Reti Gambit against a 1800 player

Today, I played a Reti Gambit against an 1800 player on playchess . The Game progressed to the position below which may lead to a possibility of two strong bishop pointing to blacks Kingside. The bishop in front of the queen often leads to some tactics .

My opponent has just played a4 starting an attack on my castled position. white to move, I noticed Nxe5 pxe5, Qxe5+ Kh8 . If rook blocks then Bc4 with pressure.

After shuffling the rook back and forth a few times, black decides to play a4 ??.

Then comes BXf6!!. The bishop can not be captured since knight take loses the queen and pawn take leads to QXh7 checkmate so he plays ..rg8 .

This loses to Bc4 with the battery that can't be stopped. Nice to have a game against a strong player where I got in some tactical shots. Perhaps this Ct-art stuff is working.....

Play through the complete game here

Odds and ends

Some progress being made. I feel like I am developing some better board vision and calculating ability. Level 30 tactic problem circles are going well. I am making efforts to play slower and more carefully. This is somewhat foreign to my nature and a big reason why I am at my current level. I am still overlooking some pseudodefenses in my variations. Defenses which are not defenses at all because of pins or can't recapture due to their defending a mating square.

Listening to World Reggae as music and Guns, Germs and Steel as book on tape. I am reading Forcing Chess moves which walks me through some chess tactics. Not a bad book.

Tactical Exercises update

I split Level 40 into two halves for minicircles . I just finished my third mc of the second half of level 30. I solve these exercises with a low key attitude doing them at times with the Red Sox or Celtics in the background. I am not making great gains from circle to circle but by the time I reach 8 times I seem to know them reasonable well.

Today, I am convinced that understanding why the tactic works and being able to verbalize (narrate) the characteristics of the position is an important part of tactical training. At one point I was convinced that I would see a position and automagically relate it to the tactical solution. This only happens after hours of missteps, narrating and working through the problems. This is the door I must pass before the magic occurs.

Unsure if I will move on to Level 50 afterwards.

I may classify some of the Ct-art problems by type of mate :Boden Mate, Anastasia mate , Arabian Mate etc. and if I do I will post it on this site.

I think this covers it....

Pins, and forks and hanging pieces.
Skewers, Invaders and back rank weakness
Kings without air and Defence not there,
X-ray Attacks and guards that get wacked,
Pieces in a row and Queens with no place to go.
Attacks discovered and Kings uncovered,
Discovered Checks and Pawn structure wrecked
Open line through and defenders with too much to do.

tactical update did 7 + minicircles of the first 100 L30 ,now working on the next 100.

Chess Club on Friday I had a series of good games. One which I gave up my queen while delivering mate to the King on a8 with Nc7. Another winning material advantage with a fellow I had not beaten before. Also in a game against a strong player,when my opponent tried to swap queens, I played a rook check deflection of a rook who was guarding a queen. This won a queen for a rook. Very ct-artish.