For some reason, Lichess is not connecting properly. Perhaps my internet, but I have been forced to play on Chess.com. I think there are more cheaters there (I was one on another account before I repented and found Jesus). Anyway, while it does suck staring at advertisements, this game went well.

I capitalized on a few big tactical opportunities after choosing an opening I don’t play (and definitely not venturing into the Marshall Defense, something I’ve only seen once). It seems our 12th move was a big turning point. I started by placing my knight on an unsafe square a bit early, but his response lost a piece for a pawn. Although I could have got more out of it, I took over the game. My final blunder was when we were both under 10 seconds; neither of us had a chance to mate. With that in mind, I only have 6 poor moves by the time we started our RNvR endgame with all those locked pawns.

The 17th man here was definitely time. I recently lost a game by letting him fork my king and rook, and I had plenty of time. I played well through opening and middle game, so I tried to use my time to shore up my endgame. We played at about the same level, but he was in a time crunch. I tried valiantly to get one last breakthrough instead of just dancing, but regardless, I was able to use time to my advantage and get him to lose.