Game Analysis #8: Survival Mode

Final position, 1-0

This next game was an unrated one so it explains a lot why I was more daring and reckless than the previous games but I think this can also be an instructive game despite the obvious misgivings. Right off the bat, I played unusual moves in the opening and it brought me to a big disadvantage against my opponent although there was a seeming normalcy that went on at some point in the game but it quickly dissipated when I made several miscalculations or just didn't see the threats that my opponent could launch any minute.


Everything went downhill for me at move 13, when I made a mistake. The move 13...a6 was wrong in that position because as it is shown in the analysis above, it would lose a piece since the bishop has no breathing room but my opponent didn't see that, instead he tried to reinforce the move c5 even though he had enough preparation to do it right away.

14...Nf5 was also a strange move but perhaps I saw the threat of c5 and responded accordingly however, the placement of the knight was poor to say the least. I haven't really learned how to retreat before so I didn't think about Nc8. Perhaps a more active response could have been dxc4 but I felt that my pieces are still cramped and there is an impending pawn push on the king side in the future.

After Nf5 and e4, I made another miscalculation. Instead of taking the pawn, I moved the knight which gave way to a fork on my bishop and knight, losing a piece. I tried to compensate by sacrificing my knight to gain a pawn but this would prove to be in vain. Thankfully, my opponent would return the favor later on and sacrifice his knight for a pawn. This almost evens the playing field even though my opponent has a positional advantage.

The next big moment in the game was move 25. My opponent continued to press forward and open up my king and I gave him just that. When I analyzed that moment however, I found that I had a nifty resource up my sleeve. Instead of c6, inviting a discovered check and winning a rook, I should have simply taken off the d-pawn. The result of my analysis showed that Black had chances although with best play from White, I think at best Black could just be slightly worse but no longer losing.

Over the course of playing a lot of chess, I have learned how to thrive in survival mode, looking for the best defensive resource at my disposal. It seems that because of my reckless playing style, I would need to push myself to defend a lot and finding myself in a lot of tight positions, I have learned how to continue fighting until the very end. It taught me how to be tenacious and creative in order for me to look for ways to escape and hopefully, turn the tables around if my opponent would make a mistake. However, it would still be better to make solid moves that would improve your position or at the very least, just wait through prophylaxis to see what your opponent wants to do.