\[Site "Chess.com"\]

\[Date "2026-08-28"\]

\[White redacted\]

\[Black Sparks Reborn\]

\[Result "1/2-1/2"\]

\[WhiteElo "1188"\]

\[BlackElo "1080"\]

\[TimeControl "900+10"\]

Enjoy the chaos if you're just here to watch the clip but if there's anyone with enough spare time in their hand that they want to give me their thoughts by all means do.

Also feel free to roast me a bit I'm not too sensitive and I made plenty of mistakes I kind of deserve it a little bit.

Despite that my opponent is rated 1,200 ish. And I'm rated just a little over 1,000 so I'm happy with the overall result.

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 Nf6 {Opening: B01: Scandinavian Defense: Main Line, Mieses Variation} 5. Bd2?! {Best: Nf3} Bg4 6. f3 {I brought the bishop forward bating the pawn. Had he jumped his night forward I would have made use of the PIN. And possibly traded but most likely would have preserved the bishop.} Bf5 7. Ne4? {Best: Nge2} Qb6 8. Nxf6+?! {I debated whether or not to take with the queen or the pawn either G or E I ultimately decided to take with the G pawn because I'm more familiar with that pawn structure.} {Best: Bd3} gxf6 9. Bc3 Nd7? {Best: Nc6} 10. Bd3 {I decide to trade Bishops here. I'm familiar with that trade in other variations. However I suspect rocking the bishop back was the better choice looking back on the game. Trading on his terms allowed him to get more natural development which put me on the defensive. Post engine analysis my second opinion is correct rocking back does give me slightly better position. And requires him to spend the tempo to take. It gets me closer to equalizing} Bxd3? (10... Bg6?!) {Best: Qe6+} 11. Qxd3 O-O-O 12. Ne2 Ne5 {This moment I had considered jumping the night forward exploiting the pin on the Pawn. Believing I could get my night forward and possibly exchange off his bishop or even possibly forking the king and Rook on C7. However I did not think through his responses. If i had I might not have wasted the the time because even though his Queen has to move he immediately wins back the tempo with a check.} 13. Qf5+ e6? {This was a one move mistake which put some serious pressure on me he did not fully exploit it. I played E6 to attack the queen without considering the fact that it leaves my F6 Pawn hanging given that I'm going to have to reroute the knight anyways it was a significantly better option to block with the knight to block on D7. After that I could have attacked with Pawn if I wanted.} {Best: Nd7} 14. Qxf6 Ng6 15. Qg5?! {Best: Qxf7} Be7? {There was good coordination between my knight and Bishop here which allowed need to kick the queen out of my territory alleviating some of the pressure.} {Best: Rg8} 16. Qa5 {At this point I chose to trade the Queens because I was getting low on time and I calculated Queen takes Bishop takes B6 pushes Bishop back and I felt like I was in a slightly better position I'd be able to wall off the bishop on the queen side if need be and possibly launch an attack on the king side. However I didn't have time to fully look into it.} Qxa5 17. Bxa5 {Engine analysis shows that the computer really wants me to jump the night to h4. The reason appears to be because I'm threatening the G Pawn his best defense is apparently with his King stepping forward. Because castling risks running into Rhg8. And if G3 ever happens it hangs F3 to the knight. I never even considered this move nor did I see it. Combined with the mistake of pushing the pawn it is clear I needed to spend more time looking at candidate moves here.} b6?! (17... Nh4 18. Kf2 (18. g3?) (18. O-O Rhg8) 18. g3?

2. O-O Rhg8

3. g3?

