LindseyAnn vs. cliff36

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2007.11.28"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "lindseyann"]
[Black "cliff36"]
[TimeControl "-"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A40"]
[WhiteELO "1336"]
[BlackELO "1192"]

{Termination "Black king mated" Mode "ICS" DateLastMove "2008.1.18"
Board "4351569"}
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bb4 5.Bd2 Nf6 6.e3
{Thus far, we've both played very solid opening moves.}
6...O-O 7.Bd3 Ng4 8.O-O Bd6 9.c5 Be7 10.b4
{Hangs the pawn.}
10...Nxb4 11.Ne2
{Bad move again. I've lost focus. Better would have been 11. Bxh7+ Kxh7 12. Qb1+ Kg8 13. Qxb4. Winning back the pawn but trading a bishop for a knight.}
11...Nxd3 12.Qb3 e5
{Now it was his turn to make a bad move.}
13.h3
{I should have taken the knight straight away. He could have played Nxf2 keeping himself ahead, but thankfully he misses it.}
13...Nf6 14.dxe5 Ne4
{This was a big turn around for me. He would have done much better by taking the pawn with Nxc5, threatening my queen and protecting the knight at d3.}
15.Qxd3 Nxd2 16.Qxd2 Bxc5
{Now I'm only down a pawn, which is a vast improvement from a few positions ago. However my pawns are bad and I have no more bishops.}
17.Rfc1 Bf5
{And now I'm up again with the hanging of his bishop. I was very lucky that he started making careless moves.}
18.Rxc5 Be4 19.Rac1
{I probably should have moved the knight. If he would have taken it then the pawns on the king-side would have been really weak. Luckily he didn't.}
19...f6 20.Nc3
{I have no idea what I was thinking with this move.}
20...fxe5 21.Nxe5 d4
{Now he hangs the other bishop. Maybe that bizarre knight move I made threw him off balance.}
22.Nxe4 Qh4
{Now he's getting desperate. He's looking to mess me up with Qxf2, but it's protected quite well by the knight.}
23.Qxd4 b6
{Black enters into a forced mate, which I of course miss, but it's quite pretty here it is: 24. Qd5+ Rf7 25. Qxf7+ Kh8 26. Rxc7 Qxf2+ 27. Kxf2 Rg8 28. Qxg8+ Kxg8 29. Rx8#}
24.Rxc7 b5
{There is another forced mate here, but I get so hung up on getting a smothered mate that I miss out on several less pretty mates. But, thankfully I do get the smothered mate and it is glorious.}
25.Qd5+ Kh8 26.Nc6 Rae8 27.f3 Qh6 28.Nd6
{With this move I went from winning out right to our score being completely even. If I hadn't managed to eek out the mate it would have been a tragedy.}
28...Qxe3+ 29.Kh2 Qf4+ 30.Kh1 Qxc1+ 31.Kh2
{Here he could have forced a draw. He was greedy though.}
31...Re1 32.Nf7+ Kg8 33.Nh6+
{You've gotta love the double check.}
33...Kh8 34.Qg8+ Rxg8 35.Nf7#
{Black king mated. My favorite mate of all time.}
1-0

LindseyAnn vs. Fright Night

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2007.11.27"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "lindseyann"]
[Black "Fright Knight"]
[TimeControl "-"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "1328"]
[BlackELO "1148"]

{Termination "Black king mated" Mode "ICS" DateLastMove "2008.1.14"
Board "4349496"}
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nc3 e6 4.e3 Bb4 5.Bxc4 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3
{I wouldn't have traded my bishop for a knight this early in the game.}
6...Nf6 7.Ba3
{Gotta love stopping the castle, even if it's just for a moment.}
7...Ne4 8.Qd3
{Slightly better is Qg4, putting some pressure on the king-side.}
8...f5 9.Nf3 Bd7 10.O-O g5
{He's got a lot of room on the king-side, which means I should look to stop him from castling on the queen-side now.}
11.Rab1 g4 12.Ne5 h5
{He forgot about that pawn.}
13.Rxb7 h4 14.Ng6 Rg8 15.Nf4 Nc6 16.Rfb1 g3 17.f3
{I missed taking the pawn on e6.}
17...Nf6 18.Bxe6
{I went for the pawn eventually. Although it would have been better to take with the knight.}
18...Bxe6 19.Nxe6 Qd7 20.Nxc7+
{From here it was all downhill for him.}
20...Kf7
{And now I can win his queen.}
21.Nxa8 Rb8 22.Rxd7+ Nxd7 23.Qxf5+ Ke8
{Missed a mate here. 24. Qg6+ Kd8 25. Qg8+ Nf8 26. Rxb8+ Nxb8 27. Qxf8+ Kd7 28. Qd6+ Ke8 27. Qe7# }
24.Rxb8+ Ndxb8 25.Nc7+ Kd8 26.Ne6+ Kd7
{There is another forced mate here, but at this point no matter what path I take it will lead to mate.}
27.d5 Ne7 28.Bxe7 Kxe7 29.Qf8+ Kd7 30.Qxb8
{Really? I missed mate in one with 30. Qd8#}
30...a5 31.Qc7+ Ke8 32.d6 a4 33.Qe7#
{Black king mated. This was a very strange game. I think I'll revisit it in the future.}
1-0

Fright Night vs. LindseyAnn 0-1

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2007.11.27"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "Fright Knight"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[TimeControl "-"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteELO "1162"]
[BlackELO "1319"]

