Finally joined chess.com

[Mike Sherwin]

I've resisted the urge to join for years. So to warm up because I have not played regularly since 50 years ago I played a couple of bots. The first bot was 1100+ and I beat it easily. I thought I'd get only a slightly better bot next. But I got 2750 Capablanca. I played a few games and lost them all but I was not trying very hard to play well. I was just moving fast and hoping for the best. Here is a game though I almost won.
[pgn][Event "Play vs Bot"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2024.11.23"]
[Round "-"]
[White "mjsherwin"]
[Black "capablanca-BOT"]
[Result "0-1"]
[CurrentPosition "8/8/8/8/6K1/7p/6k1/8 w - - 2 53"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "C47"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Four-Kni ... ted-5.Nxd4"]
[UTCDate "2024.11.23"]
[UTCTime "03:48:53"]
[WhiteElo "400"]
[BlackElo "2725"]
[TimeControl "1/0"]
[Termination "capablanca-BOT won by resignation"]
[StartTime "03:48:53"]
[EndDate "2024.11.23"]
[EndTime "04:20:55"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/com ... torun=true"]
[WhiteUrl "https://www.chess.com/bundles/web/image ... a92436.gif"]
[WhiteCountry "2"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/upload ... f33212.png"]
[BlackCountry "37"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 d5 8.
Bd2 Qe7 $6 9. O-O dxe4 $2 (9... dxe4 10. Nxe4 Nxe4 11. Bxe4 O-O 12. Bxc6 Rb8) 10.
Re1 Bf5 $2 11. Nxe4 $3 Nxe4 12. Bxb4 (12. Bxb4 Qxb4 13. a3 Qxb2 14. Bxe4 Bxe4 15.
Rxe4+ Kf8) 12... Qxb4 13. Bxe4 Bxe4 14. Qd3 $6 O-O 15. Rxe4 $6 Qxb2 16. Qd4 Qxd4 $6
17. Rxd4 Rfd8 18. Rad1 Rxd4 19. Rxd4 Rb8 20. f3 g6 21. Rc4 Rb6 22. Kf2 h5 23.
Ke3 Kf8 24. Kd4 Ke7 25. Kc5 f5 26. Rb4 $6 Rxb4 27. Kxb4 Kd6 $1 28. Ka5 $2 Kc5 $1 29.
Ka6 $2 Kb4 $1 30. Kxa7 c5 $1 31. Kb7 Ka3 $2 32. Kc6 (32. Kc6 c4 33. Kc5 c3) 32... c4 33.
Kc5 Kxa2 $2 34. Kxc4 Kb2 35. c3 $2 f4 $1 36. Kb4 $6 Kc2 37. c4 Kd3 38. Kc5 Ke3 $2 39.
Kc6 $1 Kf2 40. Kxc7 Kxg2 41. Kd6 (41. Kb8) 41... Kxf3 42. c5 Kg2 $1 43. c6 f3 44. c7
f2 45. c8=Q f1=Q 46. Qc2+ Kh3 $1 47. Ke6 Qg2 48. Qxg2+ Kxg2 49. Kf6 Kxh2 50. Kxg6
h4 51. Kg5 h3 52. Kg4 Kg2 0-1[/pgn]

[Mike Sherwin]