4. O-O Rhg8) {Best: Nh4} 18. Bc3 e5? {I made this move thinking that the knight could take the the pawn back if he takes and if he doesn't take I could take putting pressure on his Bishop that was a mistake. I am in effect just giving him a free Pawn. I could have prepared this Pawn break with F6 I also had a another Pawn break on C5 however I think taking some time to reposition was the better option I significantly weakened my Pawn structure here which was already fractured.} {Best: Nh4} 19. O-O? {Best: dxe5} exd4 20. Nxd4 Bc5 {I pinned the knight hoping to exploit it and be able to win it however I don't know that I had enough material developed to fully exploit this pin he's able to bring the Rook to support. I brought the knight forward to threaten a fork of his King and pieces to further attack this pin however he saw my plan and I wasn't able to properly win the material. But I do managed to stay even due in part to his mistake.} 21. Rfd1 Nf4?! {Best: Nh4} 22. Kh1 Bxd4 23. Rxd4 Ne2 (23... Rxd4 24. Bxd4 Ne2?? (24... Rd8? 25. Be3) (24... Re8) 24... Ne2?? 24... Rd8? 25. Be3 24... Re8

24... Ne2??

24... Rd8? 25. Be3

24... Re8) 24. Rxd8+ Rxd8 25. Re1? {Best: Be1} Nxc3 {I take the bishop here because I recognize that he has two chains of three Pawns and I figured if I was going to have any chance of winning the end game I needed to disrupt at least one of them that decision is the only reason this game goes as well as it did.} 26. bxc3 Kb7? {I brought my king off the back rank wanting to protect against any checks and just keep him safe however I believe this was too slow I needed to bring my Rook up to the second rank immediately. well he has a check it doesn't amount to anything and after I sidestep it I would be threatening Checkmate so he'd have to just come right back. At best it's wasted Tempo at worse he may have found a way to punish me.} {Best: Rd2} 27. h3? {Best: h4} Rd2 28. Rc1? {Best: Re7} Kc6 {Here I recognized that this game would be one or Lost based on these pawns and I needed to get my king over to his dominant side quickly using my Rook to threaten his Pawns and keep his Rook on defense was my idea I was low on time however and did not fully calculate.} 29. Kh2 Kd5 30. Kg3 Ke5?! {Best: c5} 31. f4+ {I believe that this Pawn push checking my king is actually a mistake it lets my king get into his territory too far and his King can't come to support without losing a pawn.} Kf5 32. Kf3 h5 33. g4+ {I pushed my H5 specifically to protect against this kind of attack it seems to have been enough. I suspect his best bet was to try to get counterplay on the queen side and was focusing most of my attention on that.} hxg4+ 34. hxg4+ Kg6 35. Ke3 Rg2 36. Kf3 Rd2 {I had wondered if he was going to make a draw at this point but he didn't which gave me time. The shuffling put time back on my clock and gave me time to make moves of my own.} 37. a3 f5 38. Ke3 {I push my pawn and had thought he would simply take I would take back and now my king and his King are protecting his last Pawn on the side of the board and his work is tied up protecting his Queen side pawns and I was hoping I'd be able to push my pawns to break through. However he chose to attack my Rook} Rg2 39. g5 c5 40. a4 Rg3+ 41. Kd2? {Best: Kf2} Rf3 {After a little bit of repositioning I was able to get into a position where I I was going to be able to win at least one Pawn. It is probably in these few turns where I had the best chances in the end game. Though I think the best I could have gotten was a draw provided my opponent plays well which they did.} 42. Ra1?! {Best: Re1} Rxf4 43. a5 {I had seen this move and already to do b5 and if he attacked the b5 with his Rook followed up with a6 which is exactly what will happen. However I was not prepared for him to bring his Rook over.