Black, 872 vs. Aryan Buchireddy, 1542

This was my second game in the 2023 US Open. Once again, my opponent was much higher-rated than me, though the gulf was only about 700 points rather than 1,000. Regardless, and unsurprisingly, I lost.

In the moment, I felt like I was playing worse than yesterday. However, Lichess gives me an 82% accuracy rating, vs. yesterday’s 83%; and I made one fewer blunder and one fewer mistake, so perhaps my performance was more consistent than I thought.

The two key points—both blunders—were 6. …d5, when b5 (which, alas, I did consider) would have been the best move. The second was 10. …cxd5 when I should have castled; had I done so, it would substantially alleviated the queen + bishop pressure on f7 that drove the rest of the game and led, ultimately, to by downfall.