Game Review 13 Jul 2026

One I Closed Out, One I Didn't

Time control: 15+10

Two games from the same day, same time control, wildly different outcomes.

Game 1: v Pk_999 (1138), Scotch Game, Lolli Variation

I played Black. This one had blunders flying in both directions, I had the win in the bag, instead of trying to forc, I knew they would fall to the clock.

4...Nxd4?! Inaccuracy (0.06 → 0.63)

Move 4. I'm thinking here to just trade the knights and let the queen come out, so I can start attacking. I immediately recognise that this is a bad move.

Nf6 was the engine's preferred move, developing instead of trading into a position where White's queen gets an open road. I saw it was wrong the moment I played it, which at least means the pattern recognition is there, even if the move itself wasn't.

5...Be7? Mistake (0.54 → 2.27)

I was thinking just to be able to block the check. I didn't think the move through, and blundered a pawn.

Qf6 kept everything defended. Be7 solves the immediate problem, the check, without checking what it leaves behind, the g7 pawn goes straight after.

8. f4?? then 8...Bh4 White blunders, I spot it (2.27 → −3.58)

I immediately see that my opponent has blundered a pin on their queen. I have a quick check to see if there is anything I am missing and don't see anything.

Not because the move was hard, but because I actually paused and double checked before playing it. That's the exact habit the notepad method is meant to build, and here it actually worked in real time.

14...Nxf6?? and 15...c6?? Two blunders in a row (−4.41 → −0.53 → 1.14)

I'm seeing here that the pawn is going to be a problem, as it's attacked twice, if they take back I end up a pawn up. [Next move] I now see that I have actually blundered my knight, this is because I didn't take the time to look at my opponent's responses at all, I went for the first move that I saw. I can't save the knight so I decide to threaten their knight. As soon as I play c6 I realise this blunders my queen and I am probably losing.

Two blunders back to back, and the second one is the more useful lesson of the two. "I went for the first move that I saw" is exactly the failure mode the notepad method exists to interrupt, and here it happened anyway because the position felt urgent. Urgency is precisely when the check matters most, not when it's safe to skip it.

Feeling like you have to move fast is not the same as actually having to move fast. Slow down hardest exactly when it feels most necessary to speed up.

16. Bxf6?? Opponent misses the tactic

They didn't see the tactic!

Nxf6+ was winning for White here. More a reflection of the level we're both playing at than anything I did well, sometimes you get saved by what the other side misses rather than by your own play.

By this point, despite the blunders on both sides, I was in a completely dominating position, and my plan was deliberate, keep pushing the h-pawn, keep the position simple, and let my opponent's clock become part of the pressure. It worked. Pk_999 flagged before I did, and the game ended 0-1. As I noted at the time, this was a poor game from both sides, my opponent blundered their queen early, and I returned the favour later, they just didn't see it, but the win itself came from correctly recognising I was winning and playing the clock as a weapon, not from luck.

Game 2: v vigorous_mating (1261), Italian Game, Evans Gambit

Also Black. This one went very differently, a clean, efficient dismantling that ended in checkmate.

7...dxc3? Mistake (0.2 → 1.45)

I see here that I know I am going to lose the pawn, so I decide that I will just trade them off.

d6 kept the position solid. Taking on c3 looks like a simple way to grab a pawn, but it actually blunders straight into a tactic, Bxf7+ pulls the king out, and by the time everything settles the pawn's gone rather than gained.

12...Na5? Mistake (1.54 → 3.52)

I am thinking here to chase the queen away and try and recover my position. I immediately see that this just hangs a knight.

Same pattern as game one, spotting the problem exists a fraction too late, right after the piece has already left my hand rather than before.

13...Bd7?? Blunder (2.3 → 5.03)

I wasn't thinking at this point, I just played a move, tilted after the knight blunder. What I didn't realise is I could have saved the knight if I had better board vision. The OTB woes continue. I continue the game knowing I can't win.

Tilt after a blunder is a real thing, and it compounds, one mistake makes the next one more likely because the focus is gone. Worth naming plainly rather than pretending every move gets the same quality of attention.

A blunder doesn't just cost the position, it costs focus for the next few moves too. Recognising "I'm tilted" in the moment is its own skill, separate from the chess itself.

From there the position was lost and stayed lost. My opponent finished it cleanly with a knight sacrifice and mate on move 26. As I noted afterwards, I made a few mistakes in this game, and got punished severely. It's very hard to recover when every move your opponent plays is top five on the engine and scores 96 percent, I got completely dismantled with an 84 percent game myself. My opponent is a new account and significantly stronger than their current rating suggests.

Two games, one day

Same time control, same me, same rough patch mid-transition to the physical board, and two completely different results. Game one, I made mistakes early but recognised the winning position when it arrived and closed it out properly. Game two, the mistakes never stopped. The common thread in both is the same one from the puzzle posts, the moment something feels urgent is exactly when the check gets skipped. Notepad's getting a proper workout this week.

One I Closed Out, One I Didn't

Game 1: v Pk_999 (1138), Scotch Game, Lolli Variation

Game 2: v vigorous_mating (1261), Italian Game, Evans Gambit

Two games, one day

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