Like you said, this guy can play!
Enjoyed your commentary a lot. Your glass definitely sounded half empty after the opening, it was difficult to accept the outcome, though I think your position was ok.
A tough opponent.

''What kind of rubbish is this ?'' This one got me, hehe.

So, where to start ? First of all: I do like the open games, but I'm trying out new stuff with 1..Nc6. If you go to Hitch's journal, you'll see a post of mine, where I talked about some of the variations. Against 1. e4 Nc6 2. Nc3 I'd usually play ..Nf6, but (as you can see in the journal) I had this idea of d6 and f5. Haven't analysed it at all, I thought it would be a good time to try it out (since 2. Nc3 is not the most common move in the Nimzowitsch lines). Well, it wasn't sound at all, but sometimes you got to accept a lost position to win (that's the price to pay, when you're trying out new openings and experiment). Looking back, I wasn't worried too much during the game. I think it's important to be optimistic about your opening position.

Also, I don't play ..a6 in the Ruy Lopez (I prefer f5 (Jaenisch gambit), Nd4 (Bird's Defence) or the Berlin). ;]

(My vastly inferior vid is uploading btw.)

Hi guys, sorry I was in such a negative mood! To be honest, I'm still feeling that way. I'm working about 14-16 hours a day at the moment, have moved to a new city, have made no friends (no time!), have cancelled joining the chess club for this reason (twice), and had the added stress of missing the morning game which I was actually mentally prepared to play. I hope that you enjoyed it though.

Back to work for me, I look forward to the day where I have the time to watch your video, fox! You were a worthy winner, and I don't want to take anything away from you.

P.S. I was prepared for 1. e4 Nc6 2. Nc3 Nf6, had planned 3.d4 where I think white is doing well.

Also, was prepared for 2...e5 where 3. f4 with the Vienna Gambit was the plan. These had already been worked out as my main lines against 1...Nc6.

I thought about Ruy Lopez stuff, and was going to prepare against Bird's- but figured that since I just watched GM Alterman on the Morphy Attack, I'd give that a go and not bother with any research. With all the work, I wouldn't have had time anyhow.