As it stands I’ve been seriously playing since November 3 2016 when I decided to subscribe to the Diamond membership on chess.com, before that I played a few games here and there only able to use the most basic analysis. I took what I knew about the opening, controlling the center and jumped in to some 10 minute blitz games. My first 3 games were losses against far higher rated players, once my rating was stabilized in the 700-900 range my first game was a success as black.
In this game taking in the spirit of blitz I tried a defense that was odd to me and seemed to break some of the opening rules, Alekhine’s Defense with the Brooklyn variation, moving the knight twice was that rule. I had seen people open with the minor pieces looking to transpose to certain lines with quite the success against me, as a beginning player it felt more comfortable to have pawns charge into the center. Both me and my opponent played very sub-par leaving pieces hanging and position undefended however a comeback in my first win as Black felt great.
Even with the success of the Brooklyn variation I had this very first win I never considered playing this line again and never dove into the main lines of the defense.
[White “GreenCactus1”]
[Black “Jtrot79”]
[WhiteElo “752”]
[BlackElo “936”]
[Date “2016.11.01”]
1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Ng8 3.Nf3 d5 4.d4 Nc6 5.Bb5 a6 6.Ba4 b5 7.Bb3 f6 8.Nc3 Bg4 9.Bxd5 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 Rb8 11.Bxc6+ Kf7 12.Qh5+ g6 13.Qf3 Qxd4 14.Ne2 Qxe5 15.Bf4 Qxb2 16.Qd5+ Kg7 17.O-O Qxc2 18.Nd4 Qc4 19.Qxc4 bxc4 20.Rfc1 h5 21.Rxc4 g5 22.Bxc7 Rc8 23.Bf3 Rh6 24.Ne6+ Kf7 25.Re1 g4 26.Be4 Kxe6 27.f3 f5 28.Bd3+ Kf7 29.Bxf5 Rf6 30.Be6+ Rxe6 31.Rxe6 Kxe6 32.h3 Kd7 33.Bf4 Rxc4 34.Be3 Bh6 35.Bxh6 Nxh6 36.hxg4 Rc1+ 37.Kf2 Rc2+ 38.Kg3 Rxa2 39.gxh5 Nf5+ 40.Kg4 e6 41.Kf4 Rxg2 42.h6 Nxh6 43.Ke3 a5 44.Kd3 a4 45.Kc3 Rg3 46.Kb4 Rxf3 47.Kxa4 e5 48.Kb4 e4 49.Kc4 Rd3 50.Kb4 Kd6 51.Kb5 e3 52.Kb6 e2 53.Kb7 e1=Q 54.Kb6 Qc1 55.Kb7 Rb3+ 56.Ka8 Qa1# 0-1
(A brief annotation of my first game and what I imagine I was thinking)
1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Ng8 [With this move I only sought to throw my opponent off and perhaps a push to e6 with dxe6 taking an early advantage]
3.Nf3 d5 [Playing for tricks which I felt a lower opponent might fall into with exd6 and pressing for center control after the recapture]
4.d4 Nc6 5.Bb5 a6 6.Ba4 b5 [All standard developing moves and looking to make the bishop retreat while opening the queen side]
7.Bb3 f6 [Certainly not the best move, I believe I wanted to remove a pawn from the center and develop my knight with recapture. E6 would have been better allowing my bishop means to get into the game]
8.Nc3 Bg4 [A bad move, I couldn’t see the pressure on d6 between the knight and bishop, I focused on developing too much and watched to many video about attacking and pinning knights]
9.Bxd5 Bxf3 [Having something taken from me I immediately wanted to take something back even if it was leaving that piece hanging]
10.Qxf3 Rb8 [With this move I looked to unpin the knight from the rook, leaving the knight hanging in the process]
11.Bxc6+ Kf7 12.Qh5+ g6 13.Qf3 Qxd4 14.Ne2 Qxe5 [My opponent had sent his Queen in only to be kicked out, in doing this he left the d4 pawn hanging which upon capture targeted the weak e5 pawn wiping out his center, by only attacking the Queen the e5 pawn fell]
15.Bf4 Qxb2 16.Qd5+ Kg7 [e6 would have clearly been a better move allowing for a slightly safer king]
17.O-O Qxc2 18.Nd4 Qc4 19.Qxc4 bxc4 [A Queen trade for me in this situation was in my favor]
20.Rfc1 h5 [e5 is something I missed and I’ve learned to always look for now a days, anytime a pawn can fork two minor pieces it’s generally a good idea]
21.Rxc4 g5 22.Bxc7 Rc8 [Seeing so many pieces on one file felt like a good idea to put a rook there and try to pick something up]
23.Bf3 Rh6 24.Ne6+ Kf7 25.Re1 g4 26.Be4 Kxe6 [I saw a piece which it’s defender had been blocked, now the prospect of a discover check and series of forced moves to mate would put me off from doing such things]
27.f3 f5 28.Bd3+ Kf7 29.Bxf5 Rf6 30.Be6+ Rxe6 31.Rxe6 [Here my opponent missed a hanging rook and opted for a check instead, this was the turning point of the game as the recapture of rooks would leave me a piece up]
…Kxe6 32.h3 Kd7 33.Bf4 Rxc4 [A clear blunder as the rook is left hanging, presumably trying to save losing the bishop in trade]
34.Be3 Bh6 35.Bxh6 Nxh6 [Looking to trade pieces off with the advantage I have now]
36.hxg4 Rc1+ 37.Kf2 Rc2+ 38.Kg3 Rxa2 39.gxh5 Nf5+ 40.Kg4 e6 41.Kf4 Rxg2 42.h6 Nxh6 [I wanted to take care of any loose ends and ensure there wouldn’t be any pawn pushes]
43.Ke3 a5 44.Kd3 a4 45.Kc3 Rg3 46.Kb4 Rxf3 47.Kxa4 e5 48.Kb4 e4 49.Kc4 Rd3 50.Kb4 Kd6 51.Kb5 e3 52.Kb6 e2 53.Kb7 e1=Q 54.Kb6 Qc1 55.Kb7 Rb3+ 56.Ka8 Qa1# 0-1 [A very standard end game with the Queen and Rook roll enabled by a rook cutting the King off from the passed pawn]
A Journey of 64 Squares 