Holiday Wins and Losses.

The holiday season is nearly over and soon I will be back in school. I've been playing a lot of games on Chess.com and not really spending my leisure time analyzing them. I had an epic session yesterday, where I finished up eight games of correspondence chess. Of those eight, I only lost one of them. To be fair, it was a devastatingly stupid loss, but these things happen. So, to ring in the new year, I'll post my favorite of the wins and the loss. And, perhaps if I find myself with an excess of free time in the future, I'll come back and annotate them.

This is my favorite win from yesterday. Keep in mind, I was playing basically a simul--since it was turn based chess and I was moving on board after board. It was great fun, but the quality of my games could probably have been better. To be honest though, I think mediocre games are much more exciting than games where no one makes mistakes. Anyways, I end up with tripled pawns, and he gets mated by four of my pieces--probably one of my favorite mates I've ever done. Enjoy watching us navigate through our own ineptitude.

King Safety?


This game was my only loss yesterday (I've already suffered one today though). I was over ambitious and over confident--two traits that I should learn to curb in real life as well as my chess life.

Didn't See That Coming

Pushing Pawns.

I'm beginning to notice a pattern in my life. Chess takes over as soon as I'm not focused on school or work. Sherlock Holmes did cocaine when he was without work, I suppose chess is a much safer thing to be addicted to in times of listlessness.

I'm on break from school right now. It's nice to have some R&R, but I need something to keep me occupied. So, for the time being I'm back on the chess scene. I don't know if I'll be able to keep this up when the semester starts back up, but I'll be enjoying my time back during this break.

And, here's a quick game that I just finished. You'll quickly see why it's not analyzed. It was a nice self-esteem booster to get me over the hump that always happens when I come back to chess.



Back in the Ring

LindseyAnn vs. MatthewMcCann 0-1

This game is a rare occurance. I actually faced my number one chess rival of all time--my husband. This is probably one of the best games I've ever had against him. I'm not sure if it's because I'm getting better or he's out of practice. With a couple of different moves I could have pulled out a draw. As it stood, I went into the endgame one pawn down and he was able to convert the advantage.


'Til Death


[Event "I Love You!!"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2010.08.03"]
[Round ""]
[White "lindseyann"]
[Black "MatthewMccann"]
[TimeControl "1"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO " "]
[WhiteELO "1350"]
[BlackELO "1475"]


1.e4
{A strange opening move for me. Matt didn't want to play the Queen's Gambit, so allowed for something different.}
1...e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6
{This move takes us out of the Philidor's Defense opening.}
5.Bb5
{While this move isn't "bad", I'm wondering why I didn't just play Nxc6 and double
his pawns.}
5...Bd7 6.Nc3 Nf6 7.Be3 g6 8.O-O Bg7 9.Nce2
{This move gives up some of the initiative. Now black has a slight advantage. Better would have been Qd2.}
9...O-O 10.c3
{My first mistake of the game. Drops the pawn for nothing.}
10...Nxe4 11.Bd3 Nc5 12.Bc2 Ne5 13.Qd2 Nc4 14.Qc1 Re8
{Nxe3 fxe3 would have given him the bishop pair and isolated the pawn, but also opened up my rook.}
15.Bb3
{This was a mistake on my part, but he did not take advantage of the mistake.}
15...d5
{While this response doesn't change the score very much, the following variation would have been better for black.}
16.Nf4 c6 17.Nxc6
{I was really, really proud of myself for finding this move because this is the sort of thing that I miss 9 out of 10 times.}
17...Bxc6 18.Bxc5 b6 19.Bd4
{This was a weak move on my part. I knew my plan was to try and win the d-pawn and I block off my rook access to the attack. It also allows him to isolate one of my pawns. Bd3 would have been a better choice.}
19...Bxd4 20.cxd4
{The position if pretty even at this point in the game, with black maintaining a slight advantage.}
20...Re4 21.Rd1
{Protecting my pawn, but 21. Bxc4 dxc4 22. Qxc4 looks alright for white.}
21...Qf6
{After this, things get messy and the tactics overwhelm me. Funny thing is, I felt like I had a better understanding of this position when I was playing it than I do
now.}
22.Nxd5 Bxd5 23.Bxc4 Rd8
{The computer like Rc8 much better here, and with Rd8 I gain back some of the initiative (although, I do not manage to keep it as we'll soon see).}
24.Bxd5 Rxd5 25.Qc7
{I knew I couldn't save the the pawn, so I tried to threaten one of his to maintain my "advantage". However, his pieces were a lot more active and after 25. Qc2 Rexd4 26. Rxd4 Rxd4 27. Re1 Things are a lot more even and we would have been moving toward a draw.}
25...Re2
{This move was great on Matt's part. He didn't need to take the d-pawn because he can do it whenever he wants. Instead he creates another threat for me.}
26.f3
{Rf1 would have been slightly better here, since there was no way to hang onto the d-pawn.}
26...Rxd4 27.Qxa7
{I was already losing this game, but I could have kept it a little closer.}
27...Rxd1+ 28.Rxd1 Qxb2 29.Rf1
{Ouch, steps into a forced mate. Matt misses it and is not going to be happy when he finds out.}
29...Qc3 30.Rd1
{And I step into another Mate in 3.}
30...Qb2 31.Qb8+ Kg7 32.Qg3 Qxa2 33.Re1
{My goal was to trade off our pieces and see if I could beat him in an endgame. Which is a pretty silly thing to do when you're down a pawn.}
33...b5 34.Rxe2 Qxe2 35.Qf2 Qxf2+ 36.Kxf2
{From this point forward it was pretty much over for me, but I played it out hoping for a terrible blunder on Matt's part. He did not comply with my wishes.}
36...Kf6 37.Ke3 Ke5 38.f4+ Kf5 39.Kf3 b4 40.Ke3 b3 41.Kd3 Kxf4 42.Kc3 Ke3 43.Kxb3 Kf2 44.Kc3 Kxg2 45.Kd3 f5 46.Ke3 g5
0-1
*

Arnez Gray Jr vs. LindseyAnn 0-1

Two games analyzed in one day! I'm on a roll. Here's a win to cheer myself up. Although as usual, my win came about by some very questionable playing by my opponent and I missed a very important queen move through most of the beginning of my attack. However, I pulled it out with a pretty mate at the end.

Also, I've included playable variations of mates that I missed along the way. This is a new experiment and it takes a lot more work than just casually mentioning the mates that I overlook.

