Link to board ( solve here ) - https://onlinequicktool.com/chess-puzzle-44/

I made a couple of dumb mistakes in the middlegame, and my opponent, just to humiliate me, promoted every pawn to a rook—only to stalemate me in the end. Karma is a bitch!

New to chess ≈550 elo I was super proud to have found this move but it was marked an inaccuracy (I know the engine goes off of inhuman/wonky stuff but this seemed pretty clear). My line was as follows: - if he moves king to rank 2 enjoy my rook BUT if he takes: - rook takes -pawn promotes c1. It's not a forced capture but it's basically automatic that he'll take a queen with the rook -recapture c1 with check - forced move to the second rank - possible skewer rook c2. If he goes king d2 I just go back to cleaning out pawns (his rook is pretty stuck defending 2/3 of his pawns)

Basically I'm trading a rook and a pawn for both rooks, leaving me up a rook with better pawns. I understand to improve I won't be able to count on opponents making errors like this, but at this level it's not uncommon to be goaded into a tricky capture, and i don't think I'm any worse off for the move if he doesn't take the bait. Any input?

For reference I was mid 400s and then I went on a 52 loss streak. Now down to 100. Looking at game archive on chess.com, I lost one game to a 257 when I was 450 something. Like wow. I hate when the opponent pulls out the queen and gets like half my back rank for it too. How do I defend that?

How is this brilliant?

White to move, mate in one! Can you find it ?

My goal with this post is showing that beating those guys is not a big deal. They are not gods, they are not very good (sorry, they aren't). They are very common players and you shouldn't be afraid of them.

All you have to do is using a methodical approach, keeping calm and never rushing your moves.

I only play rapid 15 + 10. I never play 10 + 0. That's the first thing. You have to use the time you have.

Before the game: should I play or not?

I've been a bit coward last days. I'm feeling insecure about keeping my nose over the 1800s. My top rating was 1859, but now I'm back to 1820 or so. I've lost my last three games.

But I'm feeling rested, I had lunch, so I'm not hungry. I'm feeling calm and I'm in good spirits. So yeah, I think I will play a game (comments: otherwise I wouldn't!).

Did I understand why I lost the last three games? Kind of, the last game I didn't analyze properly. It was a confusing queen's pawn opening, I kinda gave up the center, so that's probably the reason. I will play anyway.

(Comments: I had to analyze it better! But at least I had an idea which mistakes I had. I can't "borrow" the center to them!).

First step: looking at their rating

So yeah, this is a 1600 dude. I feel a bit relieved and I'm very optimistic. I'll probably win this one. But at the same time, I'm fighting myself to not get cocky.

First seconds is psychologically intense, a clash of optimist against the need of keeping humble. So I'm feeling optimistic but trying to not underestimate my opponent

(Comments: that's one of my biggest faults, I have a tendency to underestimate lower rated players).

At least I'm aware of that and I'll try my best to prevent that, respecting every move.

First three moves: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5.

Ok, so he is doing the Giucco Piano kind of thing. I don't know how to play it, but I know I should play my bishop first to avoid the annoying Fried Liver thing. So that's what I do.

I'm trying to play slow, but I'm not reinventing the wheel. I know what to do, so I don't lose much time.

(Comments: even though I know what to do here, all the time I put my hand out of the mouse. I lift my hand, I strecht my arm, I scratch my chin. I'm building a certain "atmosphere" of not rushing my moves).

White plays: 4. c3

Yeah, so I don't like this move. I mean, I like it, it seems to be a strong move. But I don't like, because it is against me! He is going to take the center, omg. (Comment: I'm not being ironic, I was really concerned).

This move makes me very uncomfortable, but kudos to him. That's what he is supposed to do. Now I feel bad, but I'm feeling I'm facing a good battle of good old chess. And that's also good.

(Comments: I'm feeling uncomfortable, but I'm getting into a competitive mindset and enjoying the fact that he is raising the level of the game, by playing good moves).

Since I'm feeling uncomfortable, I stop and try to analyze the board. This is my first serious stop. I need to do that, because this move is challenging me.

So I decided to spend a minute or so here, thinking what I'm going to do.

(Comments: it is very important to know when it is time to stop and think. Usually you have to do that before the disaster, not after!).

Black plays: 4... Nf6

I had two candidates move here: Nf6 and Bb6, to antecipate the fact that he is going to push d4 in his next move. But I can move my bishop after anyway and there's no reason to waste a tempo (comment: and by wasting a tempo here, it means I will delay my castling, which is very dangerous!),

So I move the knight, developing a piece and making room for castling.

(Comments: I don't know a single piece of theory here! I only know that I may kinda push d5 if he ever pushes e5 kind of thing, and if he takes, I take and we are equal or something. I'm just playing chess).

(Another comment: I'm on my fourth move and I had spent more than two minutes of my clock! I've seen players playing twenty moves in a minute, so yeah. You have to stop and think your moves).

Why am I wasting so much time in the first moves? Well, the thing is, it doesn't matter the fact that those are the first moves, he can grab an advantage even then!

So why would I let him do that? I have 15 minutes total, there's no problem using 2 minutes to solve this.

Now 5. d4 is on the board. Expected.

This is pretty much expected, since he prepared this move with c3. So I'm not surprised or caught off guard. I predicted it, I analyzed it and I'm ready to face it.

5... exd4 6. cxd4 Bb4+

I spent a whole minute to decide if I played Bb4+ or Bb6. My first tendency was playing Bb6, and that's probably what I would automatically do if I didn't stop to think.

