Dual commentary between Jon and I. We go over the training game we played yesterday in which he defeated me in the Steinitz Scotch.
Here is the link to the game; https://lichess.org/Bv1DrKAxEV1s
Yesterday we played our first training game (we are going to play one per month). Jon got to choose the time format and the opening. It was a game in 45’ with a 5’’ increment, and we played the Scotch, which is his main weapon against e5.
Here are Jon’s profiles on Lichess: https://lichess.org/@/CorvusLiberatus
and chess. com: https://www.chess.com/member/CorvusLiberatus
I made a stupid decision not to prepare for the game. I took the game lightly, and figured I would be fine whatever happens. I couldn’t have been more wrong, and I’m never going to repeat that mistake!
Jon prepared. And he prepared well. He knew what to do against every possible variation. When we started playing, I decided to go for the aggressive (and very dubious) Steinitz Variation. It basically loses the game for black if white is prepared.
We played the main line theory up to a point, and Jon got a very superior position. All I had was an extra pawn which was incredibly meaningless considering the fact that I was basically playing a rook down for it and that my king was to be stuck in the center for the rest of the game. Very early on I started hating the position and I realized that I had no idea how to play it. I much prefer positions in which I’m the one attacking. But still, I played on.
After a while, I played an incredibly bad move which could have been punished tactically, but neither Jon nor I noticed the refutation. Since Jon didn’t punish it, my move worked, and the position I got was finally playable. The tables turned, and following two imprecise moves Jon played, I was almost winning.
We came to a critical position in the game. I was about to win his piece and the game when it happened…
All I have to say is that Jon did a remarkable job. To be honest much better than I could have imagined, and that from now on, I’m going to prepare for every single training game as if I were to play an FM in a real tournament!
Great job, Jon! A well deserved win!
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