I'm up past midnight, not good. I played 10, 10 minute games against humans. To my best recollection I have not played rated games against humans for 41 years. I quit playing competitive chess way back then because I cannot remember opening lines. I can't even remember games that I have played. Tonight on chess.com I played terrible but I won every game against humans. That is not saying much because chess.com started me at 400 elo and no matter how many blunders I made my opponents made worse blunders. The early rating can be deceptive because obviously a 400 can be 2400 or even higher. In one of my games I'm sure I was playing someone much better than their rating. I got in a good swindle to win the game. Here is that game.
[pgn][Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2024.11.23"]
[Round "-"]
[White "CH10261961"]
[Black "mjsherwin"]
[Result "0-1"]
[CurrentPosition "7k/R5p1/3q3p/1p3P2/8/1P4QP/P5PK/7r w - -"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "A00"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Saragossa-Opening-1...d5"]
[UTCDate "2024.11.23"]
[UTCTime "05:55:56"]
[WhiteElo "918"]
[BlackElo "979"]
[TimeControl "600"]
[Termination "mjsherwin won by resignation"]
[StartTime "05:55:56"]
[EndDate "2024.11.23"]
[EndTime "06:08:21"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/liv ... is&move=58"]
[WhiteUrl "https://www.chess.com/bundles/web/image ... a92436.gif"]
[WhiteCountry "2"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://www.chess.com/bundles/web/image ... a92436.gif"]
[BlackCountry "2"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. c3 d5 2. d4 e6 3. Qc2 c5 4. b3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bd6 6. Nbd2 Nf6 7. h3 e5 8. dxe5
Nxe5 9. Nxe5 Bxe5 10. e4 d4 11. cxd4 Bxd4 12. Bb2 O-O 13. Bc4 Be6 14. Bxe6 fxe6
15. O-O e5 16. Bxd4 cxd4 17. Qc4+ Kh8 18. Nf3 Nxe4 19. Nxe5 Qe7 20. Qxd4 Nf6 21.
f4 Rfd8 22. Qe3 Qf8 23. Qf3 b5 24. Ng4 Qc5+ 25. Kh1 Nxg4 26. Qxg4 Rd2 27. Rfc1
Qf8 28. Rc7 Rad8 29. Rxa7 Rd1+ 30. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 31. Kh2 h6 32. f5 Qd6+ 33. Qg3
Rh1+ 0-1[/pgn]
I did play one game with 0 Mistakes, 0 Blunders, 0 Misses
[pgn][Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2024.11.23"]
[Round "-"]
[White "dery-SmartChess"]
[Black "mjsherwin"]
[Result "0-1"]
[CurrentPosition "2kr3r/ppp3pb/4pp2/8/8/PP2p2P/2P1PqB1/R1Q2K2 w - -"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "D00"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Queens-P ... on-2...Nf6"]
[UTCDate "2024.11.23"]
[UTCTime "06:35:13"]
[WhiteElo "1068"]
[BlackElo "1091"]
[TimeControl "600"]
[Termination "mjsherwin won by checkmate"]
[StartTime "06:35:13"]
[EndDate "2024.11.23"]
[EndTime "06:39:22"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/liv ... b=analysis"]
[WhiteUrl "https://www.chess.com/bundles/web/image ... a92436.gif"]
[WhiteCountry "70"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://www.chess.com/bundles/web/image ... a92436.gif"]
[BlackCountry "2"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 h6 4. h3 Bf5 5. g4 Bh7 6. Rh2 e6 7. a3 Bd6 8. Bg2
Bxh2 9. Nxh2 Qd6 10. Nf3 Nbd7 11. g5 hxg5 12. Bxg5 Ne4 13. Nxe4 dxe4 14. Ne5
Nxe5 15. dxe5 Qxe5 16. f4 Qd5 17. Qb1 f6 18. Bh4 O-O-O 19. b3 Qd2+ 20. Kf1 Qxf4+
21. Bf2 e3 22. Qc1 Qxf2# 0-1[/pgn]

I wonder what Gotham would guess that my elo is, lol?

[Mike Sherwin]

I went over all my games on chess.com. I played much worse than I thought. I've never been my best at speed chess. I have only played two games today sofar. I played a horrible opening but managed to survive a terrific attack to totally demolish my opponent.
[pgn][Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2024.11.24"]
[Round "-"]
[White "mjsherwin"]
[Black "Celino_meyer"]
[Result "1-0"]
[CurrentPosition "8/pp3p2/8/2N1p1P1/b7/3k1PKN/PP4P1/8 b - -"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "D06"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Queens-G ... .cxd5-Qxd5"]
[UTCDate "2024.11.24"]
[UTCTime "00:46:56"]
[WhiteElo "1274"]
[BlackElo "1223"]
[TimeControl "600"]
[Termination "mjsherwin won by resignation"]
[StartTime "00:46:56"]
[EndDate "2024.11.24"]
[EndTime "00:59:06"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/liv ... b=analysis"]
[WhiteUrl "https://www.chess.com/bundles/web/image ... a92436.gif"]
[WhiteCountry "2"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://www.chess.com/bundles/web/image ... a92436.gif"]
[BlackCountry "73"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c5 3. cxd5 Qxd5 4. dxc5 Qxd1+ 5. Kxd1 e5 6. Be3 Nc6 7. Nd2 Bf5 8.
Nb3 Rd8+ 9. Ke1 Nb4 10. Rc1 Nc2+ 11. Rxc2 Bxc2 12. f3 Nf6 13. Bg5 Be7 14. e4 h6
15. Bb5+ Nd7 16. Bxe7 Kxe7 17. Bxd7 Rxd7 18. Nd2 Rhd8 19. Nc4 Rd1+ 20. Kf2 R8d4
21. Ne3 R1d2+ 22. Kg3 g5 23. Nf5+ Kf6 24. Nxh6 R2d3 25. Ng4+ Ke6 26. h4 Rxe4 27.
hxg5 Bd1 28. Rh6+ Kd5 29. Nf6+ Kxc5 30. Nxe4+ Kd4 31. Nh3 Ba4 32. Rd6+ Ke3 33.
Rxd3+ Kxd3 34. Nc5+ 1-0[/pgn]

