Some Of My Interesting Chess.com Games In The Last Month
Over the last month, I've played over 2000 games on Chess.com.
In this post, I'll share six of my most instructive games from this selection, with ideas I used to defeat players rated between 2000 and 2350 Bullet on Chess.com.
To ensure a high quality of examples, I reviewed all my 2024 Chess.com games in the 'Game Review' and only selected games where I had a CAPS score of 90 or higher. Because they are bullet games, my opponents often made blunders, but you'll still get an excellent feel for how to approach the arising positions through my notes. I also included a different opening for each of the six games so that a wide range of readers will get a lot out of the post.
Game 1 - Attacking The Berlin
In our first game, I play the 6.dxe5 variation of the Berlin, avoiding the Berlin Endgame that normally arises after 6.Bxc6. This variation is typically thought of as a way for top GMs to draw the game quickly, but my notes show that there are a lot of interesting ways for White to set problems:
As you can see, this 6.dxe5 variation gives White interesting attacking chances, and it's difficult for Black to solve his problems in a practical game.
Game 2 - Meeting The Steinitz-Sveshnikov Attack
In our next game, my opponent plays the Direct Italian with c3 and d4, which I played pretty successfully back in 2020 on Chess.com. However, he faltered in the transition from middlegame to endgame, allowing me to take control steadily:
This game serves as a powerful reminder of two of the main things I remind my students in my lessons:
1. Releasing the piece/pawn tension too early can lead to the loss of the initiative;
2. Before making a threat, we should ask what our follow-up is after the opponent's natural reply.
Game 3 - A Fresh Approach Against The Korchnoi Caro-Kann
This game sees me facing the Korchnoi Caro-Kann with 4...Nf6 5.Nxf6 exf6, which is what I face the most often as White nowadays.
Recently, I started to play the 8.Ne2!? move order, avoiding Qc2 in favour of setting up a nice kingside attack. My opponent didn't respond well in the game, so you get to see the attack in its clearest form in my game below:
Black should be well prepared against this move order and not just play the variation like a system opening.
Game 4 - How Black Wins In The Queen's Indian/Nimzo Hybrid
Our next game is more of a typical middlegame than an opening exploration and demonstrates how one typically wins in the ...b6 Nimzo setups, which can arise from several move orders.
I started playing the Queen's Indian in many online games in 2024, but it's hard to get it on the board because most players prefer to allow the Nimzo with 3.Nc3!
Nonetheless, it was pretty satisfying to outplay my opponent strategically:
As we can see, we can negate the opponent's bishop pair advantage by fixing the pawn structure and then playing on the colour complex, where we have an 'extra' piece.
Game 5 - Fresh Approaches In The QGD Tarrasch
I haven't played the QGD Tarrasch much on Chess.com, but this will change with Firouzja playing it a lot lately.
I played the Tarrasch a lot in early 2012, inspired by Aagaard and Ntirlis's 'GM Repertoire: Tarrasch Defence' book that significantly advanced the theory of the opening. Since then, new approaches have evolved, from the Dubov Tarrasch with 7...cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bc5, to the 5...Nf6 move order I played in this game:
An attractive point of the Tarrasch is that it's hard to get move-ordered out of it because you're playing ...d5/...e6/...c5/...Nc6/...Nf6 in some order against virtually everything that's not 1.e4.
Game 6 - From The King's Indian Attack To The Catalan
After doing a Workshop for my private students on the King's Indian Attack (KIA) for White, I started to play it in some of my Chess.com games. The great thing about the KIA is that it's very safe for White (it's hard to attack the White king early), but also provides a lot of flexibility.
In the next game, we'll see how the King's Indian Attack is quite appealing for Catalan players, as we can often transpose back to a Catalan against many Black systems:
While Black's setup with ...Bd6 was punished quite directly in the game, White gains exciting play in the centre even when Black defends better.
It's also important to remember to play the d4 break when Black threatens to occupy the centre with ...e5!
Conclusion & Next Steps
I hope you enjoyed these six annotated games of mine and learned some things from them! If I get a positive response to this format, I'll turn this into a series, continuing to share valuable lessons from my recent Chess.com games.
If you are interested in having private lessons with me (I am limiting the capacity to 10 private students so I can continue preparing thoroughly for each private lesson), email me at [email protected] or message me directly at https://m.me/max.illingworth.16.
