Battlefield squared, No. 1

[Event "Computer chess game"]
[Site "TERMINAL-1"]
[Date "2007.05.18"]
[Round "-"]
[White "The Math Wizard"]
[Black "GNU Chess 5.07"]
[Result "0-1"]
[TimeControl "40/300"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6
5. O-O Ne7 6. Nc3 Bg4 7. b4 Ng6 8. a4 Nh4 
9. d4 Bxf3 10. Qd3 Bxg2 11. Re1 Nf3+ 12. Kxg2 Nxe1+ 
13. Kf1 Nxd3 14. cxd3 Qxd4 15. Bg5 Qxc3 16. Rd1 Qc2
17. Re1 Bxb4 18. Re3 Bd2 19. Rh3 Bxg5 20. f4 Qc1+ 
21. Kf2 Qxf4+ 22. Kg2 Qd2+ 23. Kg3 Qxd3+ 24. Kf2 Qxh3 
25. Kg1 Be3+ 26. Kh1 Qf3# {computer wins as black} 0-1

Hey, we've got to start somewhere! My opponent, GNU Chess, came with the WinBoard program that I am using to hone my chess skills (which, as we see here, are clearly wanting!). We can see that Black, by Move 10, has been able to send a Bishop within cutting distance of my King; castling on Move 5 did not seem to do me much good. The computer continues to be brutal, delivering its first check by Move 12.

Near the end of the game (from about Move 19) I just got carried away trying to save the material I had on hand, and the computer put me on the defensive from there on, delivering the gory checkmate with a Queen and Bishop on Move 26:

In contrast to the above carnage, look at this endgame between Paul Keres and Bobby Fischer in the 1959. Now I understand what it means to have a beautiful checkmate. If I were Keres, I wouldn't have minded losing in order to witness this divine position...^_^ Well, then again maybe not; it's still pretty brutal:

Thanks for reading.

Song in my head: Justin Timberlake, "Lovestoned".

P.S. The above formatted text is in the format of a PGN file, which can be read by the program I am using, WinBoard. If you would like, download WinBoard from Tim Mann's website and paste in the text of the above game, if you would like to see the carnage being replayed. ^_^