This following game was a delightfully brisk confrontation between myself and one of my consistent chess opponents. When I play SlimJim, I am never sure of the outcome!

[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2006.10.23"]
[White "Crusader Scott"]
[Black "slimjim"]
[Result "1-0"]

Book Move 2 1
Leave Book 0 1
CMX Agrees 29 24
CMX Disagrees 1 6
Agreement Pct. 97% 80%
Total Error 0.00 13.12
Relevant Error 0.00 4.79
Missed Mate 0 0
Moved Into Mate 0 1

Annotations by Chessmaster 10th Edition Auto-Annotator. 12 seconds per move.

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 {D02 Grunfeld Reversed. A solid opening move, delaying c2-c4 to avoid the Queen's Gambit.} 2...Bg4 {Out of Opening Book. Nf6 would have been in the Grunfeld Reversed / Symmetrical Variation opening line. }
3.Nc3 e6 4.e4 dxe4 5.Nxe4 f5 6.Nc3 Bb4 7.Bg5
{By now my opponent has both my knights pinned. It is time to bring the fight to the enemy with a direct assault upon Black's queen.}
7...Nf6 8.Qd3 h6 9.Bf4 Bxc3+ 10.Qxc3 {CM believes bxc3 is slightly better. As I am planning for a long castle, I'd rather keep my pawns in formation than double 'em up.}
10...Nd5 {Forks White's bishop at f4 and White's queen and blocks White's pawn at d4. A dangerous move.}
11.Qd2 {Moves it to safety and removes the threat on White's bishop at f4 – the best refutation I could find.}
11...Nxf4 12.Qxf4 Bxf3 {My opponent seeks to simplify the board by exchanging pieces}
13.gxf3 {Makes way for a castle to the queenside. White wins a bishop and a knight for a bishop and a knight. Material is even.}
13...Nc6 14.O-O-O Qf6 15.Bb5 O-O-O {Looks like my opponent was planning the same thing!}
16.Bxc6 {Time to start shattering the enemy King's defenses!}
16...bxc6
{Black wins a bishop for a knight. Material is even.}
17.c3 e5 18.dxe5 {Removes the threat on White's queen, threatens Black's queen, and creates a passed pawn on e5. White wins a pawn. White is up a pawn in material.}
18...Qf7 19.b3 Rxd1+ {I was hoping he would do this because after striking down his Rook, my Rook will control the column.}
20.Rxd1 g5 21.Qd4 Kb8
{CM: Leads to 22.e6 Qxe6 23.Qxh8+ Kb7 24.f4 Qe2 25.Qxh6 Qxa2 26.fxg5 Qxb3 27.Qf6 a5, which wins three pawns for a rook and two pawns. Better is c5, leading to 22.Qxc5 Qe8 23.Rd4 Rh7 24.Qxa7 Qc6 25.c4 Re7 26.Rd5 Re8 27.Kb2, which loses two pawns. This was black's key error. Black was not able to regain the last ground and was eventually mated.}

22.e6! {Forks Black's queen and Black's rook and advances the passed pawn. This was my most devastating move of the game, a move as simple as it is deadly.}
22...Qxe6 23.Qxh8+ {Checks Black's king. White wins a rook for a pawn. White is ahead by a rook in material.}
23...Kb7 24.Qd4 g4 25.Qe3 {I was willing to exchange Queens for a slower, but steady endgame victory. Black refused and received a quick kill instead.}
25...Qf6 26.Kb2 {Shoring up my King's defenses while the last of my pieces go out hunting for royal skins!}
26...gxf3 27.Qxf3 a5 28.Qf4 Kb6 29.Rd7 Qg5
{CM: Black steps into the forced mate. Much better is Qd6. Qg5 leads to 30.Qxc7+ Kb5 31.a4+ Ka6 32.Qa7# and checkmate. With this move, the Black King is already dead, he just doesn't know it yet!}
30.Qxc7+ (White will win in 2 moves. Checks Black's king. Leads to 30...Kb5 31.a4+ Ka6 32.Qa7# and checkmate.}
30...Kb5 31.a4+
{White will mate next turn. Checks Black's king. Leads to 31...Ka6 32.Qa7# and checkmate.}
31...Kc5 32.Qxa5# 1-0

Even though it ended in a draw, I believe this is an example of my endgame play at its best. Entering the endgame down a pawn, against a player rating some 150 points higher than myself, I managed to fight him to a stand-still. It was a tough fight with both sides acquitting themselves with honor!

