First attempt at posting a game

(15) CodeSlicer (1596) - FICS Opponent (1487) [B32]

rated standard match Free Internet Chess Server, 06.11.2008

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 4...Nxd4 5.Qxd4 e6 6.Nc3 Ne7 7.Be3 Nc6 8.Qd2 h6 9.0-0-0 a6 10.h4 Bb4 11.a3 Ba5 12.Bd4 Fritz says I lose most of my advantage here. My thinking here was that after Nxd4, Qxd4, I would have unpinned my knight while still defending it. I don't know if Fritz's opinion is based on losing the Bishop pair or what... I tend not to go too far out of my way to keep the Bishop pair. 12...e5 Creates a hole on d5. 13.Be3 b5 14.b4 Not the best move, I shouldn't go out of my way to weaken my kingside here, but I was somewhat uncomfortable having the knight pinned and I didn't really like what I saw if I allowed 14...b4, and the 'obvious' Bc5 did not occur to me. 14...Bxb4?? Was somewhat surprised to see this move. I myself enjoy sacrificing to rip open positions on occasion, but this doesn't seem like a good time for it, and even if it were, taking with the Knight seems much better so that you recapture with the bishop and maintain the pin. 15.axb4 Nxb4 16.Nd5! Forces more material losses. The Knight on d5 controls many important squares in the Black position, and now there is a threat to trap the queen with Bb6. I made the move thinking that Nxd5 was more or less forced, and that following Qxd5 the only way to save the Rook on a8 was to give up the Bishop with Bb7. Another option is Qa5, after which Qxb4, Qxb4, Nxb4, there is a bit more material left on the board to try and complicate things, and the text move (should) keep even more material left on the board, but even so, Black is lost. 16...Na2+ [16...Nc6 17.Bb6 0-0 18.Bxd8 Rxd8; 16...Nxd5 17.Qxd5 Rb8 18.Qxe5+ Qe7 19.Qxb8] 17.Kb2 b4?? Black needed to either defend the b6 square or open more escape squares for his Queen. Failing to do so just loses faster. 18.Bb6 Nc3 19.Bxd8 Nxd1+ 20.Qxd1 Kxd8 21.Nxb4 This move turns out to be fine, possibly even best, but it is an example of the kind of mistake that I do tend to make. It allows the Rook to pin the Knight to the King, and then my first impulse is to simply defend the Knight with the Pawn and open the diagonal for my Queen. The tactical sequence that justifies the line I played was just dumb luck. 21...Rb8 Here Ka3 is fine, Qd6 even better as it defends the Knight and attacks the Rook at the same time, but I just quickly make the first move that pops into my head. 22.c3 a5 23.Qa4 axb4 24.Qa5+ Ke8 25.cxb4? Missing the 'obvious' Qxe5 followed by Qxb8. 25...Ke7? Also not seeing the danger. 26.Qxe5+ Didn't miss it that time. 26...Kd8 27.Qxb8 Black resigns 1-0

I hate 1. d4

1. d4 sucks the life out of chess. I propose the following rule changes:
1. Black moves first.
2.The starting position will look like this:

At least.... I would win more games that way. :)

Welcome

Welcome everybody, this is my first attempt at blogging, so it may take some time for me to get the hang of it.
My main purpose for this blog is to discuss chess and my hope is that I will improve my game with this discussion. I doubt that at my level, I will be able to help others improve very much, but if that happens it will be a bonus.
I only play chess online, there is a club in Sacramento but they meet on the same nights that I play hockey. I am rated 1500s on FICS and Yahoo, I'm not really sure what that would translate to in USCF rating points though. I am a 1. e4 player, preferring the Ruy Lopez, the Advance French and I think I want to learn the Panov-Botvinnik against the Caro-Kann, but I very rarely see that opening in my games. As Black I play the Sicilian Accelerated Dragon(Hyper-Accelerated really) against 1. e4 and the Nimzo-Indian against 1. d4(blah).
My biggest weakness seems to be that I play too fast, not always taking the time to really think through every move before I play it. I try to play games that are at least 10 minutes with a 15 second/move bonus. It is not uncommon to finish a game with 15+ minutes on my clock at that time control. Which is nice when I get near the end of a game and my opponent has under a minute left while I'm sitting with 10+, but sometimes I make a mistake due to not fully thinking things out, and the end of the game comes much quicker.
I will work on posting a couple of games soon.