We need more amateurs to post their annotated games.

Hi, all.  So here's a game I'm proud of, though I almost let the win get away from me.  It's from my first tournament.  I had lost 5 of 6 games so far, and really wanted to win (or at least draw) the 6th game.  I fumbled in the opening though, so I really put a lot of extra thought power to keep things even during the middle game.  By the time we got to the endgame, it was a long, drawn-out battle, which I'm not always great at.  But I just wanted to score, even just half a point, so I fought hard.  The fact that he handed me a win instead of a draw makes all the effort worth it -- and more!

 Yeah I get those drawn position things where it looks like a draw, and then I find a surprising sacrifice ftw!!!

mwalter: Imagine how annoyed you'd have been if he'd taken the draw by repetition before you'd noticed! Good game though, well played. Not sure you were right to exchange queens as he had a better pawn structure (two pawn islands to your three) and so you might have found it hard to hold material equality. You're also right that you could have played the opening better - do you not use the opening explorer?

Thanks for your comments.  I know the pawn structure wasn't ideal when I traded the queens, but it was close.  I'll study it further to see what might have happened if I'd keep the queens going.

I do use the opening explorer, and it is helping a lot.  But I thought since this was a tournament, I should test myself and not use it while playing -- just like if I was in a real tournament.  I've been away from this game for a long time, and am getting back into it, and the game explorer is very helpful.  Opening theory has advanced a lot while I was away.

Why was this match such an utter defeat? Was there any way around it? On what turn did I lose it? Should I have simply taken the f4 pawn in turn 2? This was played under a severe time constraint (3 minutes per player with no time added--I had about 1:30 left at the end). Any comments will be much appreciated .

1.e4 e5 2.f4 Nc6 3.Nf3 f6 4.d3 Bb4+ 5.c3 Ba5 6.fxe5 fxe5 7.Bg5 Nge7 8.Be2 h6 9.Bh4 g5 10.Nxg5 hxg5 11.Bxg5 Rg8 12.Bh5 Kf8 13.Bh6 Rg7 14.O-O Kg8 15.Bxg7 Kxg7 16.Qg4 Ng6 17.Qxg6 Kh8 18.Qh6 Kg8 19.Bf7  1-0

There are too many things to say. Post your own comments on the game, then I will reply.

I think I'd get some development in before 9...g5.  Perhaps d6 to open your LSB.  After his knight sacrifice (10 Nxg5), your king is very exposed.  And 11. Rg8 allows his other bishop in.

To badknight: 

Not exactly sure what kind of opening I was using. I'm used to playing white. It seems when I play black I need to follow white's lead and oppose the pawn. Can't really follow my own agenda--tend to get in trouble if I do.

I think I made a mistake with my bishop on turn 5--would've been preferable to bring him back to d6. By pulling back to a5 I gave him fewer options, and liable to be trapped.

Pawn exchange on e5, then he threatens my queen on turn 7. I protect with the g8 knight instead of the c6 knight. So I'm really weakening my kingside, leaving the f file exposed.

I try to trap his bishop, and end up trading 2 pawns for a knight. Now I'm totally exposed on my kingside, leaving it open for a blitz, if that's the word for it. I don't know if my oppenont planned this all along, but at least he's smelling blood at this point. My kingside is totally decimated and I haven't made any progress into his side.

In turn 11 I try to threaten his bishop with my rook, but he responds by checking me with the white bishop. I'm feeling doomed basically at this point and unsure how to save myself, much less pose any sort of threat. I feel I'm playing with a far superior opponent.

No way to protect my king but to move him, then try to block with my rook, and then he castles and has me in check in two directions. I'm doomed. It's just a simple matter of elimination for white now. Too easy!

I think my main mistake was decimating my kingside. Bringing out my bishop as mwalter suggests might have helped. Psychologically, I think much of my problem consisted of lame attacks under time pressure in the attempt to ward off white, when they actually simply sucked me into a trap. What amazes me is how easy it was for white, and how after so many games of chess, I just didn't see it coming.

To mwalter--thanks! I think those were crucial moments.

As a general rule you develop your pieces before launching attack on your opponent. In the beginning bring your pieces into optimum squares to maximize your mobility and possibility of attack and restrict/try to restrict options for your opponent. Your 4...Bb4 only helped your opponent building up strong center and lost time for you. It was attacked and you had to move it again. so the development idea does not work here. Bb4 is usually much better with an opponent knight on c3. After that you should have planned to develop your other forces by opening lines for bishop (d6)/queen etc..

Look at the position  of your king after move 7. It has no support on the kingside. your queenside pieces could not support your king when he was under attack. 7...Nf6 was perhaps better. 

when you attacked your opponent bishop he had a lot more attacking pieces than you had defensive pieces on the CRITICAL part of the board. after 9...g5, he had two bishops, a knight and a queen and possibly a rook to gang up against your lone king plus two pawns. he had a huge force attacking practically against the lone king, that is why he succeeded. chasing the bishop away before completing your own development was not a good idea. complete your development and then wait for the right moment for attack.

Thank you very much, badknight. I hope your comments, and my errors may be of use to others out there.

i feel 17. e5 was a mistake, peraps better was d5? setting up a nice pawn island, your e pawn is amply defended and i don't see any good sac for black for trading that bishop for it.

I prefer 14. Bd3 (keeping the bishop) and e5 was a mistake, I think. Better to play more simply, perhaps taking the b-file (although it's not obvious there's much advantage there), or centralising the rooks with Rad1.

Here is an odd game and a first for me. A blitz game i won without taking a single one of my opponent's pieces.

Trashman (1100) vs bigmoco1982 (1066)

Paulx -- Nice game and great pawn storm.  Surprised you didn't castle queenside though.  Your extra rook would have helped with the attack (for example, after 20....Kxg7 if you had castled queenside, you could play Rdf1 trapping the king for a later Qh7#).