It has been awhile since I posted anything here, but do not fear because I have not abandoned the site. In between work and school, I have done what I can to remain active on [Chess.com](http://www.chess.com) although I have struggled recently with a terrible losing streak. For example, this collection of games cost me almost 100 ELO points in Live Chess and some of the games really speak to the devastation that constant stress can cause on a player’s game, even though that stress and distraction does not seem to be at the forefront of the mind.
[pgn]
[Event “Live Chess”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2015.05.01”]
[Round “?”]
[White “780”]
[Black “AmishHacker”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteElo “780”]
[BlackElo “862”]
[PlyCount “77”]
[EventDate “2015.??.??”]
[TimeControl “5”]
1. e4 d5 2. f3 e5 3. c3 Nc6 4. d4 Be6 5. Bb5 Qd7 6. Qb3 O-O-O 7. exd5 Bxd5 8.
Bxc6 Qxc6 9. c4 Bxc4 10. Nd2 Re8 11. Qxc4 exd4+ 12. Ne2 Bc5 13. Ne4 Qb5 14.
Qxb5 d3 15. Qxc5 dxe2 16. Qxa7 Kd7 17. Qxb7 Nf6 18. Qb5+ Ke7 19. Kxe2 Nxe4 20.
fxe4 Kd8 21. Qd5+ Ke7 22. Bg5+ Kf8 23. Qc5+ Kg8 24. Qxc7 Rxe4+ 25. Be3 g6 26.
Qc8+ Kg7 27. Raf1 Rhe8 28. Qc3+ f6 29. Rf4 Rxe3+ 30. Qxe3 Rxe3+ 31. Kxe3 g5 32.
Re4 f5 33. Re7+ Kf6 34. Rxh7 f4+ 35. Kf3 Kf5 36. g4+ Ke5 37. Re1+ Kd4 38. Rd7+
Kc5 39. Rc1+ {ventrellAndrea won by resignation} 1-0
[Event “Live Chess”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2015.05.01”]
[Round “?”]
[White “AmishHacker”]
[Black “790”]
[Result “0-1”]
[WhiteElo “852”]
[BlackElo “790”]
[PlyCount “38”]
[EventDate “2015.??.??”]
[TimeControl “5”]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Qe7 4. Nd5 Qd6 5. d3 Nd4 6. Ng5 c6 7. Nxf7 Kxf7 8.
Qh5+ g6 9. Qg5 Nf6 10. Be2 Nxd5 11. exd5 cxd5 12. Be3 Be7 13. Qh6 Nxc2+ 14. Kd1
Nxa1 15. d4 Qb4 16. dxe5 Qa4+ 17. Kc1 Nb3+ 18. Kb1 Qe4+ 19. Bd3 Qxd3# {
ventrellAndrea won by checkmate} 0-1
[Event “Live Chess”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2015.05.03”]
[Round “?”]
[White “908”]
[Black “AmishHacker”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteElo “908”]
[BlackElo “845”]
[PlyCount “57”]
[EventDate “2015.??.??”]
[TimeControl “5”]
1. e4 d5 2. d3 Nf6 3. e5 Nfd7 4. d4 c5 5. Nc3 c4 6. Nxd5 Qa5+ 7. Nc3 e6 8. Bxc4
Bb4 9. Nge2 O-O 10. O-O f6 11. f4 f5 12. a3 Bxc3 13. Nxc3 Nb6 14. b3 Bd7 15. b4
Nxc4 16. bxa5 Nc6 17. d5 exd5 18. Nxd5 N6xa5 19. Ne7+ Kh8 20. Qxd7 Rad8 21. Qe6
g6 22. Ra2 Rde8 23. Rd1 h6 24. Bb2 Ne3 25. Qxg6 Rxe7 26. e6+ Rg7 27. Bxg7+ Kg8
28. Bxf8+ Kxf8 29. Rd8+ {Pwubbles won by resignation} 1-0
[Event “Live Chess”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2015.05.04”]
[Round “?”]
[White “894”]
[Black “AmishHacker”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteElo “894”]
[BlackElo “838”]
[PlyCount “59”]
[EventDate “2015.??.??”]
