So, I venture back into chess, I started checking out chess.com again. It is a place that you can go and play chess online completely free (though to get the most of the website, you really have to pay). After walking down memory line, I thought that I’d share a game for any and all to enjoy (or make fun of), with my own commentary.
The day was December 14th, 2016. I drew black and the name of my opponent was “dabeast_cons”.
Link - https://www.chess.com/game/live/1854031167
1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 g6 3. Qxe5+ Ne7 4. Qxh8 Nbc6 5. Qxh7 d6 6. Qh3 Bxh3 7. d4 Nxd4 8. Be3 Nxc2+ 9. Kd2 Nxa1 10. Bg5 d5 11. exd5 Qxd5+ 12. Kc3 Qxg5 13. Bd3 O-O-O 14. Nf3 Qc5+ 15. Kd2 Qc2+ 16. Ke3 Qxd3+ 17. Kf4 Nd5+ 18. Kg3 Be6 19. Re1 Qf5 20. Re5 Qg4# 0-1
1. e4 e5
A completely standard opening that you’ll find the chess world.
2. Qh5 g6
This move has been pulled on me so many times on chess.com it seems. And g6 was such a terrible move as well. Better would have Nc6 to protect the pawn. At the moment, the Queen doesn’t have any good attack (3. Qxf7+ Kxf7 and 3. Qxh7 Rxh7 are both just plain bad) so Nc6 shuts down this particular attack.
3. Qxe5+ Ne7 4. Qxh8
3. Qxe5+ takes advantage of my bad blunder and get a fork attack on my king. Yeah, it’s easily blocked (with Ne7), but now the tempo is completely against me and I’m down on material.
4. … Nbc6 5. Qxh7 d6
After loosing my rook, I just wanted to start developing pieces.
6. Qh3 Bxh3 7. d4 Nxd4
This was a move that I would not have expected to see after how my opponent had been playing. They committed a major blunder, for sure, that allowed the board to be shifted more to me. But I also have wandered why they replied so meekly, giving me a pawn as a bonus and not capturing the bishop instead (7. gxh3). Perhaps the blunder threw them off their game really bad.
8. Be3 Nxc2+
The move 8. Be3 is a blunder, opening up a major three-way fork. 8. Na3 would have at least protected from the immediate threat.
9. Kd2 Nxa1
White had almost no choice, with 9. Kd2 being perhaps the best of the only three moves they could have done. At the very least, it’s a threat the black knight and protecting the bishop, though I admit, I had my eye on the rook no matter what.
10. Bg5 d5 11. exd5 Qxd5+ 12. Kc3 Qxg5
Looking back at this game, I keep wondering why white had not captured the bishop I left sitting on h3 all this time. Perhaps here they could have done 10. Kxh3 instead of the somewhat lame-duck threat being presented here.
The move 10. … d5 from myself was a slightly weak threat that still ended up working. I saw that if they took the pawn offering, I could respond and win the recently moved bishop. I am not sure of a better move, except to still capture the lone bishop as mentioned above.
But I realized, that in replaying this game, that I missed checkmate. 12. … Nc6 13. Kxh3 Qd4#
13. Bd3 O-O-O
The queen side castle here for me allows me to get my rook into the center of the board.
14. Nf3 Qc5+
White does their best move, I would say here, threatening the queen, making me move her or lose her. But I always like to look for checks when I move and try to make the type of check that allows me to really gain advantage, though I missed 14. … Nd5+ for a better combination.
15. Kd2 Qc2+
The knight that I left on a1 is providing protection here, with my d-rank rook keeping the bishop from taking my queen as it runs in to check.
16. Ke3 Qxd3+
Which is better here for white, the move made here (Ke3) or should they have retreated to the back row? I actually can’t make up my mind on the issue, as they both lead to checkmate. Perhaps retreating to the backrow might hold off the checkmate longer, maybe?
17. Kf4 Nd5+ 18. Kg3 Be6 19. Re1 Qf5 20. Re5 Qg4#
I could have had checkmate a move earlier with 17. … Qf5+ 18. Ke3 Nc2+ 19. Ke2 Qd3#.
A pretty basic game that I really enjoyed playing in the moment. It helped reenforce the idea to hang in there even after you blunder. The early game blunder that I made almost made me quit, but I am thankful that I didn’t. I have often said that the game of chess can come down to who can properly capitalize upon the blunders of the other player.
I hope you enjoyed this game. I will try to post a few more of my games in the future! Please tell me in the comments below what you thought of my game!
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