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

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

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.

How to End a Vacation

It's the end of spring break. I really should be reading about Governmental accounting, but I'm taking a short break to post a game I recently played on FICS. It was an easy win, and a nice way to close out the vacation.

All Good Things...


[Event "FICS rated standard game"]
[Site "FICS, San Jose, California USA"]
[Date "2011.03.12"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Karaboul"]
[Black "LindseyAnn"]
[TimeControl "900+5"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteELO "1469"]
[BlackELO "1505"]

{To morn (celebrate?) the end of spring break, here's a game I played on FICS. I'm definitely getting more confident OTB and while this game is characterized more by my opponents mistakes than my own brilliance, capitalizing on mistakes is skill in itself.}
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4
{When I see this move as black, I know I've got to be ready for aggression and (usually) weak play.}
2...Nf6 3.Qf3
{And, I was not wrong. I was a bit nervous about slipping up in a live game, but I managed to hold it together.}
3...Nc6 4.c3 Bc5 5.b4 Bb6 6.b5 Na5
{I still don't have a clear plan at this point, but I'm trying to keep the pressure on him as much as he's keeping it on me.}
7.Na3 c6
{Trying to get my light-squared bishop into the game.}
8.d4 exd4 9.e5 Qe7
{This was the move I was most proud of. This is the sort of thing I usually miss in a live game, but I took the time to think and find it.}
10.Bxf7+
{My opponent did not take time to think. He is on tilt and things end soon after this bishop sac.}
10...Kxf7 11.Bg5
{He gives me the fork...}
11...Qxe5+
{...and I don't miss it.}
12.Kd2 Qxg5+
{White resigns and I close out my vacation with a self-esteem booster.}
0-1

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

Live in Active Culture

I (for the most part) fear live chess. Sometimes, I feel like I've become dependent on moving all the pieces around before I make a decision. I've been trying to get myself out of that comfort zone during spring break. Mainly, because I don't have enough future time to devote to starting a large number of correspondence games.

I've had a couple of terrible losses OTB. But since I just analyzed a really depressing game, I thought I'd throw up an awesome live game I played this morning. It really lifted my spirits, since I navigated the ups and downs of a real-time game with better resilience than I usually demonstrate. The end of spring break approaches...


Live in Active Culture


[Event "FICS rated standard game"]
[Site "FICS, San Jose, California USA"]
[Date "2011.03.10"]
[Round "-"]
[White "LindseyAnn"]
[Black "Balaz"]
[TimeControl "900+5"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1432"]
[BlackElo "1342"]

{A rare live game from me. I felt really good about this game, but I made a "slip of the mouse" mistake after getting flustered in the opening. I very proud of the fact that I recovered well from the situation and stuck to a clear plan.}
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nc3 Bf5
{I don't think this is the best move in this situation. The computer likes c5 and e5, I would have probably developed a knight, but what do I know...}
4.e4 Bg6 5.Bxc4
{If ever there was a position for me to get into in a live game, this is it. I have a clear plan from this point to use the openings on the queen side to get in his business.}
5...e6 6.Nf3 Bb4
{I normally don't mind at all Bxc3 bxc3, giving myself more open space where all my pieces are. In this situation (live, yikes!), I didn't think about the fact that I need the knight to protect e5. But, the truth is it doesn't hurt me to badly technically. Psychologically, on the other hand...}
7.O-O Bxc3 8.bxc3 Bxe4
{I got upset that I missed this, and...}
9.Bb2
{...I suffered a "mouse slip" while trying to decide on my next move. Oh no! I had been considering playing Bb3 to prevent him from castling.}
9...Bxf3 10.Qxf3
{At this point, I decided not to focus on the pawn I'd lost, but instead on my awesome development.}
10...c6 11.Rab1
{I decided there was no rush to correct my Bb2 mistake, since he still can't castle.}
11...Nf6 12.Ba3
{Now, when I stop his castle, my rook is already where he wants to be.}
12...b5
{He gives me a good tactic here...}
13.Bd3
{...and I miss it. Better is 13. Bxb5 cxb5 14. Qc6+, winning the rook.}
13...Nbd7
{This seemed like a bad mistake for him. d5 looks like his most important square, and putting something there (Nd5 or Qd5) and stopping me from taking his pawn seems like a much better idea.}
14.Qxc6
{I take advantage of the misstep, and get more activity on the queenside.}
14...Rc8 15.Qxb5 Rxc3 16.Rb3 Rxb3 17.axb3 Qb6 18.Rc1 Qd8
{We'd both been playing pretty solid for the last few moves. But, things were already looking pretty bad for his king. It would have been better to give him more (and not less) breathing room, or start moving him away from the attack.}
19.Qa4
{The computer likes Qb7 here, but I wanted to keep the pin and bring in my light square bishop.}
19...Nd5
{He could have attempted to save the pawn and take a little more space on the queenside with a5.}
20.Bb5 f6
{He attempts to give his king somewhere to run, but it was too little too late.}
21.Qxa7 Nc7
{Mate from here and I don't miss it.}
22.Rxc7
{Black resigns. Here's the mate that never would have happened if we'd played it out:}
22...Kf7 23.Rxd7+ Qxd7 24.Qxd7+ Kg6 25.Bd3+ Kh6 26.Bc1+ g5 27.Qf7 f5 28.Qf6+ Kh5 29.Qxg5#
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
*

