Game Against Chess.com Maximum Bot using Turbo Eval #1

Below is the game:

Overall, I'm not all that frustrated with how I performed. I had a post game accuracy of 90%, with 3 inaccuracies, 1 mistake, and 2 blunders. The computer played with 95% accuracy according to the lichess analysis. Below is some key moments from the game:

On move 7, I played e5, which was a mistake, that was realized when the computer played 8. Qe2. In the end, I couldn't defend the pawn. I was decently sure that I had seen e5 somewhere within my opening preparation, but then again, maybe I shouldn't be relying heavily on preparation I did almost a year ago. What this showed me is that I need to revisit my openings. I thought that my decision to play the Scandinavian against the computer was interesting. I simply wanted a game where there was some imbalance in the position, and indeed, the Scandinavian often leads into positions with some imbalances. That being said, giving away a pawn within 10 moves isn't really the smart thing to do.

On move 18, I am happy that I found the best move in the position: 18... f5. I realized that if the computer takes the pawn with en passant, I will have some strange tactics involving Nxf6, Bxf3, and the open file against the somewhat weak bishop on d2. That being said, the computer didn't do that, and instead retreated it's bishop to d3, but this allows me to double the kingside pawns, which I promptly do. However, I fail to find a way to actually attack or exploit this weakness. This is seen very quickly on move 20... Nc7. The idea I had was to simply blockade the white passed pawn. In theory, that is valuable, but I should have spent time pestering the opponents somewhat weak bishops with Nb4.

On move 28. . . c5, is the first major mistake I made in the game. Before this, the computer evaluates the game as around 1.5-2, but after, it is evaluated at 3.3! The main reason I made such a mistake was that I failed to realize the strength of the computers threat of a5, which it promptly played. This simply gave the computer a large amount of counterplay and attacking chances.

Finally, on move 47 . . . Bg7?? I completely missed the tactic that the computer played with Rxb6. To be fair, it was difficult to spot and easy to miss, however, it still stings a little. I played a few more moves, but the computer was up too many pawns and there was simply no way to stop them.

What Can I Learn?

1. Don't be dumb about openings. I find that in my games, I don't usually have a good time within the opening, mainly because I look for too much and try to start some attack before I am developed. In many of my games, including this one, I come out of the opening worse.
2. I need to practice understanding my opponents threats. I am typically decent at finding ideas for myself, but for my opponent, it is tricky.

If you are interested in the idea of training to fight against the computer, consider joining The Club of Believers. As I have been posting these games, more people have joined, which is absolutely amazing. The more likely it is that we will uncover new ways to fight back against the computers.

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Thank you for reading, and enjoy the rest of your day!