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Earlier in the week, I played against Magnus Carlson on chess.com. Ha ha, not really. It was just a player who used a photo of the world champion as their profile picture. I played two rapid games, 30 min games, against my opponent and these were good fun games. I played well, except where I didn’t, and unfortunately for me, that made all the difference.

The takeaway I had from playing against my opponent was that they were probably stronger than me in ability, and that I simply wasn’t playing at my best when tired after work. In the first game where I played white, the strength of the Vienna game is well demonstrated by how I quickly dominated the position. Even with a series of errors and inaccurate play, I still had the upper hand, even though the opponent’s excellent play eroded my advantage in the middlegame. Unfortunately, the egregious blunder at the end saw my advantage evapourate back to equality and we drew. In the second game, we were effectively equal in the Italian game, until another silly blunder on my part saw me mindlessly hang my knight. You win some, and you lose some! I hope this video helped you reflect on your own games and play, and thanks for watching!

Game 1: https://www.chess.com/game/live/31908004577

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.11.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "nangho"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C25"]
[WhiteElo "1169"]
[BlackElo "1200"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[EndTime "23:16:15 PST"]
[Termination "Game drawn by agreement"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bb4 4. Qg4 Qf6 5. Nd5 Qg6 6. Qxg6 hxg6 7. Nxc7+ Kd8 8. Nxa8 Nd4 9. Kd1 b5 10. Bxf7 Bb7 11. c3 Bxe4 12. f3 Nc2 13. Rb1 Ne3+ 14. dxe3 Bxb1 15. cxb4 Kc8 16. Bxg6 Bxg6 17. b3 Ne7 18. Bb2 Nc6 19. Bc3 Kb7 20. f4 Be4 21. Nh3 Bxg2 22. Rg1 Bf3+ 23. Kc1 Rxh3 24. Rxg7 Kxa8 25. fxe5 Rxh2 26. Rxd7 Rxa2 27. e6 Re2 28. e7 Rxe3 29. Rd8+ Kb7 30. e8=Q Rxc3+ 31. Kb2 Nxd8 32. Qd7+ Rc7 33. Qxd8 Rc8 34. Qe7+ Rc7 35. Qe3 Bc6 1/2-1/2

Game 2: https://www.chess.com/game/live/31909194905

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.11.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "nangho"]
[Black "vitualis"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C50"]
[WhiteElo "1207"]
[BlackElo "1162"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[EndTime "23:27:27 PST"]
[Termination "nangho won by checkmate"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 Nf6 5. Be3 Bxe3 6. fxe3 d6 7. O-O O-O 8. Ng5 Bg4 9. Qe1 Qd7 10. Nd2 Be6 11. Nxe6 fxe6 12. Nf3 d5 13. exd5 exd5 14. Bb3 Rae8 15. e4 Na5 16. Qxa5 a6 17. exd5 Nxd5 18. Bxd5+ Kh8 19. Bxb7 Rxf3 20. Bxf3 Qd4+ 21. Kh1 Qxb2 22. Be4 Qxc2 23. Qxa6 Qe2 24. Qc6 Qb2 25. Qxe8# 1-0