Insert Obligatory Knight-Pun Game Title Here


[Event "Let's Play!"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2010.07.05"]
[Round ""]
[White "ArnezGrayJr"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[TimeControl "1"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO " "]
[WhiteELO "1123"]
[BlackELO "1261"]

1.e3 e5 2.d4 Nc6 3.Nf3 e4
{This is move is more aggressive than I am.}
4.Ng5
{But, sometimes it pays to be aggressive.}
4...Qxg5 5.f4 Qh4+
{It would have been slightly better to play 5. exf3ep gxf3 and then 6. Qh4 check when he doesn't have the pawn to interpose.}
6.g3 Qh6 7.Bg2 d5 8.Nc3 Nf6 9.O-O Bb4 10.a3 Ba5
{It might have been smarter to trade this off for the knight, since the center is all locked up and knights are probably a bit stronger. Also, it's just generally good to trade off pieces when you're ahead in material.}
11.Nb5 Bd7
{I missed a GREAT move here. 11...Ng4 and the queen has no where to go and nothing can interpose. Wow. I'd have to drop a few pawns after 12. Nxc7+ Kd7 13. Nxd5 Bxd1. But, I could have picked up the queen.}
12.b4 Bb6 13.g4
{Hanging a pawn and further weaken his king-side.}
13...Nxg4 14.h3 Nf6 15.Nxc7+
{I guess he just hates his knights, because he seems to like hanging them.}
15...Bxc7 16.Qe2 Qg6
{I remember reading or hearing a chess expert once say, "Never prepare to do something that you can just do". In this case, I was preparing to take the pawn,
Bxh3, but I could have just taken it and traded off bishops (since it's already clear that knights are going to decide this game).}
17.Qb5
{He could have played Kh2 and ruined my plans. But, he did not.}
17...Bxh3 18.Rf2 O-O
{It would have been better to play Qg3 followed by Nf4 and picking up the rook. However, I knew I needed to get my rooks in on the action and my king tucked away and I missed this tactic.}
19.Qxb7 Ne8
{I wouldn't have been so concerned about protecting my bishop, if I had realized I had a mate in 10 after Qxb7. I do not beat myself up over missing mate in 10.
Although Qg3 was always the best move.}
20.Qxa8 Ne7
{I seem to be dropping material left and right, but I knew that if I could just get my pieces to the king side, I would find a mate.}
21.Qxa7 Nf5 22.Kh2
{Mate in 7 from here. Once again beginning with Qg3 (that move never even crossed my mind during the game).}
22...Bxg2 23.Rxg2 Qh5+ 24.Kg1 Nh4 25.Rg5 Nf3+
{I missed a mate in 5 from here, but I almost had a bow on this one anyway.}
26.Kg2 Qh2+ 27.Kf1 Nxg5
{I prolonged his pain for a while longer, and I could have had a shorter mate from here if I'd just left the rook alone. But, sometimes its better to be safe than sorry.}
28.Qc5 Nf3 29.Qxd5 Qg1+ 30.Ke2 Qe1#
{I really quite like this mate.}
0-1

LindseyAnn vs. Krasi24 0-1

As promised, here is that really embarrassing loss that I suffered recently. I've been spending a lot more time playing than analyzing. Since my last update, I've gotten a few more wins under my belt. I also suffered a crushing loss today and I have a few boards where things look very delicate at the moment.

I won six games in a row before losing, which is pretty decent. But, I'm probably not going to analyze them all here, since I find looking over my losses a lot more instructive than looking over my wins.

Without further ado, I present:

Chess Blindness


[Event "Let's Play!"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2010.07.06"]
[Round ""]
[White "lindseyann"]
[Black "Krasi24"]
[TimeControl "1"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO " "]
[WhiteELO "1242"]
[BlackELO "1378"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.e4
{Already, I've made a stupid mistake, dropping a pawn right away. Better would have been either Nf3 or e3.}
4...Nxd4 5.Bxc4 e6 6.Be3 Nc6 7.Nf3 Bb4 8.Qb3
{So I can castle without isolating a pawn.}
8...Nf6 9.Nd2
{This move was sort of pointless on my part. Bb5 or Rd1 or 0-0 would have probably been more productive. My knight seems a bit loose here and I've plugged up the open file.}
9...a5 10.O-O O-O 11.Rfd1 h6 12.a3
{After this move, I've gotten back some of the initiative that I'd given up.}
12...Bxc3 13.Qxc3 Ng4 14.Nf3
{I played this to gain a tempo, control of the center, and look after the h2 & h4 squares.}
14...Qe7
{At this point in the game, even though I'm down a pawn, I feel pretty good about my position. My pieces seem a lot more active and better placed them him. Unfortunately I get a little to comfortable with my position soon, and I over look forced win for him.}
15.Be2
{I probably should have played Bf4 here, to prevent him from trading his knight for my bishop.}
15...f6 16.Nh4
{I was playing to put my knight on the hole at g6 (also, forking the queen and rook). But, I stupidly missed the easy tactic 16. Bc5 winning the exchange.}
16...Nce5 17.Bxg4
{I thought this was brilliant, since after Nxg4 Ng6 I've accomplished what I set out to do. Not only does it backfire, but the simple Bc5 is still on the board.}
17...g5
{I totally missed this response, and my bishop is hanging along with my knight. However, the computer still shows me in the lead with 5.02, if I play Bc5 that is. What do you think I'll do?}
18.Ng6
{Well, I certainly never saw Bc5. Now, my "plan" has failed and I'm pretty well psychologically devastated.}
18...Nxg6 19.Rd3
{I still could have played it, and I gave him the chance to fork my pieces.}
19...Ne5
{Now even here I could have still played Bc5 and had the advantage...}
20.Be2 Nxd3 21.Bxd3 e5
{I won't even bother pointing out the obvious at this point.}
22.Bc4+ Kh8
{And, with that move Bc5 is no longer an option!}
23.Rd1 Bg4 24.Rd2 Rfd8
{Now, around this point of the game, I wrote in my notes: "Watch out for back-rank mates! Only bishop to f4 is keeping you safe!" But, keeping with the theme of carelessness that this game has had running through it, I soon fail to heed my own advice.}
25.Rc2 Be6 26.Bxe6 Rd1+ 27.Qe1 Rxe1#
0-1

Jamiebubs vs. LindseyAnn 0-1

This is my first win since coming back to chess. It isn't pretty and I make a lot of mistakes. A day or two later, I lost a game terribly, so be expecting that to make it's way here soon enough.



[Event "Let's Play!"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2010.07.05"]
[Round ""]
[White "jamiebubs"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[TimeControl "1"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO " "]
[WhiteELO "1216"]
[BlackELO "1247"]


