Hi. I'm Empty_Chess on Lichess.org. It's an open-source, ad-free, free-to-play chess website with many thousands of active games occurring at all times of day!

My current elo rating is anywhere from 1550 ~ 1650 bullet, 1650 ~ 1750 blitz and 1750 ~ 1850 standard (I obviously do better with more time to think on my moves). These are estimated from thousands of past games, played under the account name SilentWitness on Free Internet Chess Server (FICS).

Purpose of these Posts:

The goal is to improve the quality of my chess by recording my games here, on the Steem block-chain, for the purpose of future study. I also plan to do some openings study on the side, but I don't have clear goals on how or when I'll achieve this.

I feel that my rating would vastly improve by sticking to just a few openings for white and black, focusing on developing a deep understanding of how to play them and what type of strategies to aim for when using them. Alas, to date, I have never taken it seriously enough to enforce such discipline (no pun intended) on my chess play.

Whether or not I'll change my approach in regards to opening play... time will tell.

I could also improve by studying endgames or middle-game (tactics or positional) puzzles, but I lean away from these approaches mostly because I'm here more for the joy of playing the game than I am for trying to master it. That said, as I previously stated, I DO want to improve my chess, which is exactly why you're reading these words right now!

Without further ado...

Game Can Be Viewed at the Following Lichess.org Link:

https://lichess.org/tQFl6cj3/black#0

Raw PGN:

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1. d4 f5 2. c4 Nf6 { A84 Dutch Defense: Normal Variation } 3. Bf4 d6 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. e3 g6 6. Bd3 Bg7 7. Nge2 O-O 8. h3 e5 9. Bh2 e4 10. Bc2 Kh8 11. O-O Nh5 12. a4 a6 13. Nf4 Ndf6 14. d5 Bd7 15. f3 exf3 16. Qxf3 Nxf4 17. Bxf4 Qe7 18. Rae1 Rae8 19. a5 Nh5 20. Bh2 Nf6 21. e4 Nxe4 22. Nxe4 Bd4+ 23. Kh1 fxe4 24. Qxe4 Rxf1+ 25. Rxf1 Qxe4 26. Bxe4 Rxe4 27. b3 Kg7 28. Rd1 Bf2 29. b4 Re1+ 30. Rxe1 Bxe1 31. Kg1 Bxb4 32. Kf2 Bxa5 33. Ke2 b5 34. cxb5 Bxb5+ 35. Kd1 Bc3 36. Kc2 Be5 37. Kb3 Bxh2 { White resigns. } 0-1

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Alternative Online PGN Viewers:

Copy and paste the "Raw PGN" (pasted above), starting from 1.... to the last move data, and paste into "Load PGN" (chess.com) or "Enter PGN" (beta.chesstempo.com) box(es). Hit enter. Enjoy :)

https://www.chess.com/analysis-board-editor (with chess-engine analysis by Stockfish 9)
https://beta.chesstempo.com/pgn-viewer/ (optional analysis by Komodo chess-engine)

Notes About the Game:

I missed a knight fork on my queen and rook @ move 14 that would have likely resulted in giving up a knight for two pawns (since one of my knights had no available squares after a pawn push to attack it), and perhaps a little compensation (opening lines on opponent's king). I could have captured the knight instead of developing my light-squared bishop, avoiding the fork.

It was over a 100 centi-pawn swing in Stockfish analysis (from 0.4 in my favor to -0.9), which, to me, qualifies as a blunder.

There was another missed opportunity on move 20, giving away the initiative by moving my knight back for defense of an expected pawn push by the opponent instead of moving the dark-squared bishop to h6, strengthening my own f-pawn push or, stronger yet (according to Stockfish), going Qh4 with the same idea plus more king-side pressure. This was another moment of losing over 1 pawn on SF analysis.

Aside from that, my play wasn't super impressive, but I felt that it was pretty solid. My opening play could have been more precise, as usual.

Feel Free to Constructively Criticize:

I'm not without ego, but I'm also aware that my chess has a LOT of room for improvement. Because I want to get better, I encourage your criticisms and suggestions.

I'd also be appreciative if you'd share your own chess (raw) PGNs in the comment section to this, and future, posts, along with any relevant information (such as your chess rating, account name and where I can play you).

Thanks for Sharing a Brief Moment with Me :)

Peace, health and prosperity to you and yours :)