And now, the Newb presents... Losing (pt 3 - really losing)

Previous posts: (Apology) (Analysis Board) (Game Explorer) (Losing pt 1) (Losing pt 2)

It's been a year since I lost my first game. 6 moves and I was dead. Let's look at it. It was a real eye-opener.

Let's see what the monkey was thinking. Monkey plays black

1.e4 e5
2.Nc3 Nf6
3.Nf6 Nc6
4.Bc4 d6

OK. This is where it gets stupid. White's Knight is already at f3. After Ng5, there's no stopping Nxf7. Something has to be done about that threat NOW! And "opening a diagonal" for later isn't going to cut it. I could've played 4..Bc5 and made exactly the same threat against White. Or, if I was a forward thinking monkey, I could've played 4..Nxe4; 5.NxN d5; 6.Bd3 dxe4; 7.Bxe4 and we're all even in material and I've got the surviving center pawn. But, no. I have a reputation to uphold.

5.Ng5 Qe7
Another mistake. The least I could've done here was play Be6 and defended f7 with something other than my Queen. It would still lose but Qe7 doesn't do anthing because I can't defend a threatened square with a Queen. I knew to be afraid of Be6. My mistake was assuming that allowing an enemy a Knight at e6 was the worst thing that could happen.

6.Nxf7
Nope. That's much worse. Can't touch the Knight. My rook will be a casualty. White keeps the diagonal into my backyard. The White Queen will be along soon to mow it. Black resigns.

And that was it. That's how I learned to defend f7. You can't get near my f7 now. I've got motion detection lighting on those diagonals, pressure sensitive glass, an alarm system...