Welcome to the first edition of **My Chess Week**, where I write about my weekly exploits across the chess board! This week’s installment focuses on a pair of correspondence games played on [Chess.com](http://www.chess.com).
This week has had a variety of ups and downs in the world of my own chess play. The week started off with a pair of brilliant wins and an exciting moment where my correspondence ELO jumped to 1478 before plummeting back to 1322 by the morning of July 20th. The first noteworthy game came against a [Chess.com](http://www.chess.com) player rated at 1309. I was coming off of an exciting win and feeling the thrill of victory. However, I quickly noted in this game that I was struggling to find decent moves against White, but a key opportunity presented itself at move 29.
[pgn]
[Event “Let’s Play!”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2014.07.16”]
[White “1309”]
[Black “AmishHacker”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteElo “1309”]
[BlackElo “1398”]
[TimeControl “1 in 1 day”]
[Termination “AmishHacker won on time”]
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 Bc5 5.Bg2 O-O 6.O-O Ng4 7.e3 d6 8.h3 Qf6 9.Ne4 Qe6 10.Nxc5 dxc5 11.hxg4 Qxg4 12.d3 Bf5 13.e4 Bg6 14.Kh2 f5 15.Ng5 Rad8 16.Bh3 Qh5 17.Qxh5 Bxh5 18.Ne6 Rxd3 19.Nxf8 Kxf8 20.Bxf5 g6 21.Bh6+ Kf7 22.Bc8 Nd4 23.Bxb7 Nf3+ 24.Kg2 Rd4 25.Bd5+ Ke7 26.Be3 Rd3 27.Bxc5+ Kd7 28.Bxa7 c6 29.Bg8 Ke8 {This was the key turning point in the game. I spent several hours going over 16 different variations to find the best way to a quick and decisive end. I knew it was most important to get my King to safety to avoid 30.Re8, which would allow easy capture of my e6 Rook and destroy any chance I had of coming back.} 30.c5 Nh4+ {Even in post-game analysis, Fritz does not recommend this move. However, it was not done haphazardly. The intention was to get White to take the Knight to open up the B-file.} 31.gxh4 Bf3+ 32.Kh2 Bg4 33.Kg1 Rh3 {White’s only hope here is 34.Kb7, which prevents mate in 2. Alas, White chose an unusual response in 34.Bb8.} 34.Bb8 Bf3 35.Bf7+ {A parting shot, nothing more.} Kxf7 0-1
[/pgn]
1309/White should have resigned or made another move in the game to allow for checkmate, but instead he chose to let his clock run down. I had to wait 24 hours for the game to show up as a win, but nonetheless there was nothing White could do to prevent mate in one.
Unfortunately, things did not go so well on the next game. A combination of overconfidence and a lack of attention to the consequences of my moves cost me dearly against a 1341 playing White.
[pgn]
[Event “Let’s Play!”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2014.07.16”]
[White “1341”]
[Black “AmishHacker”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteElo “1341”]
[BlackElo “1398”]
[TimeControl “1 in 1 day”]
[Termination “1341 won by resignation”]
1.e4 e5 2.d4 Nc6 3.c3 Nf6 4.Bd3 d6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.O-O d5 7.Qa4 Qd7 8.Bg5 exd4 9.cxd4 Bd6 {My mind started going fuzzy at this point. What should I do? Should I make a pawn trade or take the Knight on f2? Ultimately I decided to increase pressure on the center and played Bxf3.} 10.Nc3 Bxf3 {This is where the psychological destruction set in. I began examining this position and looking for mate in 3 moves. I had a variety of combinations mapped out in Chessbase and ready to go based on his responses. However, I made a critical error in my analysis and missed a very basic defense: g3! This simple move completely erased any attack ideas I had and my play never recovered.} 11.Be2 Ng4 12.g3 dxe4 13.Qb3 Nxd4 14.Qxb7 Nxe2+ 15.Nxe2 Bxe2 16.Qxa8+ {This was a brutal move. I cannot castle because my King is in check I cannot advance to the e7 square because of the h5 Bishop. This is a mate in two position.} Qd8 {The only legal move. Mate in one.} 17.Bxd8?? {I actually sent 1341 a chat message on Chess.com to tell him about his blunder. I was convinced the game was over and was just waiting on my iPhone to notify me of the mate. However, he chose the very unusual 17.Bxd8??, apparently looking to greedily snatch my Queen. I used the opportunity to play 17…O-O, but it was ultimately not enough.} O-O 18.Rfe1 Be7 19.Rxe2 Bxd8 20.Rd1 f5 21.Rxd8 Rxd8 22.Qxd8+ 1-0
[/pgn]
Following this loss, I suffered another loss before the end of the week with two games remaining to be concluded. As of right now, each of the games are even, but the middle game is just now starting and it is still anyone’s match. The important thing right now is to not let one or two losses, as damning as they are, create fear or panic when I am faced with the same positions in later games. That is the beauty of chess! Each loss is an opportunity to take away knowledge that can bring victory in the next game.