Training Game #24 with Turbo Eval

My main goal when I started this challenge was to break through 2000 and continue on. I had been stuck around the 2000 level for almost a year, until about four weeks ago, when I managed to reach 2100. Obviously, the way chess works is once you reach a new height and get all excited, it sends you to the shadow realm of a losing streak. And this was no different for me. I had touched 2100, felt the accomplishment, and then I was banished almost all the way back to 1900! Who am I kidding? This is my fault, as that is how chess works. I let the ego get to my head, I let the excitement take over, and shortly after, I was unable to stop tilting. However, after about two weeks, I was able to reach 2100 again, and while I continue to cycle between 2000 and 2100, I feel that I have still earned the rating of 2100 and can officially say that I am a 2100 chess.com player, which is nice.

Anyway, today, I remembered that I had actually forgotten to play against the bots in quite some time, being that they were such a daunting challenge, and given that I was focusing on other things chess, so I decided to play against the 2900 bot, which is where I left off. And I must say, I am both happy with the game and disappointed in the game. The game is below:

In the end, I got an accuracy of 89%, with 6 inaccuracies, 1 mistake, and 2 blunders.

Now, in regards to the inaccuracies and the mistake, they were in the opening, and I wasn't really all that familiar with the opening. So okay. At the very least, the computer allowed me to get out of the opening with some equality, but that did not last long.

On move 24, the computer with the black pieces, played the move 24.. Bf8. This was something that I had actually expected, as it seemed reasonable to me at the time. And so, viewing the Rook infiltration on e4 as a threat, I played the inaccurate f3, which gives nearly all the advantage away, and leaves the position nearly equal.

However, a few moves later, I had secured a passed pawn on a5, and the computer made a blunder: 29.. Bb4. I quickly felt that this was wrong, and found the best move that completely wins: Rb6! The variations are outlined below.

25 Rb6.
25... Rxb6 26. axb6 Bd6 27. Bf4 And the pawn cant be stopped.
25... Rxb6 26. axb6 Bxd2 27. b7 And while black is up a bishop, the pawns on my kingside stop it from being able to prevent promotion.
25... Bd6 26. Rxd6 Bd6 was played in the game, yet I missed that the bishop was hanging for some reason.

Naturally, the computer played the best move, which was still losing, but good ol me, just forgot to check what pieces I could capture, and completely missed that the bishop was hanging. I was able to see the 5 move combination but not the free piece just sitting there. Ironic.

Because of this misstep from me, I managed to completely equalize the position and go into a drawn endgame, where the computer made a mistake on move 54.. Rf2. This move doesn't seem all that terrible on the surface, except for the fact that after 55. f7. He can't attack the pawn with the rook without moving the king, and if he moves the king, I give check with my rook, clearing the space for the pawn to promote, and simply win soon after. Anyway, I was able to convert being up full rook, imagine that.

This was a shorter article just so that I could get back into the swing of things, which is why I am somewhat surprised that I was able to win against the 2900 computer. For those who like to say that "A real 2900 would never play that", I hear your point, and it is valid. Computers are given instructions to make some mistakes sometimes just so that they can emulate a certain rating. However, the next challenge is the chess.com 3200 computer, which shouldn't be programed to do that, so after today, this concern shouldn't be too much of an issue.

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!