[TimeControl “5”]
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. a3 Qc5 6. Bd3 Nf6 7. b3 Ng4 8.
Ne4 Qd5 9. O-O e6 10. Qe2 f5 11. Nc3 Qc5 12. Bb5 Bd7 13. Bxc6 Qxc6 14. Ne5 Qd6
15. Nxg4 fxg4 16. Qxg4 e5 17. Qe4 O-O-O 18. d3 g5 19. Bxg5 Re8 20. a4 h6 21.
Be3 c6 22. a5 Qc5 23. Bxc5 Bxc5 24. a6 bxa6 25. Rxa6 Rhg8 26. g3 Ref8 27. Nd1
Bf5 28. Qxc6+ Kb8 29. Qxc5 Rc8 30. Qxa7# {Pjblanks won by checkmate} 1-0
[Event “Live Chess”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2015.05.04”]
[Round “?”]
[White “AmishHacker”]
[Black “885”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteElo “847”]
[BlackElo “885”]
[PlyCount “51”]
[EventDate “2015.??.??”]
[TimeControl “5”]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 h6 4. O-O Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. d4 Bg4 7. d5 Bxf3 8. Qxf3
Nd4 9. Qd1 Qd7 10. Be3 Ng4 11. Bxd4 exd4 12. Bb5 c6 13. dxc6 bxc6 14. Ba6 dxc3
15. bxc3 Be7 16. h3 Ne5 17. Qh5 O-O 18. f4 Ng6 19. f5 Ne5 20. Rab1 g6 21. Qxh6
gxf5 22. exf5 d5 23. f6 Bc5+ 24. Kh1 Qg4 25. hxg4 Nxg4 26. Qg7# {AmishHacker
won by checkmate} 1-0
[Event “Live Chess”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2015.05.04”]
[Round “?”]
[White “892”]
[Black “AmishHacker”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteElo “892”]
[BlackElo “840”]
[PlyCount “31”]
[EventDate “2015.??.??”]
[TimeControl “5”]
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qe5+ 4. Be2 Bg4 5. d4 Qe6 6. d5 Qe5 7. f3 Bf5 8.
f4 Qd6 9. Nb5 Qb4+ 10. c3 Qe4 11. Nxc7+ Kd8 12. Nxa8 Qxg2 13. Bf3 Qg6 14. Qd4
e6 15. dxe6+ Nd7 16. Qxd7# {Pjblanks won by checkmate} 1-0
[Event “Live Chess”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2015.05.04”]
[Round “?”]
[White “AmishHacker”]
[Black “887”]
[Result “0-1”]
[WhiteElo “833”]
[BlackElo “887”]
[PlyCount “140”]
[EventDate “2015.??.??”]
[TimeControl “5”]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 4. Nxd4 exd4 5. d3 c6 6. Bc4 b5 7. Bb3 Nf6 8.
O-O a5 9. a4 b4 10. Bc4 Ba6 11. Qe2 Bxc4 12. dxc4 c5 13. c3 bxc3 14. bxc3 dxc3
15. Nxc3 d6 16. Bf4 Be7 17. e5 dxe5 18. Bxe5 Nd7 19. Bxg7 Rg8 20. Bh6 Rg6 21.
Qe3 Re6 22. Qg3 Rxh6 23. Qg8+ Nf8 24. Rad1 Qc7 25. Nd5 Qa7 26. Rfe1 Rg6 27.
Rxe7+ Qxe7 28. Nxe7 Rxg8 29. Nxg8 Ne6 30. Nf6+ Ke7 31. Nxh7 Rb8 32. g3 Rb4 33.
f4 Rxc4 34. f5 Ng7 35. f6+ Ke6 36. fxg7 Rg4 37. Rd8 Rxg7 38. Re8+ Kd7 39. Nf6+
Kd6 40. Ne4+ Kd5 41. Nf6+ Kc4 42. Re4+ Kd3 43. Rf4 c4 44. Rf3+ Ke2 45. Kg2 Kd2
46. Ne4+ Ke2 47. Rc3 f5 48. Nc5 Rg4 49. h3 Rd4 50. Ne6 Rd3 51. Nf4+ Kd2 52.
Nxd3 Kxc3 53. Nc5 Kb4 54. Ne6 c3 55. Nd4 Kc4 56. Ne2 Kd3 57. Nxc3 Kxc3 58. g4
Kb4 59. g5 Kxa4 60. g6 Kb5 61. g7 a4 62. g8=Q a3 63. Qd5+ Kb4 64. Qxf5 a2 65.
