LindseyAnn vs. Fallembwekk

So this is what you would call more than a break. A hiatus? A sabbatical? Either way, I was gone for a very long time. When I first started this blog, I was a college student with no children. Now, I have a six year old, a career and a whole lot of other stuff that has gone on in between. But somehow, here I find myself - back in front of a chess board.
I am not sure how long I'll stay in it, but as long as I got some free time and my old macbook still work (yes - you read that correctly, I'm using a laptop from 2012), I'll keep giving it a go. I'm very rusty. I probably only won this game because my rating has been decimated over the years. But, I was still proud of not missing this win.

She's Back



[Event "Let's Play!"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2018.11.27"] [Round "?"] [White "lindseyann"] [Black "Fallembwekk"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D07"] [WhiteELO "1071"] [BlackELO "929"] {EndDate "2018.12.10" Termination "lindseyann won by checkmate"} 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.Nf3 g6 {And we are out of the opening book. It's been an extremely long time, but I'm taking a crack at this once again.} 5.e4 f5 6.Bxc4 a6 7.O-O Nf6 8.e5 Ne4 9.Be3 {All the computer analysis wanted me to play Nxe4 instead but I guess I wasn't ready to simplify at all yet. It was the best move for several moves to come.} 9...e6 {If I had taken Nxe4 here, there could have been a series of exchanges where I would have definitively been up a pawn.} 10.a3 b5 11.Ba2 b4 12.axb4 Nxb4 13.Qa4+ {Being completely honest, when I played this move, I didn't notice the very obvious response of Bd7 (or Qb7) or that the knight was covered by the bishop on f8. I'm not sure why, but I was convinced this was winning that knight.} 13...Qd7 14.Qb3 Bb7 15.Rfc1 c5 16.Ne2 {This may have been my worst mistake of the game. I didn't realize he could have attacked the queen with Bd5 and pretty much forced me to lose and exchange, giving up my rook for a minor piece. } 16...Qb5 {Luckily, he didn't realize it either and made a move that quickly lead to me winning the game.} 17.Qxe6+ Be7 18.Qf7+ Kd7 19.Be6+ Kd8 20.dxc5 Qxe2 {From here it's a forced mate. He could have drawn it out with some queen checks, but it doesn't go that far.} 21.c6 Bxc6 22.Bb6# {This was one of my first games back in a while, so I was SUPER proud of this mate. Three pieces working together. It really made me remember why I loved this game. I do have some other games going on where I've screwed up and we'll see where those go. But, it was nice to get a couple wins under my belt coming back into things. } 1-0