Thursday, May 05, 2005
A Drawn Game
I played at FICS yesterday, and saw harmless there (Hello harmless). He defeated me too =<, and also lost the next game against a 1400++ player. Talk about embarassment. So that loss brought my losing streak to 10. My rating is now down to 1640. I'm now on a slump I said to myself as I posted another seek. This time I played against an 1850 opponent, and we came to this position

White(nezha) to move

This is a won position. I am ahead two pawns and black has no winning chances here. The most he can hope for is a draw. He was down to two minutes too. I was trying to decide on whether to simplify first into a favorable endgame, or try to create a passed pawn first, then simplifying. I was strongly leaning towards Bc2 or Qc2, when my opponent offered a draw. Look, I knew I was winning here, and that barring me from doing anything stupid, he can't stop the inevitable. So what did I do with the draw offer? I accepted it. Dope! I coped out. But, psychologically, it was too much pressure for me. I mean, I would have done anything to break that ten game losing streak. The extra rating points were nice too, and so I took the easy way out.

Man, I should have tried to go for the whole point. Now, this position keeps popping in my head. I missed a golden opportunity to win, and now I keep getting distracted.

--
Status Report
Circle 4: I made an extra pass for Chapter 5: Opening of line (#313-381). This time I went thru it in an hour as I still remember most of the solutions. Starting chapter 6 today.
 
posted by Nezha at 6:34 PM | Permalink |


5 Comments:


  • At 5:13 AM, Blogger Christian

    My strategy would have been: force queen exchange, then create passed pawns on both sides to enhance the advantage of having the long range weapon. And, frankly, among friends, let me say this: Just play and have fun, be less concerned about wins, losses and rating points!

     
  • At 5:38 AM, Blogger bahus

    I considered also Bc2 that would protect both pawns. I didn't any ideas to turn the game into a win so I put the position into Fritz (lazy me).

    Fritz has an analysis tool called Shootout where Fritz plays a position by itself.

    1. Bc2 Qe1+ and black takes the pawn after Qe5+ so Fritz likes Kh2 best because a pawn is lost but now bishop is on a good diagonal.

    Fritz analyzed each move for 17 ply (about 10 minutes) and conclusion was a draw.

    [FEN "8/6pk/5n2/p4P1p/2Q5/1B5P/PP3qP1/7K w - - *"]
    1. Kh2 Qxb2 2. Qf4 a4 3. Bf7 a3 4. Bg6+ Kh8 5. Qd6 Qxa2 6. Qf8+ Qg8 7. Qxa3 Qb8+ 8. Qg3 Qb4 9. Qc7 h4 10. Qd8+ Ng8 11. Bf7 Qf4+ 12. Kg1 Qc1+ 13. Kf2 Qc5+ 14. Ke1 Qg1+ 15. Kd2 Qxg2+

    With two humans the game could have gone ether way. Especially if one of them was in time trouble. If I had been playing white I probably would have also accepted the draw offer.

    - bahus

     
  • At 6:49 AM, Blogger Nezha

    To jens:
    I entered this on the playing program I use - der bringer and just capture the screen, then save into GIF file. then use the "image" tag to load

    To Bahus:
    >Fritz analyzed each move for 17 ply (about 10 minutes) and conclusion was a draw.
    Yes, I do not have that much technique so it maybe a draw. BUT - the important thing here is that there is no chance of me losing, and every chance of him going wrong and me winning (Especially since he is in time trouble, and I am not)

     
  • At 8:01 AM, Blogger Temposchlucker

    You often drag the games of yesterday with you. When I have taken to much risk yesterday, today I accept quicker a draw. When I drawed too much yesterday, I'm starting to force things today. If you have a long series of lost games, it is totally normal to accept an early draw of a stronger opponent.
    The next time you will not and blunder the game away. . .

    It costed me a lot of courage in the past to play gambits, in normal life I never take a risk.
    I hope I have some day the courage to never accept or offer a draw. At least during the time I study endgames.

     
  • At 6:23 AM, Blogger Margriet

    You did not tell how much time left for you. When there is plenty of time you can go for the win. But in this game it was speculative. I think a draw was great!