{Termination "lindseyann won by resignation"}
1.d4
{What's hilarious about this move: even though I love opening with 1. d4, I HATE playing against it.}
1...d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.b4 Nc6 4.a3 e5 5.Ne2
{He's not doing the best job of getting his pieces out quickly and the advantage is shifting toward my favor.}
5...Bd6 6.g3 O-O 7.Nec3
{While this was pretty much the only square this knight had to go to, he has now
blocked in the other knight.}
7...Be6
{I enjoy putting my pieces in this formation whenever possible. It might not have been all the best moves on my part, but look at it...}
8.Nb5 Re8
{It probably would have been best to play the breakthrough 8...dxe4 with all my pieces super active. But, I like to keep things as orderly as possible for as long as possible.}
9.N1c3 Be7 10.Bd3 a6
{At the time, I thought this move was really clever. The knight appears trapped, and indeed my opponent goes along with my flawed logic. However in truth, he had the response dxe4, ruining my plans. Better for me would have been to first play 10...e4 and then my plans work out better.}
11.Nxc7 Qxc7 12.f4 exf4
{I missed 12...Nxb4 winning the pawn after the discovered attack on his knight.}
13.exf4 Bg4
{I'm not sure why I did this instead of the obvious Nxd4. The computer seems confused as to which move is better.}
14.Be2 Bd6
{A pretty weak move, considering I had either Nxb4 or Bxb4 instead.}
15.O-O
{I've begun to slowly give away a lot of my advantage and it's a good thing that I was already up a knight because I'm about to make a stupid mistake.}
15...Bxe2
{I thought this move was totally brilliant because I totally overlooked his knight on c3. I think this is one of those moments where I wanted the tactic to be there
so bad, that I ignore the fact that it wasn't there at all.}
16.Nxe2 Re6
{Looking to play Rae8 and Qe7, with domination over the e-file. But, I over looked the obvious response...}
17.f5 Re4 18.Bg5
{Kind of a silly move, since my knight is much happier on g4 anyways.}
18...Ng4
{While I do like my knight on this square, Rae8 was a better way to start things off.}
19.Nc3
{A mistake.}
19...Rxd4
{...and I finally win that pawn that's been waiting to be taken this whole game.}
20.Qf3 Ne7
{I moved here to protect the d-pawn, but it would have been more effective to play Nce5, attacking the queen. Sometimes offense is the best defense.}
21.Nxd5 Nxd5
{Better would have been Qc2, threatening Qxh2#}
22.Rad1 Qb6
{Once again, Qxc2 was the best move.}
23.Kg2 Ne5 24.Qh5 f6
{Doing a good job of realizing that all was not completely safe in my camp.}
25.Be3 Nxe3+
{In all my years of having the computer auto-analyze my games, I have never seen it
use the phrase "quadruple-fork" and I must say, it's pretty awesome. I have to give more credit to my opponent than to myself, but at least I didn't miss it.}
26.Kh3 Nxd1
{The computer like several moves more than this one. I wanted to get his other rook away from his king and win this game. It didn't cost me much of my lead, so I'm not too concerned about it.}
27.c3 Rd3
{While I could have just played Nxc3 and it would have been objectively better, I like pins.}
28.Rf4
{And he can be mated several different ways from this point, but it doesn't go that far.}
28...Nf2+ 29.Kh4 g5+ 30.Qxg5+
{I think I enjoyed forcing him to give up his queen a bit too much.}
30...fxg5+
{White resigns. Join me next time for a terrible loss.}
*

Jimbua vs. Lindseyann 1-0

You may have looked around this site and noticed that a majority of my games are wins. This isn't because I don't want to publish my losses, or that I'm particularly good. It comes down to one simple factor... I'm almost always playing below my actual rating, because of timeouts during my chess breaks. This isn't the best way to get better. But, it just sort of works out this way. Well, I've been playing more on Chess.com lately, and I'm not playing very far below my true rating, so expect a few more losses to show up on this blog.

This game is a great example of how careless I can be. I resigned early, mainly because of self-outrage. So, learn from my mistakes and always keep an eye on how far apart your queen and king are, and beware of knight forks...



[Event "Let's Play!"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2010.07.05"]
[Round ""]
[White "Jimbua"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[TimeControl "1"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "1444"]
[BlackELO "1197"]

1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Qxd4
{I normally love when players do this, because I'm usually pretty good at navigating early queen threats and turning them into an advantage.}
3...Nc6 4.Qd3 Nf6 5.Bg5 Be7
{I always make this move, and it is usually a bad idea. It didn't really hurt my position, but there were other more productive options.}
6.Nf3 O-O 7.Nc3 d6 8.O-O-O
{At this point, white has gotten back the advantage and I completely failed to capitalize on his early missteps.}
8...Nd7 9.h4 Nc5
{Trying to win some space with tempo, but it would have been much smarter to play Nde5 instead--centralizing the knight.}
10.Qc4 Bd7 11.Nd5 Be6
{It is all down hill from here, much better was Bxg5+ There were so many tactics for him to take advantage of, and although he didn't work it out immediately, I soon slip up.}
12.Qb5 Qc8 13.Bxe7 Nxe7 14.Nxe7+
{Well, there it is, by leaving the bishop on g5 alone and moving my queen to the stupidest square ever, I have lost here.}
14...Kh8 15.Nxc8 Raxc8 16.e5
{And, because I don't see the point in playing a lost position, I resigned. This was a really sad game for me.}
1-0

Status Update

Well, school knocked me out of my chess zone yet again. I'm back at it, with a couple months of summer vacation looming on the horizon. I've also decided to make this blog public. I avoided it for a long time because I know I'm not the greatest or smartest chess player (hence, the name of the blog), but I've decided that I don't really care.

Part of me feels like this site is like a blog of bad poetry--however, I'm not going to let that deter me.

It will be a little while before I post any more new analysis. I'm catching up on the 25 or so games that didn't get analyzed when I was whisked into the world of a six-week intermediate accounting class.

I'm also converting a lot of the playable games into the Chess.com viewer. I feel like I'm cheating on Chessworld.net, because I've been with the site for so long... but, the integrated analysis is just too cool not to use.

I'm currently playing around 8-games of correspondence chess, and when some of those wrap up, hopefully I'll get around to analyzing them. I do have a few school obligations left, but I'll be free and clear on July 14th.

Jay8172 vs. LindseyAnn 0-1

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.3.26"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "jay8172"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[TimeControl "-"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C68"]
[WhiteElo "1263"]
[BlackElo "1440"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6
{I am really not a fan of the Ruy Lopez. I usually manage to make a mess of things. Let's see how this works out.}
5.Nxe5 Qd4 6.Nxf7 Qxe4+ 7.Qe2 Qxe2+ 8.Kxe2 Kxf7
{Turns out he made a mess of this. I was probably beefing up on my openings when this was played. Now neither of us are able to castle, but at least I'm up a piece.}
9.d4 Nf6 10.Rd1 Bg4+
{Developing my bishop with a skewer that is easily defended.}
11.f3 Re8+ 12.Kf2 Bf5 13.Nc3 c5
{I probably should have just taken the material with 13...Bxc2. But, I was trying to get my dark-square bishop into the game. He could have protected the g1-a7 diagonal with 14. Be3, but he didn't.}
14.dxc5 Bxc5+ 15.Kg3 Nh5+
{This move was no good and gets me into trouble in a minute.}
16.Kh4 g6
{I miss the completely obvious response 17. g4}
17.g4
{At this point in the game, I was completely convinced that Be7 would be mate. I did not notice his bishop quietly waiting to come to the defense.}
17...Bf2+ 18.Kh3
{Now I realize his bishop can come to the defense. I actually wrote in my notes during the game: Bxc2 trying to trick him into playing Rd2, then my mate works. This is what happened, but its never good to rely on your opponent to make a big blunder to win.}
18...Bxc2 19.Rd2 Nf4#
{White king mated}
0-1

LindseyAnn v. ccdd5 1-0

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.3.26"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "lindseyann"]
[Black "ccdd5"]
[TimeControl "-"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "C14"]
[WhiteELO "1171"]
[BlackELO "1264"]

