Yep, it's "how I want to spend my time". Thanks. I definitely would rather have people bitch out on me and me have to report them than for them to just play honourably (I added the "U" because I think it's better) and resign or move.
Anyway here's a game
I just finished. My rating is its highest since I started about a month ago, at 858. I thought we were going pretty evenly until he slipped up a couple times and lost quality pieces. I think I'm getting better because I'm doing things that I didn't used to. I'm being more patient when it appears I'm under a great deal of pressure (but am not). I'm moving key pieces to better squares I think (like pawn-protected squares). I'm also playing much better/smarter with my pawns. Like when foe is trying to open up a file and I recognize it would be bad for me I am moving forward in lieu of taking. I'm still awful but anyway...
Some of my thoughts. I don't know why he kept his Bishop on c5 for so long when d4 seems like a much better square. I feel iike Black's 8th move should have been to put his Bishop on d4 to pin my knight or trade his Bishop for my Knight and end with his pawn on d4 pressuring my knight still. But I'm not sure. Anyway he just left it there to die for some reason.
I like my 13.h3 of course. Even though I have h2 protected with my Knight from CM... I don't like having my Knight pinned to this square. And this puts pressure on his Knight anyway and ultimately backs him up.
I think his 16th move should have been Rce8, so he can move his bishop and discover an attack on my Knight (and Bishop if my queen moves off that file).
I like my 17d3 move. It gives support to my Bishop if I move my Knight, and it also prevents his obvious plan of trying to acquire a material gain on d2.
His 17.Bxh3 move scared me at first. And the obvious thought at my level is to take his piece for a gain. But then he will just move to h3 with his Queen and really threaten my weakened Kingside. His Bishop on h3 is also blocking his Queen, which I like. So he's got to move it ultimately. The only damage he can cause me is killing my g2 pawn, in which case I probably kill him with my Bishop which is currently under attack from his Knight. So what I pull here is a move I simply would not have been able to just a couple weeks ago. I opt for f3. While I did block out my Bishop I'm not sure I care about this seeing as I'd kill him with my King if he takes my pawn on g2, and simultaneously freeing up my entire back row for my 2 rooks which can put serious pressure on his Queen and ultimately damage his Kingside pawn wall. This also means he's got to retreat his Bishop all the way back to the e-file if he wants to save it. For some reason he fouls up on his next move and just donates his Bishop. Maybe a mis-click but he didn't say so.
I hate my 20.Bxb7. I wanted to get my Bishop out of trouble and figured "hey, free pawn". But he can simply stick a Rook on b8 and threaten 2 of my pieces. Luckily, he missed this. I feel like he missed a lot of moves and wasted a lot of moves.
Love my 21.d4 move. The otherwise weak d4 and e5 squares are now strong. Unless he threatens my Knight on b5 (but he doesn't).
For some crazy reason on move 21 he trades a Rook for a Knight, and allows me to get my Queen to a center square and support the weak h2 square.
His 22.Nxg4 move scares me at first but I've got f2 and h2 supported by my Queen and Rook.
Not sure why he did move 23. He must have thought it was Mate. Huge blunder. Thought he'd resign here but no.
He blunders again on 27.Ra8 as I guess he didn't see my Bishop.
My finish is a bit clunky. I could have pushed my a pawn across as I had plenty of time but figured I should just try to Mate him with what I had, which was plenty. He definitely should have resigned but this was good practice in closing.
EDIT: Holy **** I didn't even notice until just now (going over my post and checking the game again) that I left my Queen to die on 23. And he missed it. WOW. I still probably win as I'm trading a Queen for a Knight but Sheesh.... I seriously didn't recognize this in the game OR during my initial write-up. Yikes.
Last edited by A-Rod's Cousin; 12-29-2013 at 04:10 AM.