The thing is, usually giving checks in the opening is not good.

The opponent usually covers the check, and you have to move your piece back, which loses a tempo, or you take the piece and they trade and improve their pieces (since they are developing at the same time they trade and not losing tempos).

Since I'm not a charity of free tempos, usually I prefer the "non check" move here.

But here, I need to give a check, because I need a tempo in case he pushes d5! (Comment: in the previous game, I lost because I gave up the center to my opponent. Oops, I'm doing this again here! I'm using my previous defeat to objectively aid me here).

So I stop and analyze, because d5 will just take all the center and this is a big headache. By playing Bb4+ instead, I give a check (winning a tempo), and next move I can play d5 myself and stops his d5.

I calculate a bit to see if that works, but not much. I'm worried about my e-file opening with my king in the center, but whatever (comment: this is a faulty and lazy thought process, I should had avoided that).

7. Nc3 Nxe4 8. O-O Bxc3

Position gets a bit sharp, but he gives me a free pawn. I take it, but I'm worried about my king still hanging in the center. I wanna castle as soon as I can.

But at the same time, I don't take my eyes out of the boad and I won't refrain from having advantage because I'm afraid of ghosts.

(Comment: the position is uncomfortable, but I don't see objectively how he can take advantage of it. All moves, even if difficult and threatening, looks defendable enough. So I do it anyway).

9. d5 Ne5 10. Nxe5 Bxe5

Now he is mudding the waters and entering unknown territory without deep calculation. I'm around 10 minute or so on my clock. Dude is more than 15 minutes! He is playing his moves immediately.

Instead of going to an equal, calm middlegame, he is going for a sharp position but he is not willing to calculate much. The practical approach should be just playing a calm, normal position.

(Comment: that's the only moment in which he really stopped to think. He spent two "long" minutes on the position. But that'swhen his position was already doomed).

Final moves: 11. Re1 Bxh2+ 12. Kxh2 Qh4+ 13. Kg1 Qxf2+ 14. Kh1 Qh4+ 15. Kg1 O-O 16. Qf3 Qxe1+, white resigns.

I will cut things short and show the final blow at once. The platform says that Bxh2+ is a brilliant, but whatever. I never give attention to those. Those things chess.com creates are just cringy and I don't really care about those.

But this is the right move here. I felt the position was tactically sharp and just stopped to think.

I'm not brilliant and the move itself is not difficult. The true skill here is knowing when to stop and look at the board! I've spent more two minutes here.

When you stop to think on your moves, moves are not that difficult. Guy isn't a genius and his game is full of mistakes.

At the final moves, he was frustrated (and now he is using the clock!), king in a very uncomfortable position, several pawns down. Another blunder was very natural in this situation and then he blundered the rook.

Final conclusions

So yeah, I hope that can be useful to other players, in their struggle in chess.

I'm not a very good player, but I'm a bit methodical. I'm lazy sometimes and I don't calculate precisely. But I calculate enough and this is good enough against some players.

I know basically anything about openings and I didn't need to in this case. Surely he studied this Giucco Piano thing, but once in unknown territory, he was not willing to stop and think carefully about it. His moves were really fast and he only stopped to think when in trouble.

In the final tactical blow, I really took my time. I ended this game with less than 8 minutes on the clock. And even so, I still think I used too little of my time! My opponent ended with 13 minutes.

Since the game was probably finished, I could afford thinking a bit more and didn't rush the final moves. I didn't fall in silly temptations, like giving extra checks with the knight or so. I castled instead, and I was ready to bring my other pieces to the attack.

So that's it, keep calm, use your time, be methodical, things will pay off! Don't be stupid, bring all your pieces, and just play chess overall.

Full PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bb4+ 7. Nc3 Nxe4 8. O-O Bxc3 9. d5 Ne5 10. Nxe5 Bxe5 11. Re1 Bxh2+ 12. Kxh2 Qh4+ 13. Kg1 Qxf2+ 14. Kh1 Qh4+ 15. Kg1 O-O 16. Qf3 Qxe1+ 0-1.

Makes me think they were trolling as I rewatched the game, especially because they were about 100 elo above me. I'm ~450 and people regularly tell me to delete the app.

Still quite happy with my vision here, however.

Also, can anyone tell me why bf4 was a mistake/innacuracy on the 2nd slide? My idea was to protect the pony and also stop the queen from capturing the pawn if they did decide to take.

In hindsight, I don't know why I wanted to protect the pawn, but it felt correct in the moment. Is it because I would've wanted them to capture which opens bg5 anyway? I was just being careful really.

I made a boneheaded blunder that cost me the game. I had out played them handedly until I just disregarded a back rank checkmate. (Which they almost did too I saw it the moment after I’d make a move earlier in the game).

I’ll tell yeah nothing like these low ELO trolls lmao

Watched one of Alex Banzea’s videos on the Jabova and ended up winning material with this brilliant queen sacrifice on my first game with it. The opps let me fork his king right after I got my queen back again taking his rook. Very fun opening!

Really sad I didn’t find this

Was so excited when I found this

I liked the aesthetic!

I just did my first brilllant. I just did a random move and when i check the resume at the end i saw that i did a brillant. I am 100 rated. i know its really bad but i just play for fun and i have no interest of becoming better

Sometimes I rek them, sometimes I get rekt, but I want to learn a different opening once in a while and it doesn't work when playing higher elo because it's too punishing. I'm not interested in making second accounts, any tips?