[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2006.10.22"]
[White "Crusader Scott"]
[Black "Moco"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "1753"]
[BlackElo "1906"]
[ECO "B50"]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Bd3 e6 6.Nf3 Be7 [Black is behind in development.] 7.Nc3 O-O 8.Be3 b6 9.O-O Bb7 10.Ng5 Nc6 [Black has a cramped position.] 11.Bb5 a6 12.Bxc6 Bxc6 13.Qd3 Bb5 14.Nxb5 axb5 15.Qxb5 h6 16.Nf3 Nxe4 17.Qd3 Nc5 18.Bxc5 [I don't want to do 18.Bxc5, but I see no choice. 18.Qe2!?= should not be overlooked.] 18. ... bxc5 19.b3 Bf6 20.Rad1 Rxa2 21.Qxd6 Rxc2 22.Qd3 [22.Qxd8 Rxd8 23.Rxd8+ Bxd8-+] 22...Qxd3 23.Rxd3 c4 24.bxc4 Rxc4 25.Rfd1 Rfc8 26.g3 Kf8 27.h4 Ke8 28.Kg2 Rd8 29.Rxd8+ Bxd8 30.Ne5 Rc7 31.Kh3 Be7 32.Rb1 Bd6 33.Nf3 e5 34.Re1 f6 35.Nd4 Kd7 36.Nb5 Rb7 37.Nxd6 Kxd6 38.Kg4 g6 39.f3 f5+ 40.Kh3 Rb3 41.Kg2 f4 42.gxf4 exf4 43.Re4 g5 44.hxg5 hxg5 [Black has a new backward pawn.] 45.Kf2 [Time for my king to earn his crown! From this point on, the game becomes very much a duel with any misstep proving fatal.] 45...Rb2+ 46.Kg1 Rb7 47.Re2 Re7 48.Rg2 Re5 49.Kh2 Ke6 50.Rg4 Re2+!? [I expected 50...Kf5 51.Rg2-/+] 51.Kg1 Re5 52.Kh2 Re2+ [Twofold repetition.] 53.Kg1 Rd2 [My opponent's only mistake. With it, he condemns his pawn and evens-out my chances for victory. It's a whole new game after this slip.]

It is well known that Chess is a wargame, first and foremost. Not surprisingly, many famous generals have engaged themselves in battle on the 64-square board. Napoleon Bonaparte is a good example of a world-class military commander who also pushed wood. How good was he? Not very. Chess journalist Frank Pestano has pointed out that Napoleon was an awful chess player:

"Those who played him say that that he was too impatient with little defensive skills and given to impetuous attacks. He was also a bad-tempered loser...."

Here is an interesting game between Napoleon and General Bertrand:

[Event "Elba"]
[Site "Elba"]
[Date "1814.??.??"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "N Bonaparte"]
[Black "H Bertrand"]
[ECO "C44"]
[PlyCount "36"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 Nxd4 4. Nxd4 exd4 5. Bc4 Bc5 6. c3 Qe7 7. O-O Qe5 8. f4 dxc3+ 9. Kh1 cxb2 10. Bxf7+ Kd8 11. fxe5 bxa1=Q 12. Bxg8 Be7 13. Qb3 a5 14. Rf8+ Bxf8 15. Bg5+ Be7 16. Bxe7+ Kxe7 17. Qf7+ Kd8 18. Qf8# 1-0