{Termination "Black resigned" Mode "ICS" DateLastMove "2010.3.29" Board "6741508"}
1.d4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e5 Nfd7 6.Bxe7 Qxe7 7.f4 O-O 8.Nf3 a6
{This may be one of the longest book openings I've ever played. 8...c5 would have kept us in book.}
9.Bd3 Qb4
{Here he should have played f6 to prevent my playing Bxf7+ and destroying his king side.}
10.Rb1
{So I didn't make the correct response of Bxf7+, which is sad since I've been reading all about kingside attacks in 'Logical Chess'.}
10...Nc6 11.a3 Qe7 12.Ne2
{Preparing to swing over to the kingside for an attack, but it still would have been better to play Bxf7+ here.}
12...f6 13.O-O fxe5 14.fxe5 Nd8 15.Qe1 c5 16.c3 c4 17.Bc2 Nf7 18.h4
{I played this to have better control of g5, but Qg3 protects it twice which is alright at the moment.}
18...Nh6
{He might have wanted to get some counter play on the queen side here.}
19.Ng5 Rxf1+ 20.Qxf1 g6 21.Qf4
{Trying to set up some sort of discovered attack on the knight.}
21...Qf8 22.Nxe6 Qxf4 23.N6xf4
{Slightly better is N2xf4 which is completely obvious as I look back on this game.}
23...Nf8
{He decides not to defend his pawn so I decide to take it.}
24.Nxd5 Bf5 25.Ne7+ Kf7 26.Nxf5 Nxf5 27.Rf1
{Black resigned, though I'm not sure if it was completely necessary to resign. I was only up 4.5 points according to the computer and this guy has no idea how terrible I am at endgames.}
*

LindseyAnn vs. Steen Myrhoj 1-0

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.4.1"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "lindseyann"]
[Black "Steen Myrhoj"]
[TimeControl "-"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "1434"]
[BlackELO "1164"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3
{I love the Queen's Gambit. It's normally the only opening I ever play. This is the Marshall Variation, and it is customary for white to respond with 3. cxd5. That isn't really my style though, and I'll normally always play Nc3 on the third move.}
3...Nc6 4.Nf3 b6 5.e3 Bg4 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Be2
{Not the most aggressive placement of my bishop, but I hate pins.}
7...Nxc3 8.bxc3 g6 9.O-O Bg7 10.Qc2
{I made this move with the intention of playing Qe4. I knew there were a lot of defenses to this fork, but...}
10...O-O 11.Qe4 Qd6
{...he chose not to play the proper defense of Bd7 (although, this is another example of me relying on my opponents to make a mistake).}
12.Qxg4 a5 13.Qe4 f5 14.Bc4+ Kh8 15.Qh4
{According the computer, Qe6 is slightly better. But, I was going for a crushing king-side attack.}
15...e5 16.Ng5 h5
{This move I don't understand at all. 16...h6 would have gotten rid of my super powerful knight. Instead he's further weakened his king's position.}
17.Nf7+
{I was proud of finding this tactic, since this is the sort of thing that I miss a lot. After this I'm a bishop and an exchange.}
17...Rxf7 18.Bxf7 exd4 19.Qg5
{Sure, this move lets me take out the g-pawn, but his (eventual) c-pawn ends up being a pain for me later on. It would have been better to just take cxd4.}
19...dxc3 20.Bxg6 c2 21.Qxh5+
{Well, apparently I shouldn't have worried about his c-pawn, and I should have played 21. Bb2 because 21...Bxb2 would lead to a Mate in 3.}
21...Kg8 22.Bxf5 Qf6
{Bb2 would still be the best response, but I don't play it.}
23.Qh7+ Kf7 24.Bxc2 Qxa1 25.Bb3+
{Things are getting bleak for him. I'm not concerned about my missing rook, because my bishops and queen will dominate the rest of the game.}
25...Kf6 26.e4
{So, I missed a mate in 6 here. I'm not too distraught about that. I knew that getting my pawns in on the action would seal the deal.}
26...Qe5 27.f4 Qe8 28.Qh4+ Kg6 29.f5#
{I especially love it when pawns deliver mate.} 1-0

Brimoy vs. LindseyAnn 0-1

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.3.28"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "brimoy"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[TimeControl "-"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO " "]
[WhiteELO "1147"]
[BlackELO "1420"]


1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.f3 Bc5 4.Nh3
{Hmm, a knight on the rim is grim comes to mind. }
4...Nc6 5.Ng5
{While a knight on g5 can be decisive in middle and late games, there is no point in putting him there with no back-up so early in the game.}
5...O-O 6.Nc3 Nh5
{I played this move wanting to get my knight to f4 and hoping that he might not notice that this opened up a discovery...}
7.Nd5
{...He did not notice. I've said before, it's never good to depend on your opponent
to make mistakes, but it certainly helps sometimes.}
7...Qxg5 8.Qe2
{It's pretty much downhill from here for white. He should have played Kf1 to defend the g2 pawn.}
8...d6
{I'm not sure why I played this move. The obvious response was 8...Nf4, I'll get around to it eventually.}
9.d3 Nf4 10.Qd1
{Another misstep, giving me the g-pawn.}
10...Qxg2 11.Rf1 Bh3
{From here I was convinced that mate was guaranteed. It is for the most part, but he would make me work for it.}
12.Bxf4
{I think this move was important for him to make, because my knight was pretty dangerous. The computer thinks d4 is better, which makes sense because my dark-square bishop is also pretty dangerous.}
12...Qxf1+ 13.Kd2 Qf2+ 14.Kc1
{Qe2 with a trade would have gotten a lot of the pressure off of him. Instead he chooses to retreat.}
14...exf4 15.Nxf4
{I, thankfully, did not miss the fork...}
15...Be3+ 16.Kb1 Bxf4 17.b3 Bg2 18.Kb2
{And he's given me another beneficial exchange.}
18...Be5+ 19.Kb1 Bxf3
{I of course miss it, but for anyone who's interested: 19...Qd4 20.c3 Qxc3 21.d4 Bxd4 22.Qc1 Qxa1+ 23.Kc2 Qxa2+ 24.Kd3 Nb4+ 25.Kxd4 Qf2+ 26.Kc3 Na2+ 27.Kd3 Nxc1+ 28.Kc3 Na2+ 29.Kd3 Bf1#}
20.Qc1 Bxa1
{I went for the material advantage with Bxa1, however the computer recommended Nd4. Once the knight gets in the game it's pretty much an automatic loss, instead of a slow and painful loss for white. Once I find myself in a winning position, I tend to just try and trade down to fight it out in a overwhelmingly winning endgame (evenish endgames I avoid like the plague)... I was in this mentality at this point in the game.}
21.Kxa1 Nd4 22.a4 Rfe8
{I'm not sure why I didn't play Nxc2+. My whole intention after playing Nd4 was to take out the c-pawn (the only thing holding his pawns together at this moment). I eventually play it, I'm just wondering if there was a reason that I hesitated.}
23.Ka2 Nxc2 24.Kb2
{All I want now is to trade queens, take his pawns and mate him.}
24...Nd4+ 25.Ka3 c6 26.Qc3 d5
{I thought this was a clever way of getting rid of his last minor piece, but I missed a Mate in 12 here (not surprisingly): 26...Nc2+ 27.Ka2 Nb4+ 28.Kb1 Rxe4 29.Qxb4 Qg1+ 30.Kb2 Re2+ 31.Qd2 Rxd2+ 32.Kc3 Qc1+ 33.Kd4 Re8 34.Bxf7+ Kxf7 35.b4 Re4#}
27.Bxd5 cxd5 28.exd5 Rac8
{From here, mate is assured. }
29.Qb2 Qxb2+ 30.Kxb2 a5
{I don't take the fastest route to the win, but I like to get my pawn involved when putting together a mating net.}
31.h4 Re2+ 32.Ka3 Bxd5 33.b4 Rc3#
{White king mated}
0-1

