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.