{Termination "White king mated" Mode "ICS" DateLastMove "2008.1.13" Board "4349497"}
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Bb5 Qf6
{I missed the whole point of playing Bc5 which is to force him to defend the knight again. He didn't and I totally missed 5...Nxd4 winning the knight.}
6.Be3 Nge7
{Once again the knight is attacked three times and only defended twice.}
7.Nc3 O-O
{I was never going to see it.}
8.Bxc6 Nxc6 9.Nf5 d6 10.Nd5 Qxb2
{For once my pawn gobbling was the right move.}
11.O-O Bxe3
{I'm not really sure what possessed me to make this move. It does double his pawns, but it brings his rook right into the thick of things.}
12.fxe3 Qe5 13.Nfe7+ Kh8
{How I managed to win this game is beyond me. I could have played 13...Nxe7 14. Nxe7 Qxe7 and he's thrown away all his knights. Apparently I was unable to count defenders in this game. Then again, nether was he.}
14.Rf5
{He finally makes a move that is so blatantly bad I can't possibly miss it.}
14...Bxf5 15.exf5
{This was whites key error. He is never able to regain stability and thankfully I took the time to find the right move and capitalize.}
15...Nxe7 16.Nxc7 Qxe3+ 17.Kf1
{Yet another sub par move. His king would have been much safer at h1.}
17...Nxf5
{I'm sure I was chasing mate when I let the rook hang. The mate was coming, but not as soon as I thought.}
18.Nxa8 Rxa8 19.Qd5
{It would have been better for him to play 19. Qd3 and trade down a bit to relief some of the pressure I was putting on his king.}
19...Qf4+ 20.Ke2
{This puts him into a forced mate. I get halfway there and then trail off, but I get it eventually.}
20...Re8+ 21.Kd3 Re3+ 22.Kd2 Qf2+
{This is were I lost the mate line. Mate is 22...Qb4+ 23. Kc1 Re1+ 24. Qd1 Qa3+ 25. Kd2 Qe3#}
23.Kc1 Re1+ 24.Kb2 Ne3
{This was not the best move. There was a proper response to it, but I was hedging my bets on him snatching the pawn and allowing me to win the queen.}
25.Qxd6 Nc4+
{Apparently there is a crazy forced mate if I'd played Qxc2 instead. I was content to take the queen knowing that mate would follow in time.}
26.Kb3 Nxd6 27.Rxe1 Qxe1 28.g4 Qe6+
{Get ready for it.}
29.Kb4 Qc4+ 30.Ka3 Qb5 31.h4 Nc4#
{White king mated. I like this mate, as I like any mate that involves the crazy knight.}
0-1

cliff36 vs. LindseyAnn 1-0

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2007.11.28"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "cliff36"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[TimeControl "-"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C46"]
[WhiteELO "1123"]
[BlackELO "1344"]

{Termination "Black king mated" Mode "ICS" DateLastMove "2008.1.11" Board "4351574"}
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bc4 Bb4 5.Nb5 Nxe4 6.O-O d6 7.d3 Ng5
{My first mistake of the game. I guess I didn't notice the bishop also guarding g5. This allows him to win the knight. Better would have been 7...Nf6 or 7...c5 or even 7...a6.}
8.Nxg5
{He is now threatening the f7 pawn.}
8...d5
{My opponent missed the chance to win my Queen (or at least the d-pawn). 9. Bxd5 Qxd5 10. Nxc7+ and I loose the queen. Luckily he missed that. Better is 8...Rf8 though I loose the right to castle.}
9.Bb3 O-O
{It would have been wise to start driving back his knights with my pawns here.}
10.Be3 a6 11.c4
{Another ridiculous move by my opponent. I capitalize on it, but still manage to loose the game.}
11...axb5 12.cxd5 Ne7
{This move wasn't proactive enough. It allowed him to move his queen in on my position and gain control. Better was 12...Nd4.}
13.Qh5
{Threatens mate at h7.}
13...Bf5
{The correct defense.}
14.g4
{He missed 14. d6, which opens up the diagonal for his bishop to come into the game.}
14...Bxd3
{I should have played 14...Bg6 instead of greedily taking a pawn. His queen was way too dangerous and I give him the chance to find d6 while it's still loaded. I do play Bg6 on the next move.}
15.Rad1 Bg6 16.Qh4 h6
{Slowly trying to drive him out of my position.}
17.d6
{This move is no longer nearly as threatening, and it's not even the best move in this position. Better is 17. Nf3}
17...cxd6
{A bit better would have been 17...Bxd6 letting my bishop come into the defense of my king side.}
18.f4
{Once again giving me one of his knights. The computer agrees with taking it, but I do let things get a bit airy around my king.}
18...hxg5 19.fxg5
{19. Qxg5 is much better.}
19...d5 20.a3
{20. Rf3 is slightly better, moving more of his pieces into the attack.}
20...Ba5 21.Bc5 d4
{Very bad. I open up his bishops diagonal and do nothing to help myself.}
22.a4
{Thankfully he followed my bad move with a bad move of his own.}
22...bxa4 23.Bxa4
{Better would been to let the pawn go and play 23. Bc4, keeping it on the good diagonal.}
23...b6
{Not very good, once again cutting off a diagonal for my bishop. Better is 23...Bb6 resulting in a trading of bishops. At this point I should have been trading as many pieces as possible. Since I was up material but he had a good attack going.}
24.Bxe7 Qxe7 25.Rf3 e4
{I moved into mate here and sealed my fate. Much better is 25...Be1 26. Rxe1 Rxa4, trading down some more.}
26.Rh3 f6 27.Bb3+ Qe6 28.Bxe6+ Bf7 29.Qh8#
{Black king mated. I was winning through the whole game, up until the point where he had a forced mate. That's chess and that's what happens when you let your concentration slip for even a second. Especially in a double edged game such as this one.}
1-0