I had a great start to this LoneWolf season and was looking forward to the next couple of rounds. However, they didn't go as well as I had hoped.
Round 3
Preparation
Since I was on 2/2, I was facing a strong opponent in round 3 with black and I decided to prepare quite a bit. I saw that my opponent usually plays the London system with an unusual move order, so I was looking into ways to use this move order to my advantage.
However, in the game my opponent went for the most common move order and I made a very common mistake: I thought that they had prepared something special and therefore felt the need to deviate from my usual setup against the London. This lead to disaster quite quickly.
The Game
Takeaways
Missing my opponent's moves early on is a big weakness of mine. I often subconsciously discard some moves of my opponent's (for whatever reason) which turn out to put me under pressure. So I need to actively look for different options for my opponents and especially look at aggressive and forcing moves, even if I intuitively wouldn't expect them to be played.
Round 4
Preparation
I didn't have much time to prepare for round 4 and I decided to play 1.e4 and looked at what my opponent usually plays against it. I didn't expect the Sicilian and since I wanted a fun, non-theoretical game, I played the Smith-Morra gambit.
The Game
Takeaways
This loss felt really bad since I have seen this trap twice before and I should have also found it during the game. Such losses always undermine how difficult chess can be: there is so much to learn and seeing things once or twice often isn't enough to truly understand it.
So my biggest takeaway from this game is to watch out for my king when my opponent plays aggressive moves, I might not have to react, but I should look for possible ways my opponent can continue the attack.
Another takeaway is that chess is hard and human memory is far from perfect. But that's also what makes chess beautiful and I want to improve at it since it is challenging.
Round 5
Preparation
After my terrible loss in round 4, I was still feeling down for my next game, even though it was one week later. When I saw that my opponent played a delayed Alapin against the Sicilian, it didn't make me feel better. I prepared quite a bit since I don't know much about that line, but my opponent deviated as early as move 4 from their usual moves so I was soon on my own.
The Game
Takeaways
I'm pretty happy with this win since I didn't try to force things with black, which usually backfires. I didn't mind the exchanges and was just waiting for my chances and as soon as I got 14...b5 in, I was ready to do everything I can in order to win that position.