The balance of power in a chess game can change with a single blunder or amazing move. Although, in my case it is usually the former. This game was played last night on lichess and while it was heartbreaking, I found it to be a worthy educational experience.
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[Event “Rated game”]
[Site “https://lichess.org/0ihX4xUK”]
[Date “2017.02.19”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Internet Opponent”]
[Black “Surber, Wesley”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C44”]
[WhiteElo “1281”]
[BlackElo “1206”]
[Annotator “Surber,Wesley”]
[PlyCount “85”]
[EventDate “2017.??.??”]
[Source “Campfire Chess”]
[SourceDate “2014.10.11”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2015.09.13”]
[SourceQuality “1”]
[TimeControl “900+10”]
{This game shows how fast the balance of power can switch during a chess game
and serves as a reminder that although the balance might tip in your favor,
the game is not over until its over.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 f6 {Clearly,
this was not the best option in this position, but having not played online
chess in awhile I was hesitant to play aggressively and did not take the pawn
on d4.} 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. d5 {White’s aggressive style was anxiety provoking, but
threatened to undermine his development at several points in the game.} Nce7 6.
Bd2 a6 7. Be2 f5 {Stockfish hated this move and clearly gave the advntage to
White, but I needed a way to break through the central pawn structure and
dislodge the Knight threat.} 8. Nxe5 $1 {I missed this move and prayed that I
would not pay for it later.} Nf6 9. Bg5 {Fortunately, White’s counterplay was
not perfect and the position equalized for a bit.} h6 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Bh5+
Kf8 {A quick trade put White back on top and eliminated any chance I had of
castling.} 12. d6 {At this point, White went from clearly winning to being
slightly better in the position. Obviously, he wanted to bring the pawn closer
to the first rank to threaten my King and to bring another Queen to the board.
This created additional dilemmas for me as there was already a Knight and
Bishop pair bearing down on the King and his defenders as well.} fxe5 13. dxe7+
Qxe7 14. exf5 Bc5 15. Qf3 d6 16. f6 Qe6 17. Ne4 Qc4 {Not the best move, but my
intention was to put additional pressure on White’s King and prevent any
last-minute attempts to short castle. I also wanted to be in position in case
he blundered with a Knight or Queen move.} 18. f7 {White pinned my King to the
back rank with the threat of adding a new Queen to the board.} b5 19. Nf6 {
White added an additional attacker and essentially immobilized my King.} Bb4+
20. c3 Bxc3+ 21. bxc3 Rb8 22. g3 $2 {White gave up a clearly winning position
at this point to allow a deadly skewer of the Queen-Rook combination.} Bb7 $1 {
This was a very nice move in that White loses a large amount of material.} 23.
Qe2 Bxh1 $1 {For the first time in the game, I had a small advantage.} 24. Kf1
Qc6 25. f3 b4 26. Bg4 $4 {With this move, I went from a slightly better
position to having a decisive advantage in the game. Yet, this is where things
became tricky.} bxc3 27. Nd7+ Kxf7 28. Nxb8 Rxb8 29. Bh5+ Kg7 30. f4 {White
made several attempts to force me into a Queen sacrifice with no success. At
this point, the position was clearly in my favor.} Rb2 $6 {A move designed
purely to force my opponent to move his Queen.} 31. Qg4+ {I got my wish but
opened myself to a trap!} Kh8 32. Qc8+ Kg7 33. Qg4+ Kh8 34. Ke1 {Mate in 5 if
I played with care.} Qe4+ 35. Kd1 $4 {A devastating blunder! Mate in 2 for me..
.if only…} Bf3+ 36. Qxf3 Qc2+ $4 {And then things turned ugly. My own
blunder handed control of the game back over to my opponent and #2 was
suddenly no longer a possibility.} 37. Ke1 Qd2+ 38. Kf1 c2 39. fxe5 dxe5 $4 {
This was my own death knell. After this, there was no escape from my
opponent’s corner trap.} 40. Qf6+ Kg8 41. Bf7+ Kh7 42. Qg6+ Kh8 43. Qg8# 1-0
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