How to Not Play Chess

Trying to get back into live chess. This was not a good way to kick it off, but at least my mistakes were so obvious that I'd be thick not to learn from them.

Why You No Play d5



[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2012.04.26"]
[Round ""]
[White "kambet1"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[TimeControl "15"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "1218"]
[BlackELO "1092"]

{An absolutely terrible game of live chess I played today.}
1.e4 c5
{I really need to either learn more about the Sicilian or start playing a different opening.}
2.Nf3 e6 3.Bc4 Nc6 4.c3
{The computer really wanted me to play d5 from this point on. I stubbornly refuse to comply. It logically makes sense, but I was randomly moving pieces that I've seen get moved in my correspondence games. A terrible strategy...}
4...Nge7 5.d3 g6
{Again, d5 would have given me a slight advantage. This move takes away that square from my knight, and he now has no where good to go. Not to mention, my bishop doesn't have much to do from a fianchettoed position.}
6.O-O Bg7 7.Na3 O-O 8.Bg5
{We're still even here, and if I'd just played d5 it probably would have stayed that way. Things go down hill pretty quickly from here.}
8...b6 9.Qd2 Bb7 10.Bh6 Bxh6 11.Qxh6
{I really needed to see the threat of Ng5 here (and play f6), but I did not.} 11...Qc7 12.Ng5
{It's forced mate from here.}
12...Rfe8 13.Qxh7+ Kf8 14.Qxf7#
1-0

Wins and Losses

Here are two recent games. A win and a loss. I've started posting less of my wins since they all seem to happen in a spectacular 20 move mistake-fest... whereas my losses tend to have more thoughtful, deliberate play. I think this is a bad thing, since I apparently only win when my opponent does crazy things. Or, maybe I'm just really good at capitalizing on advantages. I'll begin with the win since it's a nice, short appetizer. I am proud of the fact that both of these players were rated 1500+ and my play wasn't embarrassing.


The Art of Being Underestimated


[Event "Equal Playing Field - Round 1"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2011.06.23"]
[Round ""]
[White "lindseyann"]
[Black "latencio"]
[TimeControl "1"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO " "]
[WhiteELO "1454"]
[BlackELO "1571"]


{This is a game I won against a player rated 1580. He missed an easy back-rank mate, but I'll take the points where I can get them.}
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 dxc4 4.e4 b5 5.a4 b4 6.Na2 c5
{This move takes us out of the opening. I normally don't like to be slugging it out on the queenside to regain my pawn, but a lot of time (especially since I've gotten more experience) it works out in my favor.}
7.Bxc4 e5 8.Bd5
{Thankfully, I did not miss the trapped rook.}
8...Bd7
{b3 was a better response.}
9.Bxa8 Nc6 10.Bxc6 Bxc6 11.d5 Ba8 12.Nf3 Nf6 13.Qc2 Bd6
{I always feel bad for a bishop that becomes the anchor in a pawn chain.}
14.O-O O-O 15.Be3 Ng4 16.Bxc5
{This was my first big tactical mistake. He did not find the correct response.}
16...Qc7 17.Rac1
{And his tactic no longer works.}
17...Rb8 18.Bxb4
{Technically this wasn't the best move, even thought it did lead to my win. What I'm most proud of is the fact that I saw all of these exchanges until the end, when I knew a tactic (allowing mate) would prevent him from winning on b4. He didn't not see the mate until it was one move away.}
18...Qxc2 19.Rxc2 Bxb4 20.Nxb4 Rxb4
{And he resigned before I could play Rc8#.}
*

---

Win Fast, Lose Slow


[Event "Equal Playing Field - Round 1"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2011.06.23"]
[Round ""]
[White "Anari"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[TimeControl "1"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO " "]
[WhiteELO "1516"]
[BlackELO "1448"]


