In the second game, I think Black's position would be pretty dismal after 17 Ng4.  You're threatening to win material with 18 Rxf8+ followed by 19 Bh6(if 18... Qxf8 19 Bxg6 hg 20 Qxg6+ and if then 20... Ng7 21 Nf6+ is disastrous for Black).  17 g4 unfortunately opened your king up to that nasty b7 bishop (and the f4 knight as well).  Your position still may be alright there...but it's definitely tempting fate.

You also had the possibility earlier of 15 Bh6.  If 15... Rf7 then 16 Bg5, and his pieces sort of get in the way of each other.  On 16... Qf8 you can play as above with 17 e5 Nh5 18 Ng4, which looks very strong; or you can even play 17 Bxf6 Rxf6 18 Ng4 and if 18... Rf4 19 g3--he then would have to play 19... Rxf1+, since 19... Rf7 loses the queen to 20 Rxf7 (20... Qxf7 21 Nh6+; 20... Kxf7 21 Rf1+).  After the exchange of rooks you can then proceed to "sit" on the f6 square, with a considerable bind.  And your bishop can come to e4 to negate any threats he might have with his bishop.

I'm not quite sure what he had in mind at the end there--but he might have been eyeing the following beautiful king-hunt possibility:  25... g5+ 26 Kh5 Qh3+ 27 Kxg5 h6+ 28 Kf4 e5+ 29 Kxe5 Qe3+ and mate next (30 Qe4 d6! is prettiest).  Unfortunately, White would have 28 Kg6 (drat).

You guys rock!

I thought 20. Ng5 was a questionable move.  It's interesting to hear your analysis.  So I guess you guys didn't think that Nh3 was all that bad?  I wanted to move the piece again because it didn't have a lot of "outs" if it were attacked.  Was my concern over f2 too extreme?  I think 15. Bh6 is brilliant.  It causes all kinds of havoc and I can still pin the knight.  I guess when I think of an attack I need to think of a way to make it worse first.  Never really occured to me outside of setting traps.

Kamapuaa said,

"At this point I'm not really concerned about the queen so I like f2 better than f4 just because I don't want to move it again after g5."  is not valid since there is nothing protecting the g5 square.  why do you need to move your knight at all?  in any case, i don't think it was a bad move, especially since your opponent's move...

I don't understand what g5 having protection has to do with him pushing his pawn there and forcing me to move my knight again...  I'm sure that it makes perfect sense I just don't see it.

I must say the simplicity of your ideas is very stunning.  I guess I expect really complex traps and other things.  I think that rethinking my goals in any scenario to include adding attackers and adding intermediary steps that complicate the opponents ability to defend.

It is all greatly appreciated.

Anthony

Your comment about simplicity reminds me of the first time I ever played a master in a tournament game.  It was Nick DeFirmian, who was still "only" in the 2300s (I was an 1800 at the time).  I too was expecting 10-move-long (or longer) combinations and mind-boggling brilliancies at every turn; but all he did was sit his knight on Q5 for the whole game and there was nothing I could do about it.  Which also reminds me of that line about Capablanca's style:  "You always knew exactly what was going to happen--and there was nothing you could do about it."

On another guys profile I read a great quote.  It said, "You must resist the urge to be brilliant beyond reason."  I've been trying to take that to heart.  It's a complicated game but the ideas that win are simple.  Very strange and hard to reconcile in my brain.

"I don't understand what g5 having protection has to do with him pushing his pawn there and forcing me to move my knight again...  I'm sure that it makes perfect sense I just don't see it."

simply put, if g5 then Nxg5.  why are you worried about that?  why be afraid of shadows?  if you spend all your time running away from immaterial threats, you will never have time to attack.

kamapuaa wrote:

"I don't understand what g5 having protection has to do with him pushing his pawn there and forcing me to move my knight again...  I'm sure that it makes perfect sense I just don't see it."

simply put, if g5 then Nxg5.  why are you worried about that?  why be afraid of shadows?  if you spend all your time running away from immaterial threats, you will never have time to attack.

If 12.Nf4 , g5 I cannot take the pawn at g5 with my knight I would simply be forced to move it.  I think it was just a misunderstanding....  Maybe you thought I was worried about g5 when the knight was still at h3....

oh okay :)

i see what you mean now :)