Ouch

I'd really hoped to show you a hard fought loss. Where, despite making good moves, my opponent was able to prevail. Instead, my most recent loss is an example of me throwing away the win--twice. And one time (the last time), he hung his queen and I responded by hanging mine to him. It was not good.

Ouch


[Event "1st Fair Play Tournament 2011 - Round 1"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2011.06.10"]
[Round ""]
[White "thefisher"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[TimeControl "1"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO " "]
[WhiteELO "1421"]
[BlackELO "1426"]


{A recent loss.}
1.a4 e5 2.a5 d5
{I was a bit confused by this opening. Perhaps his goal is to confuse people. In that respect he succeeded; in gaining the initiative during the opening, he did not.}
3.c3 Nf6 4.b4 c5
{I probably should have just continued developing, but I couldn't resist ruining his perfect chain of pawns, while developing my Bishop.}
5.bxc5 Bxc5
{Things look pretty good for Black right now.}
6.e3 Nc6 7.a6 b6
{It may have been more prudent to simply castle here, but I figured I could win that pawn at some point.}
8.Bb5 Bd7 9.d4 exd4 10.exd4 Bd6 11.Qa4 Rc8 12.Nf3 O-O 13.O-O Ne4 14.Ne5
{The first major mistake either of us made (aside from the strange opening). I did not miss the opportunity.}
14...Nxe5 15.Bxd7
{Not the best response.}
15...Nxd7 16.Nd2 Rxc3
{This was a terrible response on my part. It would have been much better to play Nxc3.}
17.Nxe4 dxe4 18.g3 f5 19.Bb2 Rd3 20.f3 e3
{This was my worst mistake of the game. It cost me the game, since i was never able
to fix things. I believe I got over confident in my victory and forgot that my opponent always has resources.}
21.Qc4+ Rf7 22.Qxd3 Qg5
{He should have responded with f4 to prevent me from playing it (a very obvious plan on my part).}
23.Kg2 f4 24.Rac1 fxg3 25.Qxe3 gxh2+
{At this point, I have no excuses. This was just terrible. I was so focused on my pawns, that I didn't realize he hung his queen. This could make sense in blitz chess, but correspondence? Just depressing.}
26.Qxg5