{A fairly even game against a good opponent. I threw it away at the very end.}
1.e4 c5
{I'm still working on this opening. I'm not as comfortable as I was with good old 1. e4 e5, but I'm making progress and my games are more interesting.}
2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.a3
{Out of opening book. Bc4 would have been in the Sicilian Defense / Grand Prix Attack.}
5...d6 6.Bc4 Nf6 7.d3 Bg4 8.O-O O-O 9.h3 Bd7
{The computer preferred either trading Bxf3 or retreating Be6. I didn't like either of these moves because I didn't want to loose my good bishop. However, it's pretty early in the game and there are a lot of pawns still on the board to be accurately evaluating the bishops as either "good" or "bad".}
10.Be3 b6 11.Nd5
{An error since Nxd5 exd5 and the b-pawn is pinned and hanging.}
11...Nxd5 12.Bxd5 Bxb2
{Perhaps e6 would have been better, getting more space, since that's hanging pawn isn't going anywhere for the moment.}
13.Ra2 Bg7
{Although white's very weak along the a1-h8 diagonal, this was the best retreat.}
14.Qe1 e6 15.Bb3 Na5 16.e5 Nxb3 17.cxb3 Bb5
{At this point in the game I'm pretty pleased with myself. I've got lot's of space on the queenside and his pawns are weak.}
18.Rd2 d5
{I may have gotten a bit carried away with my space advantage. f6 or dxe5 would have both been better options. I've got a nice position, but I don't have any lanes open for attack at the moment.}
19.a4 Ba6 20.Bf2 f6 21.Bh4
{It would have been better to play f6, instead of f5. That would have prevented this move (which was the purpose of Bf2 in the first place).}
21...Qc7
{g5 would have been better, but I was afraid to open everything up since I couldn't see it through to the end.}
22.exf6 Bxf6 23.Qxe6+ Qf7 24.Qxf6 Qxf6 25.Bxf6 Rxf6
{Since I didn't not take the initiative with g6, I've ended up trading down to a nearly equal position.}
26.g3 Re8 27.Kf2 Rfe6
{d4 would have controlled the weak e3 square and given me some fighting chances. We are now being evaluated dead even by the computer.}
28.Ne5 Rf8 29.Re1 g5 30.d4 gxf4 31.dxc5 fxg3+ 32.Kxg3
{Here you can really see the advantage that a knight has over a bishop in the end game. I can only cover the light squares with my minor piece, and while he's got everything posted up on dark squares it's difficult for me to get anything done.}
32...bxc5 33.Rxd5 Re7
{I chose to go for the king, when it probably would have been better to try for a passer on the queenside (for instance, c4 while the knight is pinned to his rook).}
34.Rxc5
{I've officially lost my pawn advantage and I soon get frustrated and sloppy.}
34...Rg7+ 35.Kh4 Rf4+ 36.Ng4 h6
{A mistake on my part which leads to a win he did not take. I gave it away again very soon though.}
37.Kh5 Rf5+
{And hanging my rook ended the game. I had already begun to give up on the game. Perhaps his higher rating intimidated me. However, I think considering his rating I held my own pretty well.}
38.Rxf5 *

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

Like fire and ice and rage.

Hello faithful reader. I know what you're thinking... It's summer, my schedule is light and yet, no posts have been made here in some time. Well the truth is, I've actually been playing chess--more of it than I've ever played before. A very funny thing is happening as well... I'm actually getting better. I know, hard to believe. I've been working on tactics a lot more and being very careful with my correspondence games. Lets not talk about my blitz performance, although I suppose I should be proud of the fact that I'm actually giving blitz and fast-ish standard a go.

It's been over three months of playing chess pretty regularly. Normally, chess and I have this all or none relationship. I either want to devote all of my waking moments to it, or none at all. But, I'm learning that I cannot live my life in this fashion and have a healthy pursuit of any hobby. I'm overjoyed in this subtle shift. And, I hope to keep playing chess and to keep improving. Who knows, I might even make it out to some more UCF chess stuff.

In addition to chess, this is the summer of Doctor Who and soccer. Matthew and I have been re-watching the entire run (I think we're still trying to come to grips with the death of Tennant, even though it's been two years). We've also become expert tailgaters as we support our local soccer team, the Orlando City Lions. My classes are easy, and as much as I hate to admit that I'm doing almost no work in them... um, I'm doing almost no work in them (I got a 100% on my last exam in 12 minutes, why am I paying for these classes again?). While I'm enjoying this respite, hopefully I'll be back in the muck for my last semester as an undergrad.

Now, on to chess... I played this game in an official chess.com tournament. So far, it's the only game that I've lost with one left to play (I'll probably make it to round two!). It was a pretty accurate game from both of us and I wanted to see where I went wrong. There were tiny little errors on my part, only slightly larger than his tiny errors. I suppose those are the margins that real chess gets played in. Not incredibly exciting, but educational for me. If I have time later tonight, I'll throw up a game that was a fun win where I caught some good tactics. Enjoy.

