It's been awhile...

So, I've been away for a REALLY long time. The sad truth is, I've had no time to play chess since last July. That is really depressing. The good news is, life has been fantastic and I can't believe all the changes that have taken place over the last ten months.

I served as a graduate teaching assistant and president of Beta Alpha Psi during this semester, and I successfully completed my first semester of graduate school with all A's (despite all my commitments).  So, you can probably understand why I haven't been around lately.  Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, I've been pregnant during all of the following accomplishments.  It's been amazing.  But, I must admit it's nice to be wrapping up this semester, so I can spend the last two months of pregnancy playing chess and studying for the CPA exam.

I am VERY out of practice when it comes to chess.  I've been winning, but I think it's because I've gotten lucky and I'm playing below my rating (timeouts from the last time life got too busy).  Even still,  it's starting to come back to me.  I've been trying to spend time on tactics, because that is where I've found the most deterioration in my game.  I took a break from tactics to analyze this game, because it's been a while since I've posted in here and I didn't want to leave it completely dead.

I didn't do all the normal bells and whistles with the game that follows.  I didn't even remember to fix the spelling errors before feeding into the pgn viewer.  But, I'm still getting back into the swing of things,  so I'll take it.  The game is pretty ridiculous.  I should have lost, but a kamikaze move at the end saved the day.
Don't Stop Believing



[Event "Let's Play!"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2012.04.21"]
[Round ""]
[White "lindseyann"]
[Black "truthform"]
[TimeControl "1"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "1273"]
[BlackELO "1221"]

{Here's a game that I don't think I should have won. Just goes to show that sometimes you can get lucky when things are looking bleak.}
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 Ne4
{He finally gets us out of book. Be7 would have kept with main lines. The computer wants me to castle here, but I didn't really like his knight in my business.}
6.Nc3 Bb4
{He decides to pin my knight, so I after his knight again, while developingmy queen.} 7.Qc2 f5 8.O-O {At this point, I have the advantage. I'm not sure what goes wrong, but pretty soon he's all in my business.}
8...Nd6 9.Bb3 O-O 10.Ne5
{This may have been a little agressive. Better might have been Bd2 developing my last piece and connecting my rooks.} 10...Bd7 11.Bd2 Nc6
{Developing his last minor piece. I still have the advantage.}
12.Nxc6
{I was trying to mess up his queenside pawns, because if he doesn't take bxc6 (and instead takes with the bishop) I win his e-pawn.}
12...Bxc6
{And, that is what happened.}
13.Bxe6+ Kh8
{I think I get overconfident, because here is where things start to go downhill.}
14.Ne2
{It would have been better to play Qb3, supporting that agressive bishop.}
14...Qg5
{Here is where he puts me on the defensive, threatening mate and pointing all his pieces at my king.}
15.Ng3 Bxd2 16.Qxd2 Rae8
{The best responce here is d5, getting rid of his annoying bishop and keeping my firmly in his territory. But, I choose to retreat instead.} 17.Bb3 f4 18.exf4 {My only real option, letting his rook into the game.}
18...Rxf4 19.Rac1
{Not the best move on my part. It would have been better to play Rae1, challenging his command of the kingside.} 19...Ne4
{This wasn't his best option, because it blocks his rook, and gives me some counterplay.}
20.Qd3
{This is actually a BAD move. I shold have traded the knight. I was getting desperate and looking to point my pieces at his king.}
20...Nxf2
{He makes the correct response, and I throw everything into hoping he doesn't realize what I'm trying to do.} 21.Rxf2 Rxf2 22.Kxf2 Qxc1 23.Bc2
{So, he misses mate in one. I, however, do not.}
23...Qxb2 24.Qxh7#
1-0