Arnez Gray Jr vs. LindseyAnn 0-1

Two games analyzed in one day! I'm on a roll. Here's a win to cheer myself up. Although as usual, my win came about by some very questionable playing by my opponent and I missed a very important queen move through most of the beginning of my attack. However, I pulled it out with a pretty mate at the end.

Also, I've included playable variations of mates that I missed along the way. This is a new experiment and it takes a lot more work than just casually mentioning the mates that I overlook.

Insert Obligatory Knight-Pun Game Title Here


[Event "Let's Play!"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2010.07.05"]
[Round ""]
[White "ArnezGrayJr"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[TimeControl "1"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO " "]
[WhiteELO "1123"]
[BlackELO "1261"]

1.e3 e5 2.d4 Nc6 3.Nf3 e4
{This is move is more aggressive than I am.}
4.Ng5
{But, sometimes it pays to be aggressive.}
4...Qxg5 5.f4 Qh4+
{It would have been slightly better to play 5. exf3ep gxf3 and then 6. Qh4 check when he doesn't have the pawn to interpose.}
6.g3 Qh6 7.Bg2 d5 8.Nc3 Nf6 9.O-O Bb4 10.a3 Ba5
{It might have been smarter to trade this off for the knight, since the center is all locked up and knights are probably a bit stronger. Also, it's just generally good to trade off pieces when you're ahead in material.}
11.Nb5 Bd7
{I missed a GREAT move here. 11...Ng4 and the queen has no where to go and nothing can interpose. Wow. I'd have to drop a few pawns after 12. Nxc7+ Kd7 13. Nxd5 Bxd1. But, I could have picked up the queen.}
12.b4 Bb6 13.g4
{Hanging a pawn and further weaken his king-side.}
13...Nxg4 14.h3 Nf6 15.Nxc7+
{I guess he just hates his knights, because he seems to like hanging them.}
15...Bxc7 16.Qe2 Qg6
{I remember reading or hearing a chess expert once say, "Never prepare to do something that you can just do". In this case, I was preparing to take the pawn,
Bxh3, but I could have just taken it and traded off bishops (since it's already clear that knights are going to decide this game).}
17.Qb5
{He could have played Kh2 and ruined my plans. But, he did not.}
17...Bxh3 18.Rf2 O-O
{It would have been better to play Qg3 followed by Nf4 and picking up the rook. However, I knew I needed to get my rooks in on the action and my king tucked away and I missed this tactic.}
19.Qxb7 Ne8
{I wouldn't have been so concerned about protecting my bishop, if I had realized I had a mate in 10 after Qxb7. I do not beat myself up over missing mate in 10.
Although Qg3 was always the best move.}
20.Qxa8 Ne7
{I seem to be dropping material left and right, but I knew that if I could just get my pieces to the king side, I would find a mate.}
21.Qxa7 Nf5 22.Kh2
{Mate in 7 from here. Once again beginning with Qg3 (that move never even crossed my mind during the game).}
22...Bxg2 23.Rxg2 Qh5+ 24.Kg1 Nh4 25.Rg5 Nf3+
{I missed a mate in 5 from here, but I almost had a bow on this one anyway.}
26.Kg2 Qh2+ 27.Kf1 Nxg5
{I prolonged his pain for a while longer, and I could have had a shorter mate from here if I'd just left the rook alone. But, sometimes its better to be safe than sorry.}
28.Qc5 Nf3 29.Qxd5 Qg1+ 30.Ke2 Qe1#
{I really quite like this mate.}
0-1