LindseyAnn vs. TheSnarler 1-0

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.4.9"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "lindseyann"]
[Black "thesnarler"]
[TimeControl "-"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO " "]
[WhiteELO "1416"]
[BlackELO "1075"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3
{This is a weird second move for me, usually I'll just continue with c4, but maybe just wanted to shake things up.}
2...Nc6 3.e4 Na5 4.Nf3 Nh5
{I've never seen such crazy opening moves. The funny thing is, he manages to win a fair number of games playing this way.}
5.Be2 e6 6.O-O
{I'm playing a bit conservatively. The position probably called for some more aggressive play, especially considering how poor his development is.}
6...Bb4 7.Bd2 Bxc3 8.Bxc3
{Yes, I would love to trade my knight for your bishop in what is sure to be an open game.}
8...Nc6 9.Ne5
{When I played this move, I thought it was more clever than it actually is. 9. d5
would have probably been a better choice.}
9...Nf6 10.Nxc6 bxc6
{I'll settle for doubling his pawns though.}
11.Qd3
{The computer keeps suggesting that I push either the d or e-pawn, but the truth is, I like to keep the classical pawn center for as long as I can. I feel like it gives me a nice space advantage, and as long as they're not weakness, I don't see the point of splitting them up.}
11...d5 12.e5
{Now, I feel, was an appropriate time to push the e-pawn.}
12...Ne4 13.f3
{This move takes my bishop out of the game a bit. It may have been better to start attacking his weak c7 pawn, but I smell a pawn storm brewing--and, if I can kick his knight off that square in the process, I see no harm.}
13...Ng5 14.Bd2 f6 15.f4
{The computer thinks I should have started trying to penetrate on the queen-side, via the weak dark squares... but, I love a good king-side attack (probably to my detriment)}
15...Nf7 16.Qg3 g5
{He should have just castled and saved himself a lot of grief.}
17.fxg5 Rg8 18.Rxf6 h6
{As soon as I started putting pressure on his king-side, he never really defended properly. Nh8 would have actually been better for him here, because after Raf1 he's in big trouble.}
19.Raf1
{And while this pretty much destroys him, it would have actually been better for me to just play 19. Rxf7 Kxf7 20. Rf1+, but things are still really bad for him.}
19...hxg5 20.Bh5
{Well, I missed a forced mate in 8 (20.Rxf7 Bb7 21.Bh5 Qe7 22.Rxe7+ Kxe7 23.Qa3+ Kd8 24.Rf8+ Kd7 25.Rf7+ Kc8 26.Qe7 Rg6 27.Qxc7#) However, I actually manage to mate him in the next 7 moves, so I'm not really sweating it.}
20...Kd7 21.Rxf7+ Qe7 22.Rxe7+ Kxe7 23.Bxg5+ Kd7 24.Rf7+ Ke8 25.Re7+ Kd8 26.Rg7#
{This is probably one of the longest mating patterns I've ever seen in advance. I missed the mate in 8, but after that I played perfectly (something very rare, indeed).}
1-0

LindseyAnn vs. John1007 1-0

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.4.9"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "lindseyann"]
[Black "john1007"]
[TimeControl "-"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO " "]
[WhiteELO "1402"]
[BlackELO "1359"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.e3
{e4 would have probably been a better move here.}
5...Bg4 6.Bxc4 Bh5 7.O-O Qd6 8.b3
{b3 would have been a nice place for my queen to go.... not anymore.}
8...Bg6 9.Nb5 Qd7 10.Bb2 e6 11.Re1
{I'm not playing great moves, but I'm also not playing terrible moves. When I'm playing against someone close to me in skill-level, I tend to try and make the best moves possible until they make a mistake. The only problem ends up being my "best moves possible" usually aren't subjectively the best moves and I tend to build up small weaknesses. My only hope is that my opponent slips up soon.}
11...Nb4 12.Re2
{Fending off 12...Nc2, however 12. Ne5 accomplishes the same goal with a bit more dynamic play.}
12...a6 13.Nc3 b5
{A now white position is getting a bit cramped.}
14.a3 Nc6 15.Bd3 O-O-O 16.b4 Bd6 17.Nxb5
{A really crazy move on my part, but apparently the right one. I needed some space on the queen-side and I realized that trading a knight for two pawns and a weak enemy king was probably a good idea.}
17...axb5 18.Bxb5 Kb7 19.Rc1 Be4 20.Ng5 Bf5
{This was the worst mistake that black made and it probably cost him the game. He didn't need to retreat the bishop, because it was protected by his knight. He did however need to get his king out of the way, because now I win his queen.}
21.Bxc6+ Qxc6 22.Rxc6 Kxc6 23.e4
{I did miss Nxf7, which makes me pretty made because if there's one thing I usually always look for it's knight forks.}
23...Bg4
{He had the chance to protect the f7 square with Bg6, but it doesn't matter because I'm still oblivious to it.}
24.Qc1+ Kd7 25.Rc2 Rdf8 26.e5
{At least I didn't miss this fork.}
26...h6 27.Nf3
{I miss the forced mate (27.exd6 cxd6 28.Rc7+ Kd8 29.Qc6 e5 30.Qxd6+ Nd7 31.Ra7 Ke8 32.Ra8+ Nb8 33.Rxb8+ Bc8 34.Rxc8#)}
27...Bxe5 28.dxe5
{and I miss another forced mate.}
28...Rc8 29.exf6 g6
{I couldn't begin to tell you why he didn't play Bxf3.}
30.Ne5+ Kd6 31.Nxg4
{Wow, I also missed a mate in one... that's pretty shameful. Rd2 would have been checkmate. No worries though, I just extended the game by one extra round of moves.}
31...h5 32.Qd1#
{Black king mated}
1-0

LindseyAnn vs. Carlos05 1-0

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.3.31"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "lindseyann"]
[Black "Carlos05"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Termination "Black king mated"]
[WhiteElo "1397"]
[BlackElo "1109"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[DateLastMove "2010.5.5"]
[ECO "D20"]
[Board "6750393"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nc3 e6 4.e4 Bb4 5.Bd2 Qxd4 6.Nf3 Qd6 7.Bxc4 Bxc3 8.Bxc3 Qc5 9.Bxg7 Qxc4 10.Bxh8 Qxe4+ 11.Qe2 Qb4+ 12.Bc3 Qf4 13.O-O Nc6 14.Rfd1 Bd7 15.Rd3 Nf6 16.Rad1 e5 17.Nxe5 Ng4 18.Nxg4+ Be6 19.Bd2 Qa4 20.Nf6+ Kf8 21.Nxh7+ Ke7 22.Bg5+ Ke8 23.f4 Nd8 24.f5 Qc6 25.fxe6 Nxe6 26.Qe5 f6 27.Qxf6 Nxg5 28.Qf8+ {Black king mated} 1-0

John1007 vs. LindseyAnn 0-1

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.4.9"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "john1007"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Termination "White resigned"]
[WhiteElo "1355"]
[BlackElo "1382"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[DateLastMove "2010.4.30"]
[Board "6769972"]

