Loss vs lukaasek1226 (1175)

Opening: Colle System

Result: 0-1 (Checkmate)

Time Control: 14 days/move (Daily)

Rated

Event: ForEverOne 2026, Round 1

Game Overview

A daily game in the ForEverOne 2026 tournament and a fairly uninteresting one where we traded pieces, I blundered a fork, lost a rook and then lost the game. A pretty disappointing effort, particularly in a daily game where there is really no excuse for blunders like that. I had all the time in the world to check my move and I was just careless.

The Opening (Moves 1-9)

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 e6 4. Nbd2 c5 5. b3 Nc6 6. Bb2 Be7 7. Bd3 b6 8. Ne5 Qc7 9. O-O O-O

After 9...O-O: Both castled. Colle system set up.

By move 9 both sides have castled. I’ve got my Colle system set up.

Losing the Bishop (Moves 10-12)

After 10...Nb4: Knight threatens the light-squared bishop.

10. f4 Nb4 11. c3 Nxd3 12. Nxd3 Ba6

Black played Nb4 and managed to take my light-squared bishop, which was not ideal. That would have been better to protect.

After 11...Nxd3: Light-squared bishop captured.

Trading Down (Moves 13-23)

13. c4 dxc4 14. Nxc4 Bxc4 15. bxc4 cxd4 16. Bxd4 Qxc4

After 16...Qxc4: Black picks up an extra pawn.

On move 16 Black picks up an extra pawn.

17. Nb2 Qd5 18. Nd3 Rac8 19. Qb3 Rfd8 20. Qxd5 Nxd5 21. Ne5 Bc5 22. Rf3 Bxd4 23. exd4 f6

After 23. exd4: Rooks and knights. Black up a pawn.

We kept trading and by move 23 it’s a pair of rooks and a knight each. Black is still up one pawn.

The Blunder (Moves 24-28)

24. Ng4 Rc3 25. Rxc3 Nxc3

We trade rooks and then I blunder.

After 26. Rc1: The blunder. Knight can fork king and rook.

26. Rc1 Ne2+

After 26...Ne2+: Fork. King and rook both attacked.

I played Rc1, and Black can fork my king and rook with Ne2+. The rook is lost and with it the game.

27. Kf2 Nxc1 28. Ke3 Nxa2

The Endgame (Moves 29-45)

29. Ke4 b5 30. Ne3 b4 31. d5 exd5+ 32. Nxd5 Rxd5 33. Kxd5 b3 34. g4 b2 35. g5 b1=Q

Black’s b-pawn marched all the way to promotion. From here my king was hunted across the board. The h-pawn tried to make a run of its own but it was never going to be enough.

36. gxf6 Qf5+ 37. Kd6 Qxf6+ 38. Kc7 Qe6 39. Kb7 Qd6 40. Kxa7 Qb4 41. Ka8 Kf7 42. h4 Ke7 43. h5 Kd7 44. h6 Kc7 45. hxg7 Qb7#

Engine Review

An incredibly accurate game by my opponent: 96.4% accuracy versus 86% for me. No blunders according to the engine, but I did make two mistakes.

According to the engine, Black takes the advantage on move 11 when I pushed c3 rather than dxc5. Playing dxc5 means that once the knight takes on d3, I can retake with my c-pawn, avoiding double pawns.

Very interesting to see a player rated 1175 play such an accurate game. Not a single move that wasn’t rated “Best” or “Excellent” for the entire game.

Reflections

What went well:

Happy with the opening and the middlegame. Getting into a decent position and then trading equals felt like I was still in the game right up until I made a mistake.

What to work on:

Take my time. The theme of this tournament is that it will be going on for many years because it’s up to 14 days between moves. There was no need to make a careless rook move like Rc1 without checking for knight forks first.
On move 11, dxc5 was better than c3 to protect the light-squared bishop. Worth remembering that recapturing with a pawn can be cleaner than using a piece.

Full PGN:

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 e6 4. Nbd2 c5 5. b3 Nc6 6. Bb2 Be7 7. Bd3 b6 8. Ne5
Qc7 9. O-O O-O 10. f4 Nb4 11. c3 Nxd3 12. Nxd3 Ba6 13. c4 dxc4 14. Nxc4 Bxc4 15.
bxc4 cxd4 16. Bxd4 Qxc4 17. Nb2 Qd5 18. Nd3 Rac8 19. Qb3 Rfd8 20. Qxd5 Nxd5 21.
Ne5 Bc5 22. Rf3 Bxd4 23. exd4 f6 24. Ng4 Rc3 25. Rxc3 Nxc3 26. Rc1 Ne2+ 27. Kf2
Nxc1 28. Ke3 Nxa2 29. Ke4 b5 30. Ne3 b4 31. d5 exd5+ 32. Nxd5 Rxd5 33. Kxd5 b3
34. g4 b2 35. g5 b1=Q 36. gxf6 Qf5+ 37. Kd6 Qxf6+ 38. Kc7 Qe6 39. Kb7 Qd6 40.
Kxa7 Qb4 41. Ka8 Kf7 42. h4 Ke7 43. h5 Kd7 44. h6 Kc7 45. hxg7 Qb7# 0-1