Black, 872 vs. Samuel Thompson, 1494

This was my fifth game in the 2023 US Open, and my worst thus far; Lichess gives me only 78% accuracy, and four blunders.

I attribute my degraded performance in this game primarily to two factors. First, there was my opponent’s choice of 1. b3 to open; as I mentioned in my writeup of my fourth-round game, anything other than 1. e4, and to a lesser extent 1. d4, is outside my comfort zone, and b3 feels especially unconventional. Second, my opponent moved very fast — so fast, in fact, that he actually gained time, finishing the game after 31 moves with six minutes more than we started with. While I’m well aware that I am under no obligation to match my opponents’ pace — and, indeed, it would probably be wise for me to think more carefully when someone is blitzing out moves in a classical game — psychologically, it can be difficult to exercise such discipline in the moment. Definitely something I need to work on.

To my considerable surprise, Lichess gives me a slight advantage coming out of the opening, widening to a peak of -3.5 by move 10. My first blunder was 9. …e4, a move which, even without the computer’s help, I considered questionable; and which, given the chance, I would not repeat. After 10. Nh4 exd3 — which I expected, but which evidently constitutes blunders on both our parts — I expected 11. cxd3, but instead we traded queens and minor pieces. Even then, the evaluation is basically even.

The trading off of two more minor pieces — leading to the tripling of my queenside pawns — felt bad, but even then the evaluation was not too one-sided. However, I then made a series of poor choices trying (and failing) to block White’s kingside pawn advance, and ultimately failed to recognize that 28. …Rad8 permitted not only a knight fork of my king and rook, but also a forced mating sequence. If only I had been using my time more carefully, I’m certain I could have at least spotted the fork.