Jamiebubs vs. LindseyAnn 0-1

This is my first win since coming back to chess. It isn't pretty and I make a lot of mistakes. A day or two later, I lost a game terribly, so be expecting that to make it's way here soon enough.



[Event "Let's Play!"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2010.07.05"]
[Round ""]
[White "jamiebubs"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[TimeControl "1"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO " "]
[WhiteELO "1216"]
[BlackELO "1247"]


{Termination "lindseyann won by resignation"}
1.d4
{What's hilarious about this move: even though I love opening with 1. d4, I HATE playing against it.}
1...d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.b4 Nc6 4.a3 e5 5.Ne2
{He's not doing the best job of getting his pieces out quickly and the advantage is shifting toward my favor.}
5...Bd6 6.g3 O-O 7.Nec3
{While this was pretty much the only square this knight had to go to, he has now
blocked in the other knight.}
7...Be6
{I enjoy putting my pieces in this formation whenever possible. It might not have been all the best moves on my part, but look at it...}
8.Nb5 Re8
{It probably would have been best to play the breakthrough 8...dxe4 with all my pieces super active. But, I like to keep things as orderly as possible for as long as possible.}
9.N1c3 Be7 10.Bd3 a6
{At the time, I thought this move was really clever. The knight appears trapped, and indeed my opponent goes along with my flawed logic. However in truth, he had the response dxe4, ruining my plans. Better for me would have been to first play 10...e4 and then my plans work out better.}
11.Nxc7 Qxc7 12.f4 exf4
{I missed 12...Nxb4 winning the pawn after the discovered attack on his knight.}
13.exf4 Bg4
{I'm not sure why I did this instead of the obvious Nxd4. The computer seems confused as to which move is better.}
14.Be2 Bd6
{A pretty weak move, considering I had either Nxb4 or Bxb4 instead.}
15.O-O
{I've begun to slowly give away a lot of my advantage and it's a good thing that I was already up a knight because I'm about to make a stupid mistake.}
15...Bxe2
{I thought this move was totally brilliant because I totally overlooked his knight on c3. I think this is one of those moments where I wanted the tactic to be there
so bad, that I ignore the fact that it wasn't there at all.}
16.Nxe2 Re6
{Looking to play Rae8 and Qe7, with domination over the e-file. But, I over looked the obvious response...}
17.f5 Re4 18.Bg5
{Kind of a silly move, since my knight is much happier on g4 anyways.}
18...Ng4
{While I do like my knight on this square, Rae8 was a better way to start things off.}
19.Nc3
{A mistake.}
19...Rxd4
{...and I finally win that pawn that's been waiting to be taken this whole game.}
20.Qf3 Ne7
{I moved here to protect the d-pawn, but it would have been more effective to play Nce5, attacking the queen. Sometimes offense is the best defense.}
21.Nxd5 Nxd5
{Better would have been Qc2, threatening Qxh2#}
22.Rad1 Qb6
{Once again, Qxc2 was the best move.}
23.Kg2 Ne5 24.Qh5 f6
{Doing a good job of realizing that all was not completely safe in my camp.}
25.Be3 Nxe3+
{In all my years of having the computer auto-analyze my games, I have never seen it
use the phrase "quadruple-fork" and I must say, it's pretty awesome. I have to give more credit to my opponent than to myself, but at least I didn't miss it.}
26.Kh3 Nxd1
{The computer like several moves more than this one. I wanted to get his other rook away from his king and win this game. It didn't cost me much of my lead, so I'm not too concerned about it.}
27.c3 Rd3
{While I could have just played Nxc3 and it would have been objectively better, I like pins.}
28.Rf4
{And he can be mated several different ways from this point, but it doesn't go that far.}
28...Nf2+ 29.Kh4 g5+ 30.Qxg5+
{I think I enjoyed forcing him to give up his queen a bit too much.}
30...fxg5+
{White resigns. Join me next time for a terrible loss.}
*