Qf4+ Kb3 66. Qf7+ Kb2 67. Qb7+ Ka3 68. Qe7+ Kb2 69. Qb7+ Ka3 70. Qf3+ Kb2 {
cayrivas won on time} 0-1
[Event “Live Chess”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2015.05.04”]
[Round “?”]
[White “894”]
[Black “AmishHacker”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteElo “894”]
[BlackElo “826”]
[PlyCount “95”]
[EventDate “2015.??.??”]
[TimeControl “5”]
1. e4 d5 2. e5 Nc6 3. d4 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. a3 f6 6. h3 fxe5 7. Nxe5 Nf6 8. Nxc6
bxc6 9. g4 Be4 10. f3 Bg6 11. Bd3 Bd6 12. Bxg6+ hxg6 13. h4 Bg3+ 14. Kf1 c5 15.
g5 Nh5 16. f4 O-O 17. b4 cxb4 18. axb4 Nxf4 19. Qg4 Ne2+ 20. Kxe2 Rf2+ 21. Ke3
Bf4+ 22. Kxf2 Bxc1 23. Qxe6+ Kh8 24. Qxg6 Qf8+ 25. Kg3 Qf4+ 26. Kg2 Qg4+ 27.
Kf1 Qf3+ 28. Kg1 Be3+ 29. Kh2 Qf2+ 30. Kh3 Bf4 31. Qh5+ Kg8 32. Ra3 Qxd4 33. c3
Qd3+ 34. Kg4 Qg3+ 35. Kf5 Rf8+ 36. Ke6 Qe3+ 37. Kxd5 Qe5+ 38. Kc4 Qe6+ 39. Kd3
Rd8+ 40. Kc2 Qe4+ 41. Kb3 Qd5+ 42. Kb2 Qxh1 43. g6 Qc1+ 44. Ka2 Qc2+ 45. Ka1
Kf8 46. Qh8+ Ke7 47. Qxg7+ Ke8 48. Qf7# {cayrivas won by checkmate} 1-0
[Event “Live Chess”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2015.05.04”]
[Round “?”]
[White “AmishHacker”]
[Black “854”]
[Result “0-1”]
[WhiteElo “818”]
[BlackElo “854”]
[PlyCount “66”]
[EventDate “2015.??.??”]
[TimeControl “5”]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. O-O Bxc3 6. bxc3 d5 7. exd5 Nxd5
8. Bxd5 Qxd5 9. d4 exd4 10. cxd4 O-O 11. Be3 b6 12. Qd3 a5 13. c3 Ba6 14. c4
Bxc4 15. Qd2 Bxf1 16. Rxf1 Rae8 17. Qd3 Re6 18. Ng5 Rg6 19. h4 h6 20. Nf3 Nb4
21. Qc3 Nxa2 22. Qxc7 Nc3 23. Kh1 Ne4 24. Ne5 Qb5 25. Nxg6 Qxf1+ 26. Kh2 fxg6
27. Qe7 Nf6 28. Qe6+ Kh7 29. Qe7 Rh8 30. Bxh6 Ng4+ 31. Kh3 Nxh6 32. h5 gxh5 33.
Kh4 Nf5+ {frankcorner2 won by resignation} 0-1
[/pgn]
In the world of professional chess, the US World Championship is over, the Shamkir Chess 2015 tournament is over, but not a single article covering them has appeared here on *Campfire Chess*. That will change shortly since the site will be celebrating its 1-year anniversary this month. I also have a new downloads section in the works and the Spring-Summer issue of *Campfire Chess Magazine* is due out in June. There is a lot of great chess coverage and analysis on the way! Just waiting for the right moment to make the right moves…