Allons-Y


[Event "15th Chess.com Tournament (1201-1400) - Round 1"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2011.06.01"]
[Round ""]
[White "lindseyann"]
[Black "67jedichessmaster"]
[TimeControl "1"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO " "]
[WhiteELO "1412"]
[BlackELO "1402"]


{A hard fought game for both of us.}
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 c5 5.Bd3 Nc6 6.Nf3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 d6 8.O-O O-O
{With his castle, we are finally out of the book.}
9.e4
{Trying to get space in the center and hoping for an eventual e5 push, pointing everything at his castle.}
9...e5
{He has other plans for the center, however.}
10.d5 Ne7 11.Nh4
{To free up my queen, and allow the move f4.}
11...Ng6
{I was happy when I saw this move, because I knew the trade would mess up his castle, but I was never able to capitalize on it.}
12.Nxg6 fxg6 13.Bg5
{Getting my last bishop out, but it may have been better to play the more aggressive f4.}
13...Bd7 14.Rb1 b6 15.f4 exf4 16.Rxf4
{It would have been better to recapture with the bishop, putting immediate pressure on d6. He could have responded with h6 here, and I would be forced to trade off my awesome bishop for his knight (since 16...h6 17. Bh4 g5 forking my rook and bishop). However, he missed the opportunity.}
16...Qc8 17.Rb2 Bg4 18.Qe1
{I played here to try for Qg3 or Qh4 later, but it may have been wiser to simply put as much pressure on the f-file as I could.}
18...Nh5 19.Rxf8+ Qxf8 20.Rf2
{It would have been smarter to play the in-between move, Qh4, getting her out in front before swinging the rook over.}
20...Qe8 21.Qf1 Qe5
{At this point, I start to loose hope. I'm still winning according to the computer evaluation, but his queen makes me defend all my pawns with rooks and I don't have any clear plan now.}
22.Bd2 Nf6 23.Rf4
{And, here's where things start to do downhill. Better would have been Bf4, giving up on the c-pawn, but taking aim at his pawns and getting some activity.}
23...Re8 24.Qf2
{And, since I'd started to loose hope already, I failed to notice that my rook's got nowhere to go after g5. Unfortunately , he did not miss it.}
24...g5 25.Rxf6 gxf6 26.h3 Bd7 27.Qe3 h6
{This position wasn't completely lost, but I certainly didn't see a way back and I resigned.}
*

One Month

Wow, it's been a month since I've last updated the old chess blog. School has been crazy. Deadlines and exams every week. It's finally winding down. Just one more quiz and three more exams until I'm in the clear.

I've been keeping a few games running, mainly with Matthew. I'm posting a series of our last three games. They are ridiculous. For some reason, I never take his threats seriously and I always makes some sort of outrageous mistake toward the end (or in the beginning). So, without further ado, here they are:


Back from the Dust and Back into the Dust
This was the game my last post alluded to. I had suffered an early loss of material, but I held on and fought back. Then, I walked into a mate.

---

The Game is Afoot
I actually played a wonderful opening, had a material advantage. And then, I walked into a mate.

---

Walked into a Mate
I never found my footing in this game and then I walked into a mate.

---

School will be out soon. Just have to survive finals week and maybe I'll have enough time to actually beat Matt.

Off the Board Weakness

A few of my biggest personal weaknesses are displayed in the following game. During the game I was stubborn, short-sighted, brittle, easily agitated, and not willing to put in the effort from the start because things weren't going my way.

It is a Ruy Lopez opening which put me off from the start. Fully realizing that I have the potential to influence the character of the opening, I still let it bother the heck out of me. I proceed to play uninspired moves and the instant things don't go exactly the way I expect them to, I start pushing pawns and not considering the consequences.

So, here you have it: in true form, a Lindsey meltdown. All I can do is be better next time...

Brittle


[Event "Let's Play!"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2011.03.10"]
[Round ""]
[White "chessdude46"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[TimeControl "1"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO " "]
[WhiteELO "1222"]
[BlackELO "1231"]


