Week 94: a London System Qb6 lesson, then 11 wins in a row

Week 94 (November 10 to 16, 2025) started with three losses and then turned into the longest winning streak of my whole journey: 11 wins in a row. Over 29 rapid games I went 17 wins, 10 losses and 2 draws, from 1229 to 1288. Just before the streak, though, I lost a game in the London System Qb6 line in a way I want to remember: Black's queen wandered to b4, a single pawn move against it would have left me completely winning, and I traded bishops instead.

The week in numbers

The first three games (1809 to 1811) were all losses and took me from 1229 to 1207. Then came games 1812 to 1822, eleven wins over two days, and my rating climbed to 1297. After the streak the week went back to normal: a draw, then wins and losses mixed, with a high of 1305 and a finish at 1288.

The London System Qb6 game I should have won

r n . . k . n r
p p . . . p p p
. . p b p . . .
. . . p . b . .
. q . P . B . .
. P . . P N . .
P . P N . P P P
R . Q . K B . R

Against dariele1 (1217) the game went 1.d4 c6 2.Bf4 d5 3.Nf3 Bf5 4.e3 Qb6. From b6 the queen looks down the b-file at my pawn on b2. I answered with 5.b3, and Black's queen kept going: 6...Qb4. My 7.Qc1 was a mistake, but then Black blundered with 7...Bd6, and Stockfish rated the position +7.97, completely winning for me.

The engine's move is 8.a3, a pawn attacking the queen on b4. In its line the queen goes to c3, my bishop takes on d6, and White stays completely winning. I played 8.Bxd6 instead. It also attacked the queen, but it was a trade: Black simply took back, 8...Qxd6, and the evaluation dropped to +0.23. Two moves that both attack the queen: one sends it looking for a square, the other offers a trade that Black was happy to accept. Six moves later I was checkmated.

The lesson for the London System Qb6 lines, at least from my game: when Black's queen goes far forward to b4, look at the pawn moves that attack it before the piece moves. A pawn attack costs nothing.

Eleven wins in a row

The streak ran from game 1812 to game 1822, on November 11 and 12. Six of the games were with White, all with my d4 and Bf4 setup, and five with Black: two King's Indian setups, two Modern Defense games and one Pirc. Five ended in checkmate, three by resignation and three when my opponent abandoned the game.

It wasn't flawless. Stockfish counted 15 blunders in those eleven wins, five of them in game 1821 alone, where my accuracy was 61.7%. My best games of the streak reached 93.3% (games 1812 and 1822) and 93.2% (game 1817). What changed during those two days, as far as the data shows, is that my opponents' mistakes came before mine more often. I'd love to claim it was a new skill. The numbers don't let me.

Two losses that frame the streak

r . . r . . k .
. N q . . p . p
p . . . p . p .
. p . . . . . .
. P . . B . . .
P . n . . . . P
. . Q . . P P .
R . . . . . K .

The first game of the week, against Ashee1970 (1237), had the biggest single swing of the week. I was completely winning (-6.14; minus means Black, me, was better). My knight on c3 was standing on the c-file between my queen on c7 and White's queen on c2. When I took the bishop with 25...Nxe4, the file opened, and it was White's move: 26.Qxc7 took my queen. The evaluation went to +6.94. Stockfish's 25...Qe5 attacks the same bishop without moving the knight that shields my queen.

r . . q . r k .
p p p . p p b p
. . n p . n p .
. . . . . b . .
. . . P . . . .
P P . . P N P P
. B P N . P B .
R . . Q . R K .

The second, against lightswitch021 (1296), is quieter. In a Modern Defense against 1.d4, I moved my knight from f6 to d7 (from +0.72 to +4.50). Stockfish's answer for White is 12.e4, a pawn attacking my bishop on f5, and in its line White's d-pawn later reaches d5 and attacks my bishop and my knight on c6 at once. The engine's 11...Re8 just improves the rook. In the game White played 12.c4, I answered with a blunder of my own, 12...e5, and lost.

The lesson of the week

Look at pawn moves first when an enemy piece is far forward. 8.a3 against the queen on b4 was the winning move of the week, and 12.e4 against my bishop on f5 was the engine's refutation the next day. Pawns are the cheapest attackers on the board: when a pawn attacks a queen or a bishop, the piece has to move, and nothing is given back. Before I make a piece move that attacks something, I now ask whether a pawn can do the same job.

All games this week

Previous week: week 93. Next week: week 95. Every week is on the journey page. If you play the London too, you can review your own games like this.