1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bd7 4.c4 Nf6 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bc4 Bg4 7.h3 Bh5 8.g4 Bg6 9.Ng5 e6 10.h4 Be7 11.h5 Bxb1 12.Nxf7 Kxf7 13.Rxb1 Rf8 14.Qb3 b6 15.h6 g6 16.e4 Na5 17.Qd3 Nb4 18.Qf3+ Ke8 19.Qg2 Nxc4 20.a3 Nd3+ 21.Ke2 Nf4+ 22.Kf3 Nxg2+ 23.Kxg2 Nxd2 24.Bxd2 Qxd2 25.Rhf1 Rxf2+ 26.Rxf2 Qe3 27.Kf1 Bh4 28.Re2 Qf3+ {White resigned} 0-1

Daveypen vs. LindseyAnn 0-1

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.4.5"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "daveypen"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Termination "White king mated"]
[WhiteElo "1400"]
[BlackElo "1388"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[DateLastMove "2010.4.19"]
[Board "6760751"]

1.g3 e5 2.b3 d5 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.Bb2 Nc6 5.h4 Bd6 6.Na3 O-O 7.Nb5 Be6 8.Nh3 Qd7 9.Ba3 a6 10.Nxd6 cxd6 11.Ng5 Bg4 12.Bh3 Bxh3 13.Nxh3 Rac8 14.Rc1 Nd4 15.e3 Nb5 16.Bb2 Rc6 17.a4 Nc7 18.Ng5 Ne6 19.Ba3 Rfc8 20.Nxe6 Qxe6 21.h5 Ng4 22.Rh4 Nf6 23.h6 g6 24.g4 Ne4 25.f3 Ng5 26.c4 dxc4 27.bxc4 Rxc4 28.Ke2 f5 29.Qb3 Qf7 30.Rxc4 Rxc4 31.Bxd6 fxg4 32.Qb6 Qxf3+ 33.Kd3 Qf1+ {White king mated} 0-1

John1007 vs. LindseyAnn 0-1

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.4.9"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "john1007"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[Result "*"]
[Termination "in progress"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[DateLastMove "2010.4.17"]
[Board "6769972"]

1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bd7 4.c4 Nf6 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bc4 Bg4 7.h3 Bh5 8.g4 Bg6 9.Ng5 e6 10.h4 Be7 11.h5 Bxb1 12.Nxf7 Kxf7 13.Rxb1 Rf8 14.Qb3 b6 15.h6 g6 16.e4 Na5 17.Qd3 Nb4 18.Qf3+ Ke8 19.Qg2 Nxc4 20.a3 Nd3+ 21.Ke2 Nf4+ 22.Kf3 Nxg2+ 23.Kxg2 Nxd2 24.Bxd2 Qxd2 25.Rhf1 *

Don Quixote vs. LindseyAnn 0-1

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.3.28"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "Don Quixote"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Termination "White resigned"]
[WhiteElo "1185"]
[BlackElo "1363"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[DateLastMove "2010.4.15"]
[ECO "C57"]
[Board "6745947"]

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Nxf7 Kxf7 7.Qf3+ Ke6 8.Nc3 Nb4 9.Nxd5 Nxd5 10.O-O c6 11.Re1 Qf6 12.d4 Qxf3 13.gxf3 Kf6 14.dxe5+ Ke7 15.Bg5+ Ke8 16.Rad1 Be6 17.b4 Bxb4 18.Re4 Rf8 19.Rb1 a5 20.a3 Bxa3 21.Rxb7 Rf7 22.Rb3 Bb4 23.c3 Bc5 24.Bd3 Rxf3 25.Be3 Nxe3 26.fxe3 Bxb3 27.Kg2 Rxe3 28.Rxe3 Bxe3 29.Bxh7 Bf4 30.Bf5 Bxe5 {White resigned} 0-1

Deano1 vs. LindseyAnn 0-1

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.4.1"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "Deano1"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Termination "White king mated"]
[WhiteElo "1403"]
[BlackElo "1344"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[DateLastMove "2010.4.15"]
[ECO "C20"]
[Board "6753508"]

1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.Qf3 a6 5.Bxc6 bxc6 6.Ne2 d5 7.exd5 cxd5 8.d3 h6 9.O-O Bc5 10.c3 Bd6 11.b4 O-O 12.Qg3 Rb8 13.Bxh6 Nh5 14.Bg5 Nxg3 15.Bxd8 Nxe2+ 16.Kh1 Rxd8 17.Na3 Nxc3 18.g3 Bxb4 19.Nc2 Bc5 20.f4 e4 21.dxe4 Nxe4 22.Rae1 Nf2+ 23.Kg2 Bh3+ 24.Kg1 Nd3+ 25.Kh1 Nxe1 26.Rxe1 Rb2 27.Re2 Rb1+ 28.Re1 Rxe1+ 29.Nxe1 Re8 30.Nf3 Rb8 31.Ng1 Rb1 32.g4 Rxg1+ {White king mated} 0-1

LindseyAnn vs. Bonk 0-1

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.3.28"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "lindseyann"]
[Black "Bonk"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Termination "White resigned"]
[WhiteElo "1365"]
[BlackElo "1241"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[DateLastMove "2010.4.14"]
[ECO "D20"]
[Board "6744578"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nc3 g6 4.e3 Bg7 5.Bxc4 e5 6.d5 Ne7 7.Nf3 e4 8.Ng5 f5 9.O-O c6 10.d6 Ng8 11.Nf7 Qh4 12.Nxh8 Be5 13.g3 Qh3 14.Bxg8 f4 15.exf4 Bg4 16.Qd2 Bf3 17.d7+ Nxd7 18.Bf7+ Kd8 {White resigned} 0-1

Cuf vs. LindseyAnn 0-1

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.4.2"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "cuf"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Termination "White king mated"]
[WhiteElo "1135"]
[BlackElo "1358"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[DateLastMove "2010.4.13"]
[Board "6754278"]

1.e4 e5 2.d3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Nc3 O-O 6.Qd2 d6 7.Nd5 Be6 8.g3 Qd7 9.Qc3 Nd4 10.Nxd4 exd4 11.Nxc7 dxc3 12.Nxa8 cxb2 13.Rb1 Rxa8 14.Rxb2 Rc8 15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.f4 Bxb2 17.Kf2 Rxc2+ 18.Kg1 Bd4+ {White king mated} 0-1

LindseyAnn vs. Brimoy 1-0

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.3.28"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "lindseyann"]
[Black "brimoy"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Termination "Black king mated"]
[WhiteElo "1351"]
[BlackElo "1116"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[DateLastMove "2010.4.13"]
[ECO "D20"]
[Board "6745820"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nc3 Bf5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Bxc4 Nb4 6.Bb3 a5 7.Nf3 e6 8.O-O a4 9.Nxa4 b5 10.Nc3 c6 11.Bd2 Bd3 12.Re1 Qf6 13.a3 Nd5 14.Ne5 Bf5 15.Nxc6 Nh6 16.Nxb5 Ng4 17.e4 Bg6 18.Qxg4 Ra6 19.exd5 Rb6 20.dxe6 fxe6 21.Rxe6+ Kf7 22.Rxf6+ Kxf6 23.Qe6+ {Black king mated} 1-0

