This was my first game of the tournament against John Whitworth who was rated 1721. My rating was 1525 at the time. I was playing black, and I played a variation of the Pirc opening.

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 Bg7. I go off the book opening here to play a variation without c6. By placing his bishop on e3, John caused me a lot of trouble in my opening since I like to play the variation Nbd2 and c5. After this tournament I realized that even though I had practiced the Pirc many times prior to the tournament, I had not studied enough transpositions of the opening, and I was reluctant to go away from the moves with which I was most comfortable. I really had to look at this part of my game after the tournament.

5. Nf3 O – O 6. Qd2 Bg4. I thought long before making this move. This was outside of my usual opening, and I was not sure how it would play out. I was worried about the bishop on e3, and I was struggling to find the right moves if c5 failed me. Even though I considered many possibilities for John's next moves, I did not look very long at the simplest moves, Ng5 followed by h3.

7. Ng5 Nc6. I am on new ground here, having never played my knight to this square in this opening.

8. h3 Bc8. I think it was obvious here that my 6th move was an error. Now I had no good square for my light square bishop, since I was determined to save the d2 square for my knight in the event of e5. In retrospect, I can’t believe how much I let Be3 take me off of the game I had practiced so much the last few months.

9. Bd3 b6 10. O – O – O Bb7. So I end up with the light square bishop fianchetto, which I normally use anyway, except with two tempos down. Also, my slow development and lack of any threat allows John to castle queen-side, which has caused me problems with this opening in the past.

11. h4 Nd7. I am really suffering from Nc6. All my usual plays with this opening are bumbled because of the tied up c5 pawn. I am really struggling to make any kind of threat. Even the discovered attack on d4 is easily countered, and actually helps white’s development of his bishop to Bc4. I think a better line would have been 11. … Ng4, trading the dark square bishop, or if Bf4, play e5, allowing for the knight on c6 to develop to e5 and finally allowing c5. If I had used John Waitzkin’s concept of recognizing ‘the space left behind’, I would have realized that g4 was no longer guarded after white’s h4 move.

12. Bc4 Na5 13. Be2 c5. I finally play c5, and now it is premature and out of order. I failed to address the h-pawn. I think this was my chance to play h4 to block the advance of white’s h-pawn.

14. h5 cxd4. Better would have been h6 followed by g5. I will remember this the next time I have this position.

15. Bxd4 Bxd4. I don’t know why I was compelled to make this trade, I guess I was anticipating the threat on h5, and thought this was the only chance to get an even trade out of the situation. I should have calculated longer at this point in the game. Truth is, I was not in tournament shape, and my thinking was very shallow. I really need to come better prepared for game one on my next tournament.

16. Qxd4 Nc6 17. Qd2 Nf6 18. hxg6 hxg6. I was already in trouble, but this was a capital mistake. According to Chessmaster X, I should have played Nce5 on move 16 and taken with the f-pawn after 18. hxg6. Again, my thought process was very shallow and not close to tournament level.

19. Nh7 Nxh7 20. Qh6 (1-0). Well played by John. I think he gave me plenty of chances early on to have an even game, but mentally I undermined my own game after he played Be3.  Next tournament I will definitely come better prepared for game one.