Training Game #18 with Turbo Eval

Here is a link to my blog detailing my Turbo Eval thought process, for those interested.

I have tried to beat the 2600 chess.com bot many times, and many times, I have failed. Today, I decided to play against the bot again, and see how I fair. This is the game that I played:

I was so close! I built up a sizeable advantage in the opening, and after the computer blundered, I had a win, but I got scared and put myself into a much worse position, until eventually, I managed to force a draw with perpetual check. Some highlights are below:

On move 9, I pushed into the center with d5, which allows the computer to get back some space and initiative by playing Bg4, Qb4, and e6. This isn't something that I even considered to be good for the computer, so I naturally missed that my move isn't the best. Instead of d5 immediately, I should have played h3 to stop the computer from playing Bg4, and then I would have had a much better position to play d5 in.

On move 13, the computer played d4, but after some consideration, I played the best move, Bxf6. If the computer takes with either pawn, my knight gets to d5 and becomes an absolute monster knight, and if the computer takes with the queen, then my knight gets to the d5 square as well, with a much better position for me.

On move 14, the computer played Qxf3, which is a blunder, and allows me to completely win the game with Qxd4. I had two main moves that I considered here, which was the winning Qxd4, and the not winning, Bxd7+. I'm sure you can guess as to which move I played. When I was calculating through Qxd4, I missed that after Qxh1+ and Ke2 or Kd2, I would have a winning attack on the king with my knight, bishop, and queen. So simply put, I got scared and ended up trying to simplify with Bxd7+. The worst part about this is, I saw that I had some chances after Qxh1+ and Ke2, but only in a different line. So, when I was looking at Qxd4, I had already stated in my head that allowing the queen to take both rooks could be good for me, and yet I somehow didn't carry that over to the Qxd4 line.

What Can I Learn?

I am tempted to say, "Don't be scared of lines that are complicated", but being a more cautious player has allowed many of my games to go in better directions because I don't let my opponents get too much. I think I just need to work on asking the question, "What Now?", when I am calculating, because if I had asked that question at the end of my calculating Qxd4 line, I would have quickly realized that I had a massive attack, but instead I was too much focused on the fact that I was getting checked.

Oh well. . . .

This about does it for today's blog. I managed to draw against the 2600 computer despite my getting a completely winning game. However, this is still progress from my simply losing to the bot.

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!