{A recent and terrible loss. My opponent was rated much lower than me, but he played the Ruy Lopez which always puts me off.}
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6
{And we arrive here. My least favorite opening of all time. I'm seriously considering switching to 1...c5 after 1. e5.}
5.O-O Bg4 6.Nc3
{He leaves the book here.}
6...Nf6 7.d3 Bd6 8.Bg5
{No one has made any major mistakes at this point, but look at how ugly this position is.}
8...O-O 9.Qe2 Be7 10.Rad1 Nh5
{It would have been a bit more practical to play Nd7 right here. But, I was eyeing N to f4 and eventually that move will be my undoing.}
11.Bxe7 Qxe7 12.h3 Bxf3 13.Qxf3
{So, all of the trades happen pretty much as I expected them to and black really has nothing to show for it. Neither does white. Snooze fest.}
13...Nf4
{All I had in mind at the end of it all was this move. Thinking that if I could just have a strong knight on f4, maybe I could break through with pawn f5 and actually give this game some character.}
14.Ne2
{For some reason, I completely missed this response. He let all the air out of my plan and I sort of gave up at this point. I'm not very proud of that fact, but its the counterpoint to all that resilience I showed during the live game.}
14...Nxe2+ 15.Qxe2 Rad8 16.Rfe1 f5
{I really wanted to make something happen. I hoped that opening up everything would magically work in my favor. This was not the correct way to play. Better here would have been a good old fashioned rook lift, Rd6.}
17.d4 fxe4 18.Qxe4 Rf4
{Getting frustrated and lazy, I make my worst move of the game. I didn't consider the fact that my pawn on e5 would be pinned if he played Qxf4.}
19.Qxf4
{Which he did. There was no coming back from that point and I resigned.}
1-0

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
*

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
*

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

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

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

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}
*

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

Voula vs. LindseyAnn 1-0

[Event "Online Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2009.10.30"]
[Round "1"]
[White "voula"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[TimeControl "1"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO " "]
[WhiteELO "1278"]
[BlackELO "1412"]


{Termination "voula won by resignation"}
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 dxc6
{bxc6 was in the opening book.}
6.Bg5 Be7
{I should have played Qxd1+ Kxd1 Nxe4. Then he can castle and I'm up a pawn.}
7.Qxd8+ Bxd8 8.Nc3 O-O 9.O-O-O Re8 10.e5 Nd7
{Nd5 probably would have been a better move. My pieces are suffocating.}
11.Bxd8 Rxd8 12.Bc4 b5 13.Bd3 Nxe5
{I missed the easiest tactic in the world, lost my rook and the game.}
14.Bxh7+ Kxh7 15.Rxd8 Nc4 16.f4 Bd7
{Hangs the bishop and the rook. I have no idea how this could happen.}
17.Rxd7 Nd6 18.Rxc7 a5 19.Rxc6 Rc8 20.Rxd6 b4 21.Ne4
{This was a terrible game. I have no idea what I was thinking for any of
this.}
*

The Buttle vs. LindseyAnn 1-0

[Event "Online Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2009.10.30"]
[Round "1"]
[White "The_Buttle"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[TimeControl "1"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO " "]
[WhiteELO "1528"]
[BlackELO "1596"]


{Termination "The_Buttle won by checkmate"}
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 b5 5.Bb3 Nf6 6.O-O Bc5 7.c3 Nxe4 8.d4 exd4 9.cxd4 Bb6 10.Re1 d5 11.Nc3 Bf5 12.Nxd5
{We both played inaccurately here. The threat of Bxd5 was a very dangerous one. He could have gone up a piece because of the pin on my c6 knight after Bxd5. Instead he played Nxd5 and things remained even.}
12...O-O 13.Nxb6
{0-0 was the 'right' move for me. But I'd rather not had the doubled pawns.}
13...cxb6 14.Bf4 Re8 15.Bg5 Qd7 16.d5 Ne7
{This move really weakened my position. It would have been best to play Na5. He should have played d6 immediately, but he plays it fast enough to ruin my day.}
17.Ne5 Qb7 18.d6 Rad8
{And this was the beginning of my downfall. I should have realized that his bishop on g5 was hanging. Nxg5 dxe7 Rxe7 and I'm still in the game. It's pretty much over from here.}
19.Bxf7+ Kf8 20.dxe7+ Qxe7 21.Bxe7+ Rxe7 22.Qxd8+ Re8 23.Qxe8#
1-0

Meterobz vs. LindseyAnn 1-0

[Event "Online Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2009.10.30"]
[Round "1"]
[White "meteorbz"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[TimeControl "1"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO " "]
[WhiteELO "1718"]
[BlackELO "1169"]


