Chess: unexplained weakness of d4-d5-e3

For the past ten moves or so, I was hoping my more active king could make his way to the queenside, and mop up his two queenside pawns, once our queens were exchanged. Upon review later, I shouldn't have done that at all. I should have stayed on the kingside, especially when I had the extra pawn. I don't have the game up in front of me, but as I recall, Kd5 was the move that threw away the win.

Quote: EdCollins

Kd5 was the move that threw away the win.

it was.

I was wondering if you foresaw that his King had position on you, what is that called? Where in u-move, i-move, one side or the other makes the other player's King move away from the best spot? But I couldn't recreate that.

I was in time pressure (It was move 39. We both needed to make 40 moves in 100 minutes.) but not severe enough that I couldn't spend a little bit if time to take a deeper look at it.

I look at the position now and it looks so obvious I can't believe I didn't play this position correctly. Everything else wins. 39.Ke5 wins. 39.b5 wins. 39.f4 wins. 39.f3 wins. 39.a4 wins. All of those moves still keep my advantage... except for the move I played. He will eventually be in Zugzwang.

I think I was still in the "mindset" of wanting to rush over to the queenside and when I finally had the opportunity to do so, I did.

It's positions like this that stick in your craw for days or even weeks afterwards, knowing how close you were to victory.

Zugzwang! that was the word I was looking for.

Thanks for sharing. A little tougher to do on the losses.

Not that anyone cares, but I performed a bit better at the Senior/Junior Open in Irvine, CA this past weekend.

I finished with two wins, two losses, and two draws. My two losses were against the two players who ended up tying for First Place.

I think I picked up a modest 10 rating points. After my dismal performance a couple of weeks ago, I'll take it!

Quote: EdCollins

Not that anyone cares, but I performed a bit better at the Senior/Junior Open in Irvine, CA this past weekend.

I finished with two wins, two losses, and two draws. My two losses were against the two players who ended up tying for First Place.

I think I picked up a modest 10 rating points. After my dismal performance a couple of weeks ago, I'll take it!

I'll try to take a look a little later!

Quote: EdCollins

Not that anyone cares, but I performed a bit better at the Senior/Junior Open in Irvine, CA this past weekend.

I finished with two wins, two losses, and two draws. My two losses were against the two players who ended up tying for First Place.

I think I picked up a modest 10 rating points. After my dismal performance a couple of weeks ago, I'll take it!

I think some of us are more interested than you may know. In any case, congrats on the improved performance. Way to get back on the horse! heeheehee