The Chess Campaign - Rapid 11 to 20 (364)

[Part of the Chess Campaign]

I think my lesson this time is not to play consecutive games (like these first six are) as it just makes me more and more impatient! Apparently this is called "Tilt"? Gothamchess suggests a things to fix this. One: cap the game count. Play 5 a day then win or lose, just stop. Two: Draw arrows from enemy pieces to help visualize what they can see. Apparently right clicking on chess.com allows that! This also helps stop gut reaction/emotion moves. Third: If you're playing for fun, your chess rating doesn't matter. That's last one is a good one to remember for me... but I'm still going to keep track of it. :P

Notation is I either played (W)hite or (B)lack.

11. Heni0622 (B): e4 e5 open but then I got slaughtered on one side of the board and couldn't stop the rampaging queen that followed. Resigned as I ran out of pieces and was badly outnumbered by pawns (504) down to (468).

12. omar1969omar (W): d4 e5 opening and both sides played stupidly according to the review, but I still managed to play worse and was defeated (468) down to (432)!

13. 17or99 (W): e4 e5 open, and was winning until I foolishly gave my queen away to a pawn! It just went downhill from there. Defeat (432) down to (401).

14. artsinasanat (B): he used an early queen attack and got me quick (in 10 moves)! Yikes (401) down to (374). While that's not a good result it is a learning opportunity for me so off I go to study how to counter that. :P

15. chuckygaywagon (W): I managed to control the center early and goofed with my queen AGAIN. He definitely had me on the back foot at the end game but didn't see a bishop/queen pin with my rook to capture his queen. Then all his other pieces. He offered a draw when he realized he couldn't stop my pawn promotion which I declined, then probably rage quit as he just let his clock run out from 3 minutes instead of resigning. Naturally I flagged him as a bad sport and blocked him. Finally a win (374) up to (397)!

16. gracielle19 (W): I think this was her first game on the site, and while I got control of the center she played really well (like, no mistakes or blunders according to the review) which earned her win. Loss (397) down to (381).

17. horse_battle (W): had me on defense the whole time which was nuts since I was white! That's because I goofed on my second move and didn't take the free pawn which would eventually paralyze my back line. The blinders I have when I get an idea are ridiculous. Comfortable win for him, finishing with a bishop backed queen for checkmate. (381) down to (364).

18. newyorkrangers94 (B): both sides built defenses (he used KID) and then I attacked the center where I'm pretty sure my foe just had a counting error (a big battle took place and he thought he'd come out with more material, but he missed an extra attack frome me). With his forces exhausted I just got him with a rook checkmate on the back row. (364) up to (382).

19. jillwoops (B): used the same early queen attack as artsinasanat (#14 above) but this time I stopped it using the Caro-Kann (both tactics can only be used with that white king's pawn opening). Nice sounding defense and the only one I know basic principles of other than the Albin counter. Feels like this person just uses the trick for fast wins (based on their play history anyway), and resigned on turn 4 seeing they had a fight on their hands. Win (382) up to (401).

20. chicukak (B): from the same country as jillwoops and did the exact same early queen attack opening, which again I stopped using the Caro-Kann. It kinda felt like a continuation of the previous game actually, but once she started losing pieces and saw her worsening position she resigned. Win (401) up to (418).