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

Jay8172 vs. LindseyAnn 0-1

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.3.26"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "jay8172"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[TimeControl "-"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C68"]
[WhiteElo "1263"]
[BlackElo "1440"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6
{I am really not a fan of the Ruy Lopez. I usually manage to make a mess of things. Let's see how this works out.}
5.Nxe5 Qd4 6.Nxf7 Qxe4+ 7.Qe2 Qxe2+ 8.Kxe2 Kxf7
{Turns out he made a mess of this. I was probably beefing up on my openings when this was played. Now neither of us are able to castle, but at least I'm up a piece.}
9.d4 Nf6 10.Rd1 Bg4+
{Developing my bishop with a skewer that is easily defended.}
11.f3 Re8+ 12.Kf2 Bf5 13.Nc3 c5
{I probably should have just taken the material with 13...Bxc2. But, I was trying to get my dark-square bishop into the game. He could have protected the g1-a7 diagonal with 14. Be3, but he didn't.}
14.dxc5 Bxc5+ 15.Kg3 Nh5+
{This move was no good and gets me into trouble in a minute.}
16.Kh4 g6
{I miss the completely obvious response 17. g4}
17.g4
{At this point in the game, I was completely convinced that Be7 would be mate. I did not notice his bishop quietly waiting to come to the defense.}
17...Bf2+ 18.Kh3
{Now I realize his bishop can come to the defense. I actually wrote in my notes during the game: Bxc2 trying to trick him into playing Rd2, then my mate works. This is what happened, but its never good to rely on your opponent to make a big blunder to win.}
18...Bxc2 19.Rd2 Nf4#
{White king mated}
0-1

LindseyAnn v. ccdd5 1-0

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.3.26"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "lindseyann"]
[Black "ccdd5"]
[TimeControl "-"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "C14"]
[WhiteELO "1171"]
[BlackELO "1264"]

{Termination "Black resigned" Mode "ICS" DateLastMove "2010.3.29" Board "6741508"}
1.d4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e5 Nfd7 6.Bxe7 Qxe7 7.f4 O-O 8.Nf3 a6
{This may be one of the longest book openings I've ever played. 8...c5 would have kept us in book.}
9.Bd3 Qb4
{Here he should have played f6 to prevent my playing Bxf7+ and destroying his king side.}
10.Rb1
{So I didn't make the correct response of Bxf7+, which is sad since I've been reading all about kingside attacks in 'Logical Chess'.}
10...Nc6 11.a3 Qe7 12.Ne2
{Preparing to swing over to the kingside for an attack, but it still would have been better to play Bxf7+ here.}
12...f6 13.O-O fxe5 14.fxe5 Nd8 15.Qe1 c5 16.c3 c4 17.Bc2 Nf7 18.h4
{I played this to have better control of g5, but Qg3 protects it twice which is alright at the moment.}
18...Nh6
{He might have wanted to get some counter play on the queen side here.}
19.Ng5 Rxf1+ 20.Qxf1 g6 21.Qf4
{Trying to set up some sort of discovered attack on the knight.}
21...Qf8 22.Nxe6 Qxf4 23.N6xf4
{Slightly better is N2xf4 which is completely obvious as I look back on this game.}
23...Nf8
{He decides not to defend his pawn so I decide to take it.}
24.Nxd5 Bf5 25.Ne7+ Kf7 26.Nxf5 Nxf5 27.Rf1
{Black resigned, though I'm not sure if it was completely necessary to resign. I was only up 4.5 points according to the computer and this guy has no idea how terrible I am at endgames.}
*