LindseyAnn vs. Cuf 1-0

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.4.2"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "lindseyann"]
[Black "cuf"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Termination "Black king mated"]
[WhiteElo "1342"]
[BlackElo "1143"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[DateLastMove "2010.4.12"]
[Board "6754281"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 Be6 3.cxd5 Bxd5 4.Nc3 c6 5.e4 Be6 6.Nf3 g6 7.Bd3 Nf6 8.O-O Ng4 9.Ng5 Qxd4 10.Nxe6 fxe6 11.Qxg4 Qxd3 12.Rd1 Qc4 13.Be3 Nd7 14.Rd4 Qc5 15.Qxe6 Qh5 16.Rxd7 Rd8 17.Rad1 b5 18.Rxd8+ {Black king mated} 1-0

LindseyAnn vs. Dragor 1-0

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.3.28"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "lindseyann"]
[Black "dragor"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Termination "Black resigned"]
[WhiteElo "1324"]
[BlackElo "1358"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[DateLastMove "2010.4.7"]
[ECO "D06"]
[Board "6746060"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 Bf5 3.Nc3 dxc4 4.e3 e5 5.dxe5 g5 6.Qxd8+ Kxd8 7.Bxc4 Be6 8.Bxe6 fxe6 9.Nf3 Bb4 10.Nxg5 Ke7 11.Bd2 Nc6 12.O-O Nxe5 13.Nd5+ Kd6 14.Nxb4 Nf6 15.Rfd1 Rhg8 16.Bc3+ Nd5 17.e4 Rxg5 18.Rxd5+ Ke7 19.Bxe5 exd5 20.Nxd5+ Kd7 21.Rd1 Rd8 22.Bf6 Rdg8 23.Ne7+ Ke6 24.Nxg8 Rxg8 25.Bd4 Rd8 26.f4 b6 27.Rd2 c5 28.Be3 Rg8 29.Rf2 a5 30.f5+ Ke5 31.Rf4 Rf8 32.g3 h5 33.h3 Kf6 34.Bd2 c4 35.Bc3+ Kf7 36.f6 Rg8 37.Kg2 a4 38.e5 b5 39.Re4 Ke6 40.f7 Kxf7 41.e6+ Ke8 42.e7 Rg6 43.Kf3 Rc6 44.Re5 Rc7 45.Bb4 Rc8 46.Rxh5 Kd7 47.Re5 Re8 48.h4 Rc8 49.e8=Q+ Rxe8 50.Rxe8 Kxe8 51.Kf4 Kf7 52.Kg5 {Black resigned} 1-0

Polonaris vs. LindseyAnn 0-1

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.3.26"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "polonaris"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Termination "White king mated"]
[WhiteElo "1063"]
[BlackElo "1275"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[DateLastMove "2010.4.5"]
[ECO "C48"]
[Board "6741140"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 d6 5.d3 Be7 6.Be3 O-O 7.h4 Bg4 8.d4 a6 9.Bc4 Qd7 10.dxe5 Nxe5 11.b3 Qc6 12.a4 Nxe4 13.Qe2 Nxc3 14.Qd2 Ne4 15.Qd1 Nc5 16.b4 Nxa4 17.Qc1 Qxc4 18.Nd2 Qe2+ {White king mated} 0-1

Knowlesey vs. LindsyeAnn 0-1

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.3.28"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "knowlesey"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Termination "White king mated"]
[WhiteElo "1016"]
[BlackElo "1274"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[DateLastMove "2010.4.4"]
[ECO "C20"]
[Board "6745389"]

1.e4 e5 2.Ne2 Nc6 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 d5 5.O-O Bc5 6.Qe1 Nxe4 7.d3 Nf6 8.Qd2 O-O 9.h4 Be6 10.h5 Nxh5 11.g4 Bxg4 12.c4 Nd4 13.cxd5 Nxe2+ 14.Kh2 Qh4+ 15.Bh3 Qxh3+ {White king mated} 0-1

LindseyAnn vs. KlingofIran 0-1

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2010.04.03"]
[Round ""]
[White "lindseyann"]
[Black "klingofiran"]
[TimeControl "10"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteELO "1068"]
[BlackELO "1310"]

{Termination "klingofiran won by resignation"}
1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nf3
{The Modern Opening. I left the book. 3. Nc3 would have been in the opening book.}
3...b6 4.Nc3 Bb7 5.e4 Nf6 6.Bd3 d6 7.O-O Nc6 8.d5
{I was sort of beating myself up over this game, since I haven't won a live game in quite a while. However, so far my play has been pretty solid.}
8...Nb8 9.Bg5 c6 10.Qd2 Qc7 11.Bf4 Nbd7 12.Bc2 O-O-O 13.Ba4
{Nd4 would have been a better way to put pressure on c6, but at least I had the right idea.}
13...c5
{A slight mistake on his part, better would have been Nc5. I could have responded with Rfe1, threatening to play e5, but that is not what I did.}
14.Ne2
{The first big mistake on my part, hung my pawn on e4.}
14...h6 15.Rfc1
{He gave me a chance to save the pawn and I did not take it. Better is Qc2}
15...Nxe4 16.Qc2 f5 17.Nd2 Ndf6 18.f3 Nxd2 19.Qxd2
{I should have taken back with my bishop here. Two points to make here: Capturing back with the bishop would have allowed me to then play Bc3, blocking the critical diagonal that eventually lead to my downfall. Also, I never noticed that I could put pressure onto his weak pawn with Nd4, which could have been played after the bishop moves.}
19...Kb8 20.b4
{Probably would have been better to focus on the king side where I could have actually gotten some counter play.}
20...Nxd5
{He played this move in order to distract me into taking and forgetting about my rook. That's exactly what happen, but he's trading two minor pieces for a rook which isn't considered technically right (however, it may be different when playing against someone like me).}
21.cxd5 Bxa1 22.Rxa1 g5 23.Bg3 f4 24.Bf2
{He's effectively put my bishop out of commission, which makes his rook advantage more apparent.}
24...Bxd5
{Wow, he hung his bishop and I missed it. I think I was already feeling defeated at this point, which is never helpful.}
25.Nc3
{This couldn't have been a worse response. I knew his bishops was hanging because that's why I moved my knight, but in moving my knight I cut off the queen from protecting the b4 pawn.}
25...Bc6 26.Re1 Bxa4 27.Nxa4 Qc6 28.Nb2 Qd7 29.Nd3 Qf5 30.Re2
{Note to self: when playing life games, look for hanging opponent pieces. I could have just taken Rxe7.}
30...Rde8 31.Qe1
{A blunder and I resigned in despair.}
31...Qxd3
0-1

LindseyAnn vs. DMAC79 1-0

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.3.28"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "lindseyann"]
[Black "DMAC79"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Termination "Black resigned"]
[WhiteElo "1244"]
[BlackElo "1256"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[DateLastMove "2010.4.3"]
[ECO "A45"]
[Board "6745944"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 h6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.e3 Be6 6.Ne5 c5 7.dxc5 Nfd7 8.Nxc4 g6 9.b3 Bxc4 10.Bxc4 Bg7 11.Bb2 Qa5 12.Qd2 Nc6 13.O-O Qc7 14.Rad1 Nxc5 15.Nb5 Qc8 16.Bxg7 Rg8 17.Bd4 Nxd4 18.Qxd4 Ne6 19.Qe4 a6 20.Nc3 g5 21.Rd5 Qc6 22.Qd3 g4 23.g3 Rd8 24.Rd1 Rc8 25.Nb5 h5 26.Na7 b5 27.Nxc6 bxc4 28.Qxc4 f5 29.Qa4 Kf7 30.Qxa6 Rcf8 31.Qb7 h4 32.Qxe7+ Kg6 33.Qxe6+ Kh5 34.Rxf5+ Rg5 35.Rxf8 {Black resigned} 1-0