} b5?? {Despite my believing this was actually my best move it is actually a blunder. Because this allows for me to be hit with the Rook coming back around to attack from the rear. The suggested line from the engine eliminates that by better placing my own pieces and forcing white to respond to me.} (43... Re4 44. axb6 axb6 45. Rb1 Re6 46. Rf1 Kxg5) {Black missed a tactic to win 1 points. Best: Re4} 44. Rb1 a6 45. Re1! {He clearly wishes to check me on E6 winning the a pawn. I chose to take G5. I had looked at Rook to E4 offering the trade his work takes my Pawn takes I take his G Pawn. King E3. I did not have time to fully calculate if I was able to get back and block him from my Pawn chain. However it looks like the following would have happened. Re4 rxe4 kg5 ke3 kf5 after which I am completely winning. I missed that. My mistake here was not properly calculating it I got to the point where his King comes forward and decided that that felt like I was losing without taking the two seconds to calculate that I actually am in time. I believe I was still low on time and my visualization of this moment was not the best my calculation failed.} Kxg5 46. Re6! Rf2+ 47. Kc1 Rf4 {I decided to give a check before coming back. because heading to A4 Now does not actually stop him from taking the pawn. But I had hoped that after he takes depending on where his Rook goes I might be able to get out and back into the game by rerouting with another check.} 48. Rxa6 Ra4 49. Rc6 Rxa5 50. Rxc5 Kg4 51. Kd2 f4 52. c4 {Here I calculated that he would take with the pawn and be pinned giving me time to get my Pawn to the end. he didn't so I recalculated and found that I win the race but he promotes a check and after that I was sold on the idea of a draw.} Kg3 53. Rxb5 Rxb5? (53... Ra8 54. Rg5+ Kf2 55. c5 f3 56. Rf5 Rc8 {This variation maintains better chances. However I did not calculate out anything other than whether or not I could secure the draw at this point I fully believed that a draw was the best I can do.}) {Best: Ra8} 54. cxb5 f3 55. b6! f2 56. b7! f1Q 57. b8Q+ Kg4 58. Qg8+ Kh5 59. Qh7+?! {Best: Qd5+} Kg5 60. Qe7+? {Best: Qg7+} Qf6?? {I choose to trade here because I recognized that I was close enough to stop his last Pawn and secure the draw. Engine analysis calls this a blunder. However I cannot see why? It seems if we both play perfectly for a very long time white isn't able to make progress if I preserve the Queens. I don't think at my level it is reasonable to call this a blunder.} (60... Kg6 61. Qe6+ Kg7 62. Kc3 Qc1 63. Qf5 Qa3+ 64. Kd4 Qa4+ 65. Kd3 Qa1 66. Qc8 Qd1+ 67. Kc3 Kf6 68. Qa6+ Ke7 69. Qa7+ Kf8) {Black will be mated in 21. Best: Kg6} 61. Qxf6+ Kxf6 62. Kd3 Ke5 63. c4?? {Best: Kc4} Kd6 64. Kd4 Ke7?? {The reason I step to E7 is because I realized if he pushes his Pawn I can go to d8 getting distance opposition securing the draw if however he steps his King forward I can step to D7 securing opposition. Post analysis addition. I thought this was a clever move but in reality it just lets him win because he's able to get his King in front of his Pawn. And shoulder me out of the way ensuring that he always has opposition. I need to keep it simple and get in front of the pond and just float backwards.} (64... Kc6) {Best: Kc6} 65. Kd5?? {Apparently though I believed I had to draw secured Kc5 wins for white.} {Best: Kc5} Kd7! 66. c5 Kc7! 67. Ke5 Kc6 68. Kd4 Kc7 69. Kd5 Kd7! 70. Ke5 Kc6 71. Kd4 Kc7 72. Kd5 Kd7! 73. c6+ Kc7 (73... Kc8 74. Ke6 Kc7) 74. Kc5 Kc8! 75. Kd6 Kd8! 76. Ke6 Kc7 77. Kd5 Kc8! 78. Kd6 Kd8! 79. Kc5 Kc7 80. Kb5 Kc8! 81. Kb6 Kb8! 82. Kc5 Kc7 83. Kd5 Kc8! 84. Kd6 {We did the pawn Tango for longer than I would have thought he'd keep it up he even tried to trick me by going to the other side but I know how to secure this draw and was able to do just that.}

A notated training game for anyone interested in how a bad players thinks during a game