LindseyAnn vs. Steen Myrhoj 1-0

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.4.1"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "lindseyann"]
[Black "Steen Myrhoj"]
[TimeControl "-"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "1434"]
[BlackELO "1164"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3
{I love the Queen's Gambit. It's normally the only opening I ever play. This is the Marshall Variation, and it is customary for white to respond with 3. cxd5. That isn't really my style though, and I'll normally always play Nc3 on the third move.}
3...Nc6 4.Nf3 b6 5.e3 Bg4 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Be2
{Not the most aggressive placement of my bishop, but I hate pins.}
7...Nxc3 8.bxc3 g6 9.O-O Bg7 10.Qc2
{I made this move with the intention of playing Qe4. I knew there were a lot of defenses to this fork, but...}
10...O-O 11.Qe4 Qd6
{...he chose not to play the proper defense of Bd7 (although, this is another example of me relying on my opponents to make a mistake).}
12.Qxg4 a5 13.Qe4 f5 14.Bc4+ Kh8 15.Qh4
{According the computer, Qe6 is slightly better. But, I was going for a crushing king-side attack.}
15...e5 16.Ng5 h5
{This move I don't understand at all. 16...h6 would have gotten rid of my super powerful knight. Instead he's further weakened his king's position.}
17.Nf7+
{I was proud of finding this tactic, since this is the sort of thing that I miss a lot. After this I'm a bishop and an exchange.}
17...Rxf7 18.Bxf7 exd4 19.Qg5
{Sure, this move lets me take out the g-pawn, but his (eventual) c-pawn ends up being a pain for me later on. It would have been better to just take cxd4.}
19...dxc3 20.Bxg6 c2 21.Qxh5+
{Well, apparently I shouldn't have worried about his c-pawn, and I should have played 21. Bb2 because 21...Bxb2 would lead to a Mate in 3.}
21...Kg8 22.Bxf5 Qf6
{Bb2 would still be the best response, but I don't play it.}
23.Qh7+ Kf7 24.Bxc2 Qxa1 25.Bb3+
{Things are getting bleak for him. I'm not concerned about my missing rook, because my bishops and queen will dominate the rest of the game.}
25...Kf6 26.e4
{So, I missed a mate in 6 here. I'm not too distraught about that. I knew that getting my pawns in on the action would seal the deal.}
26...Qe5 27.f4 Qe8 28.Qh4+ Kg6 29.f5#
{I especially love it when pawns deliver mate.} 1-0

Brimoy vs. LindseyAnn 0-1

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.3.28"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "brimoy"]
[Black "lindseyann"]
[TimeControl "-"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO " "]
[WhiteELO "1147"]
[BlackELO "1420"]


