Blundering to a (belated) victory.

The first part of this game was uninspired with both myself and my opponent being very tentative in our moves. I (White) "went with the flow" and moved my King and Queen Pawns way up front; then did a "speculative sacrifice" of one of my precious Knights to draw the King out. Things only started to look up a bit at the 19th move when the White Queen was brought back to base. But then, at the next but one move the Black Rook could have been got for free (move 21) and I had to wait until move 25 before I could actually get it - but worse was to come.

After some manoeuvering around, Black's Queen finally fell into my clutches, but in so doing, my own Queen was left "en pris" whilst I checked with the White Knight. Then ... Massive Blunder. I moved (move 38) the White Rook, for an anticipated Mate next move, ha ha! Alas, I both lost my Queen and also gave Black a "Get Out Of Jail Free" card from the prospective immediate check mate ... Yuk.

What I should have done was, of course, instead of moving the Rook ... I should have moved the Queen out of the line of fire (to d7 with either mate next move or the move after). However, my inept handling of the situation came to a successful conclusion (for me) despite my multiple errors.

You can see the game (made anonymous to protect the innocent) in all it's ineptitude. Still there's a lesson somewhere there, like look before you leap ?

Ericacea