{Termination "meteorbz won by resignation"}
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4
{Scotch. Boo.}
3...exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.Bd2
{Finally out of the opening book. 8. c4, further harassing my knight would have been in the opening book.}
8...Qe6 9.Nc3 Rb8 10.Nxd5 Qxd5 11.Bc3 Bc5
{Bb4 is a bit better.}
12.Qc4 Qxc4 13.Bxc4
{Things are still pretty even. If I was a good player I probably could have pulled out a draw.}
13...O-O 14.O-O d5 15.exd6ep cxd6 16.Rab1 Bf5 17.Bb3 Rfe8 18.Rfe1 d5 19.Bd2 Re6 20.Rxe6 Bxe6 21.Re1 Re8 22.Kf1 Bd6 23.Ba4 Bxh2
{While the computer does not reguard this move as terrible, I do. I should not have allowed my central pawn structure to break down and isolated my d-pawn.}
24.Bxc6 Bc7
{Did I really just hang my rook?}
25.Bxd5
{And did he really not take it?}
25...Kf8 26.Bxe6
{Simplifying with me down a pawn and major queen side weakness.}
26...Rxe6
{My choices were to either take with the pawn, and have more bad pawn, or go along with his plan of simplification. I was pretty much done at this point.}
27.Rxe6
{And I definitely didn't realize when I choose to simplify that I'd end up with the bad pawns no matter what.}
27...fxe6 28.Ke2 Kf7 29.Be3 a6 30.Kd3 Kf6 31.Ke4
{Ties my king down to the protection of the kingside pawns, while he gets the pawns rolling on the queenside.}
31...g5 32.c4 h5 33.b4 g4 34.a4 *

This was my first completed game after a longish chess break. It was played at a new site, Chess.com and I was playing a member of the UCF Chess club.

LindseyAnn v. Larry111 0-1

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2009.3.26"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "lindseyann"]
[Black "Larry111"]
[TimeControl "-"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO " "]
[WhiteELO "1130"]
[BlackELO "1321"]


{Termination "White resigned" Mode "ICS" DateLastMove "2009.4.4" Board "5843432"}
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.e4 Nc6
{This is excatly the sort of position I like to be in once we leave book. }
6.Bxc4 Be7 7.O-O O-O 8.Bd2
{The more aggressive Bf4 was better here.}
8...Na5 9.b3 Nxc4 10.bxc4
{My pawn center is amazing here and I still manage to toss this game away.}
10...Bb4 11.e5
{Locking my pawns onto the same color as my bishop was stupid and I"ll pay for it soon.}
11...Bxc3 12.Bxc3 Ne4 13.Bb4 Re8 14.Qd3 f5 15.Ne1
{I didn't even think about exf6ep.}
15...b6 16.f3 a5 17.Ba3 Ng5 18.f4 Ne4
{Pretty much the definition of an outpost square.}
19.Nf3 g6 20.Ng5
{This move solidified his theoritcal advantage into an actual advantage. Giving up my one active piece, and a pawn for no compensation.}
20...Nxg5 21.fxg5 Bb7 22.Rad1 Qxg5
{I didn't even seen the mate threat, and I avoided it only by luck.}
23.Rf3 Bxf3 24.Qxf3 Qg4 25.Qc3
{I didn't want to trade queens, and I really didn't notice the skewer. A bad game to come back to the scene with.}
25...Qxd1+ 26.Kf2 Qh5
{White resigned}
0-1

Pawnstorm777 vs. LindseyAnn 1-0

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2008.10.21"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "pawnstorm777"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[TimeControl "-"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO " "]
[WhiteELO "1709"]
[BlackELO "1295"]