The second game I played much better. My record is now +20 -0 = 0. I don't think my perfect record will last much longer. I've been very lucky so far.
[pgn][Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2024.11.24"]
[Round "-"]
[White "mjsherwin"]
[Black "ERICABSTON"]
[Result "1-0"]
[CurrentPosition "6Rk/r6r/3P3P/p3p3/2B1P3/2N4b/3B1K2/R7 b - -"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "D20"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Queens-G ... -Variation"]
[UTCDate "2024.11.24"]
[UTCTime "02:08:37"]
[WhiteElo "1292"]
[BlackElo "1250"]
[TimeControl "600"]
[Termination "mjsherwin won by checkmate"]
[StartTime "02:08:37"]
[EndDate "2024.11.24"]
[EndTime "02:16:50"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/liv ... b=analysis"]
[WhiteUrl "https://www.chess.com/bundles/web/image ... a92436.gif"]
[WhiteCountry "2"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://www.chess.com/bundles/web/image ... a92436.gif"]
[BlackCountry "2"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e3 b5 4. a4 c6 5. axb5 cxb5 6. Qf3 Nc6 7. Qxc6+ Bd7 8.
Qf3 a6 9. Ne2 Ra7 10. Nec3 e6 11. b3 Bb4 12. bxc4 bxc4 13. Bd2 f5 14. Bxc4 g5
15. Qh5+ Kf8 16. e4 f4 17. g3 Nf6 18. Qh6+ Kg8 19. gxf4 Ng4 20. Qxg5+ Qxg5 21.
fxg5 Bxc3 22. Nxc3 a5 23. h3 Nxf2 24. Kxf2 h6 25. gxh6 Rh7 26. Rhg1+ Kh8 27. d5
e5 28. d6 Bxh3 29. Rg8# 1-0[/pgn]

[towforce]

A good way to improve on chess.com is to review your games in analysis mode. This video shows you how:

[Mike Sherwin]

A good way to improve on chess.com is to review your games in analysis mode. This video shows you how:

I started the "free" seven day trial. Although after the seven days my credit card will be charged ~$80.00 for one year of platinum membership. The game review function in that video is okay but it is better to copy the pgn and bring it into your favorite chess engine.

[Mike Sherwin]

I wasn't feeling good today and maybe I shouldn't have played. Today +18 -14 =2 . Here is probably my best game.
[pgn][Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2024.11.25"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Evgeni16051978"]
[Black "mjsherwin"]
[Result "0-1"]
[TimeControl "600"]
[WhiteElo "1359"]
[BlackElo "1327"]
[Termination "mjsherwin won by resignation"]
[ECO "A15"]
[EndTime "6:05:52 GMT+0000"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/live/126253171587"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. e3 e6 3. a3 c5 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Qc2 d5 6. cxd5 exd5 7. b3 d4 8. Ne4
Be7 9. Nxc5 O-O 10. Bb2 b6 11. Ne4 Bb7 12. Nf3 Rc8 13. Qb1 dxe3 14. dxe3 Nxe4
15. Qxe4 Nb4 16. Qxb4 0-1[/pgn]

And this should have been my best game but I just couldn't get it done. Except my opponent did flag.
[pgn][Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2024.11.25"]
[Round "?"]
[White "mjsherwin"]
[Black "sessoms08"]
[Result "1-0"]
[TimeControl "600"]
[WhiteElo "1301"]
[BlackElo "1393"]
[Termination "mjsherwin won on time"]
[ECO "A15"]
[EndTime "4:50:54 GMT+0000"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/live/126247778197"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. e3 Nc6 4. d4 d6 5. d5 Ne5 6. Nxe5 dxe5 7. Nc3 Bg4 8. f3
Bd7 9. e4 a6 10. a4 a5 11. Bd3 g6 12. Be3 e6 13. Qd2 Nh5 14. h4 h6 15. g4 Nf4
16. Bxf4 exf4 17. Qxf4 Bd6 18. e5 Be7 19. h5 Bh4+ 20. Kd1 Bg5 21. Qe4 Rg8 22. f4
Be7 23. d6 Bc6 24. Qe1 g5 25. f5 Bxh1 26. Qxh1 Bf8 27. fxe6 f6 28. Bg6+ Rxg6 29.
hxg6 fxe5 30. d7+ Ke7 31. Qd5 Qb6 32. Nb5 Rd8 33. Kc2 Bg7 34. Rf1 Bf6 35. g7
Qxe6 36. Qxc5+ Kf7 37. Nd6+ Kxg7 38. Nf5+ Kg6 39. Qd5 Qxd5 40. cxd5 Rxd7 41. d6
e4 42. Re1 h5 43. Rxe4 hxg4 44. Ne7+ 1-0[/pgn]

[Mike Sherwin]

Well I got into the groove and got 9.5 out of my last 10 games even though I'm starting to play some dangerous 1400's. At almost 3am I better call it quits and go to dreamland!

[Mike Sherwin]

I have quit playing on Chess.com because I feel that I was being cheated too many times. Opponents would play their rating and get an inferior position and then start playing like chess gods. A few would then beat me but most would just cause me to use too much time and I'd flag in a better position. Rather than get upset and start making accusations I just decided to not play there anymore.