Blunder and Mate of the Week #1

Note: I'm going to try a new series called "Blunder and Mate of the Week" in which, as the title suggests, I showcase one of my worst mistakes and best finishes of the week. One of my main goals with this blog is to have a place to document my growth as a chess player. I'll use this series to celebrate some of my best moves, but more importantly, the growing pains along the way. Writing about mistakes in this way will help me to slow down and really think about how I can improve. Anyways, let's go to the show... 

Blunder of the Week: Missing Qa4 and then Qe2?? 

In this game, I'm up big (according to the engine +11) and both miss a winning tactic for me and then carelessly step into my opponent's winning move. 

Here is a question for you: what is worse, completely missing a win or seeing the move but failing to recognize the brilliance when as it slaps you in the face? The first major blunder was missing Qa4+. As you'll see in the analysis, I had the move available for 4 straight moves and missed it. It might be worse not to see the move at all, but it's more painful to have considered it and passed. 

Lesson 1: Not only do you need to see consider the checks, but also consider how to follow up on those moves. There are often gems waiting to be found for the player that is willing to look for them. 

Even as I missed Qa4+, I still had a significantly better position and control of the game, however I stepped right into a double attack (Nxe4+!!) in which I am forced to take the knight (or lose my queen) leading to a quick and brutal onslaught by the opposing queen. Qe2, the final mistake, made sense in my head but the problem was I only thought about it for about 10 seconds.

Lesson 2: Slow down. Look at your opponent's options especially checks! Knights can easily be sacrificed for pawns if it leads to positional advantages. In this case, it was game over in a matter of breaths.