This game was played in round 4 of an OTB tournament last summer. At this point, I was on 2.5/3 and faced another strong opponent, this time with black.
My opponent played the Botvinnik-English which is an opening I don't like facing. This game was another one in such a structure where I got completely outplayed. My biggest mistake was that I didn't take the time to come up with good strategic plans, I only thought move to move which made my play incoherent. I also had the feeling that white was simply much better early on which didn't help during the game.
Takeaways
Games like this one are always a bit hard to analyse since there are soo many options on every move. But it's all the more valuable to look at games where you got outplayed like that. The biggest takeaways for me are:
- take time for deep strategic thinks, especially early on and not when it's already too late
- think more about the opponent's attacking chances, even if I wouldn't go for an attack myself
- don't play moves in a closed position in isolation, have them fit into a general plan