Tuesday night I played another tournament game at my local chess club. I was paired against a 1100 player in the second round of this tournament so I was feeling good. Especially coming off my Sunday games against a stronger player.
Well, I fell apart. I wasn't able to put together any type of attack or even come up with a solid play of action. I ended up moving pieces back and forth and finally went down a piece in a series of exchanges. Finally I dropped my rook (which I completely missed) and quickly resigned.
So what happened. I have been playing solid chess for my level. I have been missing tactics and good moves but this game was just terrible. What did I do? Where did I go wrong? Why couldn't I come up with a good solid plan?
Well, I have spent the days since agonizing about this loss and realized the answer is pretty simple. Although I have been playing Nf6 against d4, I don't really understand the goals and thoughts behind this type of hyper-modern opening. I know the first five or six moves in the opening but I don't know where to go from there. So, I get out of the opening sequence and I'm loss. I don't know where to look or where to go. All said, I don't know the opening.
Knowing an opening isn't just memorizing the moves but understanding why the moves are made and what they are preparing for. I realized that I loss because my opponent picked the opening that I'm weakest at. I know, now, what I should look at as an opening. Now, I need to seek help and trying to find out what type of opening that I need.
I think I'm going to send some of my games to an Expert or Master level person and ask them to review my style of play and ask for suggestions of openings for me to play against d4. I hope I get a good suggestion.
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