I was super-stoked to come home on Friday evening and find [ChessBase](http://www.chessbase.com) Magazine #163 in my mailbox! It was no time before I was down in front of my laptop watching the intro video and diving into the annotated games from the Baku tournament in the FIDE Grand Prix. If you have never checked out CBM, I highly recommend it for players of all ages. The DVD (or the download option) contains the free ChessBase reader, which allows you to read the magazine without having the full version of ChessBase.
This week, I have annotated two correspondence games in which I came out with heavy losses. Some general carelessness in the first game led to my downfall, while psychological elements played a factor in the second loss. In this first game, I was up against a 1265 player and there were several times throughout the game that I felt I would come out on top. However, those visions were short-lived and ultimately White managed to exploit my weaknesses and corner me.
[pgn]
[Event “Let’s Play!”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2014.12.06”]
[Round “?”]
[White “1265”]
[Black “Wesley Surber”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteElo “1265”]
[BlackElo “1162”]
[PlyCount “69”]
[EventDate “2014.??.??”]
[TimeControl “1”]
1. e4 d5 2. e5 Nc6 3. d4 e6 4. a3 Nge7 5. b4 Nf5 6. c3 b5 7. a4 Ba6 8. a5 {
White has an impressive pawn structure, but Black has more pieces developed in
this opening. Material and position are mostly equal, and I was starting to
feel the pinch of the pawn wall pushing in.} f6 9. f4 {No challenges I issued
were going answered by White, which complicated the game considerably.} g5 10.
fxg5 fxg5 {Finally, the G-file is open and my Queen was primed to take control
of it.} 11. g4 Nh4 12. h3 Bg7 13. Be3 O-O {Castling at this point was twofold:
1) to provide some stability and safety for the King, and 2) to activate my h8
Rook and challenge the f1 Bishop.} 14. Bf2 Ne7 15. Bxh4 gxh4 {I was not happy
to give away the Knight, but I decided that it was better to go for a
Rook-Bishop endgame anyway.} 16. Bd3 Ng6 17. Bxg6 hxg6 {The trades are
complete and it was time to bring the Queen into action.} 18. Qd3 Qg5 19. Nd2
Qf4 {This was a very dangerous position for White. One wrong move could have
destroyed his position and immediately cost him the game.} 20. O-O-O Qg3 21.
Qxg3 hxg3 {The g3 passed pawn is deadly, and White knew it.} 22. Ngf3 Bh6 23.
g5 Bxg5 24. Nxg5 {I hesitated considerably before making this move because I
knew that trading a Bishop for a pawn was not a sweet deal to make. My hope
was to use the re-capture by the f3 Knight to launch an attack on White with
my Rooks.} Rf2 25. Rhg1 g2 {Things were looking good for me…} 26. Nxe6 Bc8
27. Nxc7 Rb8 28. Nxd5 Bxh3 29. Ne3 Rbf8 30. Ne4 R2f3 31. Nxg2 Bxg2 {I wish I
could have this move back. It was the blunder that cost me the game. The
Knight-Bishop exchange actually made my position considerably worse.} 32. Rxg2
R8f4 33. Rxg6+ Kh7 34. Rg2 {I thought White was retreating at this point and I
missed the mate in two.} Rxe4 {A devastating blunder. Nothing can stop White
from getting the Black King.} 35. Rh1+ 1-0
[/pgn]
This next game was difficult from the get-go. My opponent was listed as *UNRATED* on chess.com, but it quickly became apparent that he was playing more in the 1400-1700 ELO range. I made some significant blunders in this game and I feel that my sense of his higher ELO got the best of me. The blunders I made were tactically significant and each of them were things that I should have recognized easily, but alas I took the loss and present the game here for your enjoyment.
[pgn]
[Event “Let’s Play!”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2014.12.12”]
[Round “?”]
[White “1342”]
[Black “Wesley Surber”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteElo “1342”]
[BlackElo “1155”]
[PlyCount “50”]
[EventDate “2014.??.??”]
[TimeControl “1”]
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 {This is always a dangerous move for me because if
played incorrectly, White has a critical moment to wreak havoc on my Queen for
the rest of the game. I have had some moderate success with this opening in
the past, but White managed to distract me long enough to devastate my
position rather quickly.} 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. h3 e6 6. a3 {White seemed
to be preparing for 7b4, so I felt the need to get out of the way.} Qb6 7. Bc4
Bc5 8. O-O O-O {Both Kings to safety…the only place to be.} 9. Na4 Qd6 10. b4
Bd4 11. Nxd4 Qxd4 12. Nb2 {A dual-purpose move: 1) to block the Queen from
attacking the a1 Rook and to protect the c4 Bishop. White’s command of the c4
square was frustrating.} Nc6 13. c3 Qe4 14. Bd3 Qd5 {My Queen has already
moved far too many times to allow my other pieces to fully develop. Things
were not looking so good for Black.} 15. Bc2 e5 16. Bb3 Qd8 {I was relieved to
simply put her back on her home square.} 17. d3 Bf5 18. Bg5 h6 19. Bh4 g5 20.
Bg3 {White likes to threaten, but was not interested in firing the first shot.}
a5 21. Qf3 axb4 22. axb4 Rxa1 23. Rxa1 {I made the exchange to clear up some
space for my pieces to develop.} e4 {This was devastating. I made this move
rather quickly without looking at the hanging Bishop on f5. I had hoped that
my ‘Unrated’ opponent would not notice it, but my hopes were quickly dashed.}
24. Qxf5 exd3 25. Nxd3 Ne7 {A second blunder and the game is over. The e7
Knight blocks the Queen from defending the f6 Knight and White is free to
wreak havoc.} 1-0
[/pgn]