Blown Opportunities

On Saturday I played the first three rounds of the Eastern Washington Open in Spokane with no intention of playing on Sunday as I had told my wife we could watch football together while I smoked some ribs. All of my games were against youth players, presumably underrated. I won two and lost one, causing my rating to go down 12. In every game, the losing player had a decisive advantage at least once during the game. Those blown opportunities are presented below.

My first round opponent finished the event in seventh place with 3.0. He had a draw and win against the other two A Class players whom he faced. Our game was his only loss.

White to move

21.f5!?

Liam played a forcing sequence, although 21.e5 or 21.Ng5 would have offered a more sure route to advantage.

21...Nxe4 22.Nxe4 Qxd2??

22...Nxf5 is equal

White to move

There are four ways to capture the queen.

23.Rxd2??

23.Bxd2 and White has a clear advantage.

The move played allowed me counterplay and a few moves later I had three pawns for a knight. In a minor piece ending with six pawns to three, my opponent erred again and gave up another pawn, then traded one of his bishops for my last piece, giving me an easy four pawns vs. bishop ending.

My second round opponent, Declan Pham, finished in third place with 3.5 and gained 141 rating points, lifting him over 1500, still well below his playing strength. The others with 3.5 were two A Class players and an expert. He beat another A Class player in round three and drew one in the final round. His only loss was to strong A Class player Michael Cambareri in round four.

He took advantage of my passive opening play to seize the initiative with Black, then he won a pawn. Things were looking grim for me, but he overestimated his control of the long diagonal when he snatched a second pawn.

White to move

19.Bb2??

I also overestimated his control of the diagonal. He went on to win a long endgame where I never had a chance except throwing up some smokescreens that obscured his advantage.

19.Qxc3 was a winning move in light of of 19...e4 20.Qe1 Bxa1 (the move that I feared) 21.Bf4! Qe7 22.Qxa1

A bishop and knight for a rook and two pawns is still a material deficit, but Stockfish insists that I would have had a clear advantage. What I might have been able to perceive was that White also gains domination of the dark squares and that makes the Black king somewhat vulnerable.

My third round opponent, John, played a strong game against me in the Inland Classic last February, but I was able to get some initiative against his uncastled king. He remembered that loss and told me before our game, "I learned to castle." "Oh," I said, "so, you are better?" "Yes", he said. "So, you'll beat me?" "Yes." "Good to know."

He had several opportunities to do so.

White to move

My opponent offered a draw. I informed him that the rules required that he make his move first and that I would record the draw offer on my scoresheet.

22.Qc5

22.Bxa6+- wins a pawn and severely weakens my queenside.

He also missed some opportunities earlier in the game to disrupt the coordination of my pieces and pick up some material.

Beginning at move 29 we had a knight ending. The game lasted 83 moves. Along the way, I missed a clear advantage here.

Black to move

40...Kg8

I considered 40...exf5, but neither looked beyond nor accurately assessed the position after 41.Kf4 h4. Black would have had a decisive advantage. The game went on with me pressing for a win without a real advantage. John's last chance to hold the draw came with his 60th move.

White to move

60.Nc5??

Both 60.Nb4 and Kd4 allow White to extinguish Black's remaining pawns with a knight sacrifice.

After 60...Nc4+ 61.Kd4 Nxa5, Black's win is only a matter of time, as White will eventually be forced to give up the knight for one pawn. John's rating also dropped in this event, but he will bounce back. He's getting good experience playing adults and learning from his errors.