{Termination "Black king mated" Mode "ICS" DateLastMove "2008.12.2" Board "5386918"}
1.e4 e5 2.Qf3
{A silly move to play against someone who isn't a complete idiot.}
2...Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.Nge2 d6 5.h3 Be7 6.g4
{Do keep in mind his name is pawnstorm.}
6...O-O 7.a3 Nd4 8.Qd3 Nxe2 9.Bxe2 Be6 10.Qg3 c6
{It would have been slightly better to just play d5, instead of preparing to play it when it's already playable.}
11.d3 Qa5 12.b4 Qc7 13.Bd2 d5 14.b5 dxe4 15.d4 Bd6 16.d5
{None of these pawn thrusts were entirely sound, but he gets under my skin very well this way.}
16...cxd5
{From this position, I have a solid lead.}
17.g5 Nd7 18.O-O d4
{My first mistake of the game. I got over confident about the strenght of my center and I hung the e4 pawn.}
19.Nxe4 Qxc2 20.Bd3
{This was a very good move on his part and most of my lead is slipping away.}
20...Qc7 21.Nf6+
{If I'd not taken the knight things would have been terrible for me. But there was no way I wasn't going to take the knight and so things become terrible for him.}
21...Nxf6 22.gxf6 g6 23.Qg5 Qd8 24.Qh4 Rc8 25.Bg5 Re8 26.Qh6 Bf8
{He's had me on the ropes this whole time, but theoretically I'm better. I just can't afford to make any mistakes.}
27.Qh4 Qd5 28.Bh6 Red8
{This was the mistake I couldn't afford to make. I needed that bishop for defense and now I've allowed it to be traded.}
29.Bxf8 Kxf8 30.Qxh7 Ke8 31.Bxg6
{All of my material advantage is now gone.}
31...Kd7 32.Be4 Qxb5 33.Bf5 Rc6
{This was probably my worst mistake. Had I played Kd6 instead, gotten away from his attack, picked off a few more of his pawns, I'd have been fine. That was not how it went down though...}
34.Bxe6+
{He did not take full advantage of my blunder, but I had already psycologically lost this game.}
34...Kxe6 35.Rfe1 Kxf6
{Now I really got greedy, or lazy or both and missed the totally obvious response Qh4+ winning my rook.}
36.Qh4+ Ke6 37.Qxd8 Rd6 38.Qh4 d3
{Well, sometimes you gotta go for it.}
39.Qg4+ Ke7 40.Rab1 Qa5
{Hung my pawn with check. Oops.}
41.Rxb7+ Rd7
{Forced mate from here and I'm done for.}
42.Qxd7+ Kf6 43.Qxf7+ Kg5 44.Re7 Qxa3
{This was the on chance I had. Qxe1+ wins a rook, gets me some tempo and could have turned things around. But I took the pawn instead.}
45.R7xe5+ Kh6 46.Qh5+
{He's toying with me now and moving his queen around with Rh5#}
46...Kg7 47.Rg5+ Kf8 48.Qe8#
{Black king mated}
1-0

Eagledrver vs. LindseyAnn 1-0

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2008.10.9"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "eagledrver"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Termination "Black resigned"]
[WhiteElo "1149"]
[BlackElo "1206"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[DateLastMove "2008.10.20"]
[ECO "C44"]
[Board "5351255"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d3 d5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Qe2 Nf6 6.Bg5 Be7 7.Bxf6 Bxf6 8.Qe4 Qa5+ 9.Nc3 O-O 10.a3 Bd7 11.Be2 Rad8 12.b4 Qb5 13.Nxb5 Rc8 14.O-O Be6 15.c4 a6 16.Nc3 Rcd8 17.Rad1 g6 18.Nd5 Bf5 19.Qe3 Ne7 20.Nxf6+ Kg7 21.Ne4 {Black resigned} 1-0

I'm not going to bother annotating this one. It's pretty obvious what happened. I hung my queen early in the game, then I hung my knight a little later. It wasn't worth fighting for. But, I'm beating him in our other game right now.

LindseyAnn v. Poet361 0-1

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2008.7.21"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "lindseyann"]
[Black "Poet361"]
[TimeControl "-"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E00"]
[WhiteELO "1367"]
[BlackELO "1285"]

{Termination "White resigned" Mode "ICS" DateLastMove "2008.8.18" Board "5120651"}
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Bg5 Be7 4.Nf3 O-O 5.e3 d5 6.Nc3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 Nc6 8.O-O Na5 9.Bd3 b6 10.Qc2
{I always play so well in the opening.}
10...g6 11.Rfe1 Bb7 12.Ne5 c5 13.dxc5 bxc5 14.Bf4
{I maybe should have played Bh6, weakening his king side and gaining a bit of time for
myself.}
14...c4 15.Nxc4 Nxc4 16.Bxc4 Qb6 17.Rad1 Qc6
{He missed a good tactic. 17...Bxg2, and the king can't recapture because then Qc6 forks the king and unprotected bishop.}
18.Bf1 Nh5 19.Be5 f6 20.Bd4
{This was a bad move. Taking my bishop away from the action. And, after 20...e5, he can't get back into the action. Better would have been simply playing him back to f4 and looking to play to h6.}
20...e5 21.Bxe5 fxe5 22.Qb3+ Kh8 23.Nd5 Bd8 24.Bb5 Qc8 25.Rc1 Qb8 26.Qc3
{And this is the part of the game where I hang my pieces...}
26...Bxd5 27.Red1 Qxb5 28.Qxe5+ Bf6
{If he'd played Nf6 instead, his other bishop wouldn't have been taken. It let me get back some material, but at this point it's sort of moot.}
29.Qxd5 Qxd5 30.Rxd5 Bxb2 31.Rc4 Nf6 32.Rdc5 Rad8 33.g3 Rd1+ 34.Kg2 Ba3
{White resigned}
0-1