I Don't Understand that Move?

See my previous post to understand where I've been lately (it's where I always am when I'm not playing chess). I picked this game to annotate because it was one of my last losses before I went back to school. And, wow. What a loss it was. We traded back the advantage more times that I can count and the swing in score from one move to the next (especially toward the end) is out of control.

"I Don't Understand that Move?"


[Event "Let's Play!"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2011.01.02"]
[Round ""]
[White "lindseyann"]
[Black "test_tube_baby"]
[TimeControl "1"]
[Result "*"]
[WhiteELO "1347"]
[BlackELO "1303"]

{This game should be interesting. One of the last losses I suffered before the semester started up. If the computer's judgment means anything, we both played some terrible chess. Enjoy the ride.}
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.e4 Bg4 6.Be3 Qd6
{He makes the first mistake. I couldn't have missed 7. e5 if I wanted to. I could, however, mess up the continuation.}
7.e5 Qb4 8.a3
{I was overly concerned with winning the c-pawn. I tend to get flustered when people try and protect it. I was also concerned about my b-pawn, but as you can see, 8. a3 does nothing to protect it.}
8...Qxb2 9.Na4
{At this point, I began to convince myself that I could trap his queen. There's an important lesson to be learned here: If a situation on the board doesn't actually exist, and you can't really see a clear way to make it exist, maybe just try and make the "best" move. In this case, Na4 was the best move, but you'll soon see that I get carried away with the idea of trapping his queen.}
9...Qb5 10.Rb1
{I should have (once again) just played exf6.}
10...Qa5+ 11.Bd2 Qa6 12.Nc5
{And again, I thought I could trap his queen. And again, exf6 was the best move for me.}
12...Qxa3
{At this point, my queen side is looking bad. I can't clearly remember, but I'm hoping that I realized my whole "trap his queen" strategy was hopeless.}
13.Bb4
{But, I didn't.}
13...Qa2
{He would have done much better to simply win my bishop. 13...Nxb4 14. exf6 Qxc3+ 15. Qd2.}
14.exf6
{Woohoo! I finally did it.}
14...O-O-O 15.Be2 Nxd4 16.Bd2
{This was a terrible move. Much better would have been Nxd4 (especially since I'd just unpinned that knight).}
16...Nc2+ 17.Kf1 c3
{Making that pawn a thorn in my side (as he well should).}
18.Ne4 cxd2 19.Nexd2 exf6
{He would have done a bit better to play Bxf3 wince that knight is holding things together right now.}
20.Qc1
{Another terrible move on my part. After this he should have played Ba3, making my move pointless and getting his bishop into the fray.}
20...Bf5 21.g3 Bb4 22.Kg2
{Another terrible move on my part. Tactics are all over this board and I miss all of them.}
22...Qe6
{He failed to capitalize with 22...Bxd4 23. Nxd2 Ne3+ (winning my knight).}
23.Bd1 Ne1+
{He still should have taken on d2.}
24.Rxe1 Bh3+ 25.Kg1 Qg4
{With this move, I could have gotten back in the game. I make the correct response, but I'm pretty much defeated on the mental front at this point.}
26.Re4 Bxd2 27.Nxd2 Qd7
{The computer scores us as almost even at this point.}
28.Qb2
{Hoping he misses the most obvious mate in the world (never a good strategy... slightly better would have been Rb2).}
28...b6 29.Nf3 Rhe8 30.Rd4
{I try to throw away the game again. After 30...Qxd4, I can't take with the knight because of Re1#. He could have won the rook.}
30...Qc6
{But he doesn't see it either.}
31.Ba4
{So, I decide to hang my knight, when the bishop and queen will choke my king.}
31...Qc5
{He misses it and gives the game back to me.}
32.Bxe8 Rxe8 33.Rbd1 Qf5 34.Qb5
{Wait, what? He sends me a message, "I don't understand this move?". Neither do I, Test Tube Baby. Neither do I...}
34...Qxb5
*