Dragor vs. LindseyAnn 1-0

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.3.28"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "dragor"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[TimeControl "-"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "C20"]
[WhiteELO "1369"]
[BlackELO "1255"]

{Termination "Black resigned" Mode "ICS" DateLastMove "2010.4.2" Board "6746059"}
1.e4 e5 2.c3 Nf6 3.Qf3 Nc6 4.h4 Bc5 5.g4 O-O
{Missed a good move here (that I should have played early on) 5...d4 6. Qxd4 Bxg4 and I'm up a pawn with good development.}
6.g5 Ne8 7.Bc4 Nd6 8.Bb3 Qe7
{Maybe should have played Kh8 here to get some of the pressure off my king while no real threats exist.}
9.Nh3 b6 10.Bd5 Bb7
{Should have played 10...a5 here to avoid loosing the bishop (which I did not see).}
11.b4 Bxb4 12.cxb4 Nxb4
{This move gives up my very effective bishop. Should have played Nd4 and harassed his queen a bit.}
13.Bxb7 Nxb7 14.Qc3 c5 15.a3 Nc6 16.h5 Nd4 17.Bb2 Nd6
{It may have been better to play d5 here opening up some lines for my pieces (and he can't protect the pawn after exd4 Qd7. I would have taken the stress off of my position. The rest of this game isn't really worth commenting on because I make a rookie mistake and give up my queen (then immediately resign).}
18.f3 N6b5 19.Qc1 Nxf3+ 20.Kf2 Nxg5 21.d3 d6 22.Nxg5 Qxg5 23.Qxg5
{Black resigned}
*

Skylight1 vs. LindseyAnn 0-1

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.3.28"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "skylight1"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Termination "White king mated"]
[WhiteElo "1241"]
[BlackElo "1200"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[DateLastMove "2010.3.31"]
[ECO "C20"]
[Board "6746068"]

1.e4 e5 2.Qf3 Nf6 3.Bc4 c6 4.d3 d5 5.exd5 cxd5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.Qe2 Nc6 8.c3 O-O 9.d4 exd4 10.Nf3 Re8 11.Bd1 Rxe2+ 12.Bxe2 Qe7 13.Bg5 Bd7 14.Nbd2 dxc3 15.bxc3 Re8 16.Rb1 Qxe2+ {White king mated} 0-1

Bojangal v. LindseyAnn 0-1

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.3.21"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "Bojangal"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Termination "White king mated"]
[WhiteElo "1039"]
[BlackElo "1191"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[DateLastMove "2010.3.31"]
[ECO "C24"]
[Board "6729366"]

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nxe4 4.O-O Nc6 5.Ng5 Nxg5 6.f4 exf4 7.Rxf4 Bd6 8.Rg4 Bc5+ 9.Kf1 d6 10.Rxg5 Qxg5 11.h3 Qf4+ 12.Ke1 Qf2+ {White king mated} 0-1

ccdd5 v. LindseyAnn 0-1

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.3.26"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "ccdd5"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[TimeControl "-"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteELO "1286"]
[BlackELO "1149"]

{Termination "White resigned" Mode "ICS" DateLastMove "2010.3.28" Board "6741511"}
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.e4 Bb4 4.d3 Nc6
{Eying the weak d4 square.}
5.Nf3 d6 6.Be2 O-O 7.O-O Bc5
{I thought this was a good move. The bishop was no longer pinning the knight, so I moved to to further control d4 and to pin the f2-pawn.}
8.h3 Bd7 9.Bg5 h6 10.Bh4 g5 11.Bg3
{A risky move, pushing all my kings defenses forward, but I felt like there was enough pressure on his king to keep the pressure off of mine.}
11...Nh5
{I was really hoping he'd forget the f2 pawn was pinned. But, he didn't.}
12.Bh2 f5
{The computer says Nf4 is better and that his response could have lead to Nxe5, somehow with him coming out a pawn. I looked at the variation, but I don't see it.}
13.exf5 Bxf5 14.g4
{I totally missed this fork, but I was able to regroup and come back.}
14...Bxg4 15.hxg4 Nf4 16.Bxf4 Rxf4 17.Nd5
{My moves at this point had been dangerous, but easily defendable. This move was a bit mistake on his part. 17. Nd2 watching over g4 would have been better. He thought I would miss the knight forks, but he was wrong.}
17...Rxg4+ 18.Kh2 Nb4
{Trying to take out the knight so I could play Qe8 without fear of forks.}
19.Nxe5 Rh4+
{White resigned}
*

This was my first win since coming back. His position wasn't completely lost, but I had gotten a pretty firm hold of the upper hand. My game still needs some tuning up, but this gives me a nice little boost of confidence.

Long Break.

With school back on I haven't had much time to think about chess. The semester is winding to a close, so I'm nearly as busy as ever, but I'd like to get back in the groove before the semester is out. I feel like it's been years since I've played and I'm definitely rusty. You can check out a FICS game that I played today and you will see that I do not lie. I am rusty as hell.

Well, hopefully there will be more games to come.

LindseyAnn v. Slobasin 0-1

[Event "rated standard game"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2010.03.28"]
[Round "-"]
[White "LindseyAnn"]
[Black "slobasin"]
[TimeControl "600+10000"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteELO "1774"]
[BlackELO "1787"]

{Time "16:42:56" Mode "ICS"}
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2
{Pretty standard opening. Qc2 would have continued the Nimzo-Indian.}
4...b6 5.Nf3 Bb7 6.e3 O-O 7.Bd3 Nc6 8.O-O Be7 9.Qe2 Nb4
{Hoping I won't notice that my Queen is a bit overloaded at the moment.}
10.Ne5
{I realized that my queen couldn't take, but Bb1 or even e4 would have probably been better ways to deal with it.}
10...Nxd3 11.Nxd3 d6 12.e4
{I should have played e4 at the start of the game instead of e3}
12...e5
{A bad move on his part. The computer thinks I should take dxe5, but I think I was right in locking down the pawn structure and making my remaining bishop a good one.}
13.d5 Bc8 14.f3 a6 15.b3
{From here on I get stupid. I have a clear space advantage in the center, c6 is terribly weak and I decided I needed to make things happen on the king-side.}
15...h6 16.Qf2 Nh5 17.g4
{This move makes playing Qf2 stupid, since now even kicking the knight out won't let me occupy g3.}
17...Nf6 18.Ne1
{At this point I become obsessed with getting my knight to f5. A good idea in theory, but the reality of the situation didn't demand it.}
18...Nh7 19.Ng2 Bg5 20.f4 exf4 21.Bxf4 Bxf4 22.Qxf4 Qf6 23.Qg3 Qd4+ 24.Kh1 Ng5 25.Nh4
{Much better would have been Rad1, but I was still obsessed with Nf5.}
25...Nxe4 26.Nf5
{An my obsession lead to my downfall. I could have accepted that I was going to loose a pawn, but I was convinced that if I could just play Nf5 then everything would be alright.}
26...Nxg3+
{White Resigns}
0-1