Queen's Gambit Declined — Win

Saturday, October 3, 2026 · vs Sanjoypaul09 · View game on lichess ↗

Before playing a quiet move, do a quick scan for any pawn or piece that's just sitting there capturable — exf6 was sitting right there and got skipped for h3. Make 'check the captures first' an automatic habit, especially in the dynamic middlegame right after the opening.

• ›Queen to c2 here instead of knight to e2 was a real blunder — a one-second move that swung the evaluation hugely in Black's favor. The knight move was the calm, correct way to untangle; the queen move just doesn't solve your problems and hands Black a shot at a big advantage. Lucky for you, next move Black played queen to h4 instead of just grabbing the pawn on d4, which threw the whole advantage right back at you — so this one cancels itself out, but don't count on opponents returning the favor every time.
• ›You spent twelve seconds on this one and still went with h3 instead of the much stronger exf6, capturing the knight. That's the kind of moment where it pays to scan captures first — exf6 wins material and keeps Black on the back foot, while h3 is just a slow, passive poke that lets them regroup. Not fatal, but it let a chunk of your advantage evaporate for free.