1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.f3 Bc5 4.Nh3
{Hmm, a knight on the rim is grim comes to mind. }
4...Nc6 5.Ng5
{While a knight on g5 can be decisive in middle and late games, there is no point in putting him there with no back-up so early in the game.}
5...O-O 6.Nc3 Nh5
{I played this move wanting to get my knight to f4 and hoping that he might not notice that this opened up a discovery...}
7.Nd5
{...He did not notice. I've said before, it's never good to depend on your opponent
to make mistakes, but it certainly helps sometimes.}
7...Qxg5 8.Qe2
{It's pretty much downhill from here for white. He should have played Kf1 to defend the g2 pawn.}
8...d6
{I'm not sure why I played this move. The obvious response was 8...Nf4, I'll get around to it eventually.}
9.d3 Nf4 10.Qd1
{Another misstep, giving me the g-pawn.}
10...Qxg2 11.Rf1 Bh3
{From here I was convinced that mate was guaranteed. It is for the most part, but he would make me work for it.}
12.Bxf4
{I think this move was important for him to make, because my knight was pretty dangerous. The computer thinks d4 is better, which makes sense because my dark-square bishop is also pretty dangerous.}
12...Qxf1+ 13.Kd2 Qf2+ 14.Kc1
{Qe2 with a trade would have gotten a lot of the pressure off of him. Instead he chooses to retreat.}
14...exf4 15.Nxf4
{I, thankfully, did not miss the fork...}
15...Be3+ 16.Kb1 Bxf4 17.b3 Bg2 18.Kb2
{And he's given me another beneficial exchange.}
18...Be5+ 19.Kb1 Bxf3
{I of course miss it, but for anyone who's interested: 19...Qd4 20.c3 Qxc3 21.d4 Bxd4 22.Qc1 Qxa1+ 23.Kc2 Qxa2+ 24.Kd3 Nb4+ 25.Kxd4 Qf2+ 26.Kc3 Na2+ 27.Kd3 Nxc1+ 28.Kc3 Na2+ 29.Kd3 Bf1#}
20.Qc1 Bxa1
{I went for the material advantage with Bxa1, however the computer recommended Nd4. Once the knight gets in the game it's pretty much an automatic loss, instead of a slow and painful loss for white. Once I find myself in a winning position, I tend to just try and trade down to fight it out in a overwhelmingly winning endgame (evenish endgames I avoid like the plague)... I was in this mentality at this point in the game.}
21.Kxa1 Nd4 22.a4 Rfe8
{I'm not sure why I didn't play Nxc2+. My whole intention after playing Nd4 was to take out the c-pawn (the only thing holding his pawns together at this moment). I eventually play it, I'm just wondering if there was a reason that I hesitated.}
23.Ka2 Nxc2 24.Kb2
{All I want now is to trade queens, take his pawns and mate him.}
24...Nd4+ 25.Ka3 c6 26.Qc3 d5
{I thought this was a clever way of getting rid of his last minor piece, but I missed a Mate in 12 here (not surprisingly): 26...Nc2+ 27.Ka2 Nb4+ 28.Kb1 Rxe4 29.Qxb4 Qg1+ 30.Kb2 Re2+ 31.Qd2 Rxd2+ 32.Kc3 Qc1+ 33.Kd4 Re8 34.Bxf7+ Kxf7 35.b4 Re4#}
27.Bxd5 cxd5 28.exd5 Rac8
{From here, mate is assured. }
29.Qb2 Qxb2+ 30.Kxb2 a5
{I don't take the fastest route to the win, but I like to get my pawn involved when putting together a mating net.}
31.h4 Re2+ 32.Ka3 Bxd5 33.b4 Rc3#
{White king mated}
0-1

LindseyAnn vs. TheSnarler 1-0

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.4.9"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "lindseyann"]
[Black "thesnarler"]
[TimeControl "-"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO " "]
[WhiteELO "1416"]
[BlackELO "1075"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3
{This is a weird second move for me, usually I'll just continue with c4, but maybe just wanted to shake things up.}
2...Nc6 3.e4 Na5 4.Nf3 Nh5
{I've never seen such crazy opening moves. The funny thing is, he manages to win a fair number of games playing this way.}
5.Be2 e6 6.O-O
{I'm playing a bit conservatively. The position probably called for some more aggressive play, especially considering how poor his development is.}
6...Bb4 7.Bd2 Bxc3 8.Bxc3
{Yes, I would love to trade my knight for your bishop in what is sure to be an open game.}
8...Nc6 9.Ne5
{When I played this move, I thought it was more clever than it actually is. 9. d5
would have probably been a better choice.}
9...Nf6 10.Nxc6 bxc6
{I'll settle for doubling his pawns though.}
11.Qd3
{The computer keeps suggesting that I push either the d or e-pawn, but the truth is, I like to keep the classical pawn center for as long as I can. I feel like it gives me a nice space advantage, and as long as they're not weakness, I don't see the point of splitting them up.}
11...d5 12.e5
{Now, I feel, was an appropriate time to push the e-pawn.}
12...Ne4 13.f3
{This move takes my bishop out of the game a bit. It may have been better to start attacking his weak c7 pawn, but I smell a pawn storm brewing--and, if I can kick his knight off that square in the process, I see no harm.}
13...Ng5 14.Bd2 f6 15.f4
{The computer thinks I should have started trying to penetrate on the queen-side, via the weak dark squares... but, I love a good king-side attack (probably to my detriment)}
15...Nf7 16.Qg3 g5
{He should have just castled and saved himself a lot of grief.}
17.fxg5 Rg8 18.Rxf6 h6
{As soon as I started putting pressure on his king-side, he never really defended properly. Nh8 would have actually been better for him here, because after Raf1 he's in big trouble.}
19.Raf1
{And while this pretty much destroys him, it would have actually been better for me to just play 19. Rxf7 Kxf7 20. Rf1+, but things are still really bad for him.}
19...hxg5 20.Bh5
{Well, I missed a forced mate in 8 (20.Rxf7 Bb7 21.Bh5 Qe7 22.Rxe7+ Kxe7 23.Qa3+ Kd8 24.Rf8+ Kd7 25.Rf7+ Kc8 26.Qe7 Rg6 27.Qxc7#) However, I actually manage to mate him in the next 7 moves, so I'm not really sweating it.}
20...Kd7 21.Rxf7+ Qe7 22.Rxe7+ Kxe7 23.Bxg5+ Kd7 24.Rf7+ Ke8 25.Re7+ Kd8 26.Rg7#
{This is probably one of the longest mating patterns I've ever seen in advance. I missed the mate in 8, but after that I played perfectly (something very rare, indeed).}
1-0

