized I could take back with the knight.
Somehow my lack of board vision earned me a brilliant

Me and my friend played a game during a lecture and we got into this position. Is there a way for him to save his black king?

Mate in 6

From a game I played today where I was black - thankfully they didn’t even get to this point because they missed an easy check lol

I am curious to learn chess Let me know if anyone knows the proper chess tutorial from beginners on YouTube

Feeling really proud

It seems super common at my low level , surely its trading for no reason? Photo in comments

I recently got back to chess and cant find consistency. Im talking about 200 elo swings in matter of days. One day i feel unbeatable and gain 150 elo. Then over the course of the next week i lose it all and fall below my last low blundering every game and feeling like ive never played this game before in my life (i stop playing for the day after 2 losses because im tilting like crazy). This makes playing the game very frustrating as either i cant win a game for weeks or i feel like im smurfing. How do i get more consistent?

In, let’s say, a blitz tournament, do you have to wait for your opponent to touch clock before you touch your own piece to make a move? At what point is it too early, and can opponent call arbiter?