15 games at 3+2. 9 won, 6 lost. The engine flagged 16 blunders and 30 further mistakes.
9−6Wins and losses
888 to 918 (+30)Rating, first to last game
1.07Blunders per game
3 of 6Losses that began from +3.0 or better
5.6 sAverage time per move
A blunder is a move after which the engine evaluation drops by three pawns or more. A mistake is a drop of one and a half to three pawns. Times are UTC.
Key positions
3 positions from the day. Use the buttons under each board: test yourself first, then see what happened and the better move, or open the whole game up to that point. The red arrow is the move that was played.
Clock: this move took 1.4 s, and 56.0 s were left after it.
At move 33 Black was clearly ahead (+6.0). 33...Rxc7 took the pawn, but the rook on c7 had no defender, and the engine's reply 34.Ne6+ checks the king on g7 and attacks the rook at the same time (−5.8).
White played 34.Nxa6 instead, and Black went on to win. The capture took 1.4 seconds, with 56.0 seconds left against White's 16.2. 33...a5 keeps the lead (+6.0).
Before putting a piece on a square, check which knight checks the opponent has and what else they would attack.
Clock: this move took 1.0 s, and 5.4 s were left after it.
At move 44 Black had just made a new queen on a1 and was clearly winning (+7.4). 44...Qb1+ moved it to a square guarded by the bishop on e4, and nothing defended it there, so 45.Bxb1 took it (−6.9).
The clock readings show 1.0 second for this move and 5.4 seconds left, against 37.3 for White, and the game was lost on time right after 45.Bxb1. 44...Qd4 keeps the queen and the win (+7.4).
With seconds left, a safe move beats a check. Before giving check, ask whether the checking square is guarded.
Before the move: −0.2After the best reply: mate in 3 against the author
Clock: this move took 5.3 s, and 1:10 were left after it.
At move 30 the black king on h8 had little room: the white rook on b7 controlled g7 and the king's own pawn stood on h7, so a rook check on the back rank would also cover g8. 30...Rd2 took the rook further away, and 31.Rc8+ forces mate, because Black can only block: 31...Rd8 32.Rxd8+ Rf8 33.Rxf8#, or 31...Rf8 32.Rxf8# (mate in 3 against the author).
Black resigned after 31.Rc8+. 30...Rd8 brings the rook back to the back rank and holds the game (−0.2). The move took 5.3 seconds, with 70.2 seconds left.
When the king has no free square, keep a rook on the back rank or make room with a pawn move such as ...h6.
3 of the 6 losses ended on the clock. When the clock ran out the engine rated these positions at −7.6, −6.2, −3.0 for the author. A rating below −3.0 means the game was already lost on the board; 1 of them was not. The Clock page shows how time use relates to blunders.