LindseyAnn vs. John1007 1-0

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2010.4.9"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "lindseyann"]
[Black "john1007"]
[TimeControl "-"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO " "]
[WhiteELO "1402"]
[BlackELO "1359"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.e3
{e4 would have probably been a better move here.}
5...Bg4 6.Bxc4 Bh5 7.O-O Qd6 8.b3
{b3 would have been a nice place for my queen to go.... not anymore.}
8...Bg6 9.Nb5 Qd7 10.Bb2 e6 11.Re1
{I'm not playing great moves, but I'm also not playing terrible moves. When I'm playing against someone close to me in skill-level, I tend to try and make the best moves possible until they make a mistake. The only problem ends up being my "best moves possible" usually aren't subjectively the best moves and I tend to build up small weaknesses. My only hope is that my opponent slips up soon.}
11...Nb4 12.Re2
{Fending off 12...Nc2, however 12. Ne5 accomplishes the same goal with a bit more dynamic play.}
12...a6 13.Nc3 b5
{A now white position is getting a bit cramped.}
14.a3 Nc6 15.Bd3 O-O-O 16.b4 Bd6 17.Nxb5
{A really crazy move on my part, but apparently the right one. I needed some space on the queen-side and I realized that trading a knight for two pawns and a weak enemy king was probably a good idea.}
17...axb5 18.Bxb5 Kb7 19.Rc1 Be4 20.Ng5 Bf5
{This was the worst mistake that black made and it probably cost him the game. He didn't need to retreat the bishop, because it was protected by his knight. He did however need to get his king out of the way, because now I win his queen.}
21.Bxc6+ Qxc6 22.Rxc6 Kxc6 23.e4
{I did miss Nxf7, which makes me pretty made because if there's one thing I usually always look for it's knight forks.}
23...Bg4
{He had the chance to protect the f7 square with Bg6, but it doesn't matter because I'm still oblivious to it.}
24.Qc1+ Kd7 25.Rc2 Rdf8 26.e5
{At least I didn't miss this fork.}
26...h6 27.Nf3
{I miss the forced mate (27.exd6 cxd6 28.Rc7+ Kd8 29.Qc6 e5 30.Qxd6+ Nd7 31.Ra7 Ke8 32.Ra8+ Nb8 33.Rxb8+ Bc8 34.Rxc8#)}
27...Bxe5 28.dxe5
{and I miss another forced mate.}
28...Rc8 29.exf6 g6
{I couldn't begin to tell you why he didn't play Bxf3.}
30.Ne5+ Kd6 31.Nxg4
{Wow, I also missed a mate in one... that's pretty shameful. Rd2 would have been checkmate. No worries though, I just extended the game by one extra round of moves.}
31...h5 32.Qd1#
{Black king mated}
1-0