a4 and h4 don't increase rook activity at all!  Rooks, when moved out of the back rank via a4 and h4, are hard to maneauver, and are VERY vunurable.  You end up wasting lots of moves just getting them out, and then they constantly get attacked!  Wait untill the position opens up to move your rooks from the last rank, and increase their activity by castling, moveing them to central files on the back rank, and moving them to open and semi-open files.

roflol a premium member !

no

You guys, its not good to discourage people who are not just automatic prodigies at chess... He just needs to learn some basics, as to why not move so many pawns so quickly, and use them as a static barrier, and that pushing them too far is bad, especially when you have plenty of pieces to move, etc.

@hvacstudent, You just lack training, that is all. It is not that you are bad; but like I said above, there are certain things, like CM Coleman expressed, that you just dont do. (IE moving so many pawns, so quickly, not developing, not castling before beginning an attack, not paying attention to the gaps/holes you are creating, etc.)

In short, you look at chess differently than an experienced player. You see it more as direct attacks against existing pieces/pawns instead of moving to cover/attack squares, putting your pieces on good squares, trading off bad pieces of yours for good pieces of theirs (ie your pawns are occupying a lot of black squares making your DS bishop bad. Knights are bad in open positions, so trading a knight for a bishop in a game that cannot be closed is usually good, etc see "imbalances") You just need to do a good bit of study, and change your vision of how the game works, once you do you will shoot to a much higher level.

Why what?  Castle?  Yes.  Early.  It safeties the King but most important, connects the rooks.   The worst mistake in the opening is impatience.  Pawn structure is very, very important.  Do not let your opponent pin your knight with a bishop.   Do not be passive...aggression is rewarded and attack in the center always prevails.

When lazychessplayer3201 talked about your g4 becoming a hole, he was referring to the fact that your opponent could now put a piece there, and you had no pawn move to eject it. Which he did with 8...Ng4. And that knight ended up going to f2 forking your queen and rook. When you create holes in your position where your opponent can establish pieces you are begging for trouble.

I think you will find that strong players very rarely activate their rooks by pushing their a and h-pawns. It is much more common for them to castle and bring their rooks to the center files. That's one of the reasons that Black's 5...Be7 was a reasonable move: he prepared to castle, geting his king to safety and bringing his rook into action on the f-file.

You seem not to care for castling, but I would advise you to rethink that. Because your King was uncastled, your f2 square was very weak, which proved to be fatal.

12.d5 was a bad idea for at least two reasons: You need to get your pieces out, and both your bishops are sleeping on the back rank. You are also opening up the center files when your opponent has castled and your king in still in the center. In fact, Black's best move was probably 12...Bb4+ (pushing a4 and b3 has weakened you on that diagonal) 13.Bd2 Bxd2+ 14.Kxd2 Nf6 15.Qd3 exd5 with threats of Ne4 and Nb4 (both holes you created by pushing pawns).

I also agree completely with kphlash" there is almost never a good reason for "waiting moves" in the opening! Your task is to get your share of the center, get your pieces into action, and get your king to safety.

@JamesColeman: So if I understand you correctly, I favor moving pawns too much over pieces, and don't spend enough time developing in the center.  Thank you for your insight.

@Kphlash:

"His bishop move was a safe development of a piece without overextending it as his knight could safely move to g4 without worry as you moved h4 and h4 severely weakening your kingside."

I agree that it was safe, but how did it develop the bishop?  Its lines of communication were the same and the knight didn't need any more cover.

"...TACTICS TRAINER!!"

My rating with Tactics Trainer is 387.  The pattern seems to be that about 66% of my answers are incorrect.  Since it doesn't tell me why answers are correct or incorrect, I don't see how I'm supposed to improve.

"...chess mentor..."

I've completed four low-level courses in Chess Mentor.  I'm currently 67% of the way through "Introduction to Tactics."  Most lessons over 1200 fly over my head, but it does provide explanations for many of my incorrect answers.  I find it helpful.

"Spend twice as much time in the 'learn' section as you do in the 'play' section, you will see a drastic improvement in no time."

I'm already doing that. :-/

"Oh and did you do a computer analysis of the game? (its not the best engine, but it is quite useful to beginners)"

I got a computer analysis for the first game I played on chess.com.  It identified eight "??" blunders on my part.  It didn't explain why they were blunders.  That made the analysis useless.  So I haven't bothered to get a computer analysis since.

"I agree that it was safe, but how did it develop the bishop?  Its lines of communication were the same and the knight didn't need any more cover."

First of all, the bishop on e7 covers the g5 square. As the game went, he could safely move his knight on to the g4 square, where it menaced your f2 square (you will recall that the knight eventually landed on f2 forking your rook and queen). On the other hand, if you had tried to move a knight to g5, he would have played bxg5

But much more important, 5.Be7 allowed Black to castle, after which his king was much safer and his rook was active ion the f-file. So the bishop move, although modest, was an important link in making his king safe and his rook active. I hope you will notice that one of your rooks died on its home square, and the other one played no part in the game until the next to last move of the game, at which point no move could possibly help. On the other hand, both of black's rooks came into action on the central files. 16...dxc6+ brought one rook into the game with hreat effect, while the other rook exercised it's power down the f-file, eventually playing the deadly Rxf4. 

I hope this helps

Ok, e4 doesn't really "hang" the pawn. A pawn is only "hanging" if it's being attacked and is subject to capture with no compensation. In fact, e4 is one of the most popular opening moves in the game. It grabs control of the center and opens lines for the king's bishop and the queen.  It can also be immediately defended with Nc3 and d3, so it's not really hanging. Just temporarily unprotected is all.  D4 is equally good though, as is Nf3, for a first move.  4.a4 and 6.h4 are unnecessary and are wasted moves, because they don't control the center of the board and the rooks don't want to come into the game via those files.  Never waste moves, as every move counts.  Also, the combination of playing both f4 and h4 created a hole on g4 which is what allowed black to get his knight into your territory so easily.  Your opening moves should be about controlling the center of the board and protecting each other. This allows for more flexibility, a stronger defense and a spacial (territory) advantage.  7.Qd3 - don't bring your queen out too early. Your center pawns and minor pieces (knights and bishops) should be developed before the queen or else she becomes a target for the opponent, while he advances his minor pieces. 14. Ke2 was a blunder and an incorrect assessment.  The bishop couldn't attack your king without leaving the knight hanging.  You should have moved your queen instead. However, you're already doomed at this point.  By wasting several moves, bringing out your queen too early and voluntarily creating a hole in your pawn structure, black was able to take control of the center, take a lead in development and fork you with the knight, winning a major piece.  If you really want to improve, you should buy a book on chess opening theory and study it.  You are losing the game in the first few moves and you don't even realize it yet.  I used to play like that too, when I first started out.  Then I finally broke down and studied book openings and quickly realized how poor my openings really were.  Once you get a good knowledge of opening theory (and the estimated values of the pieces) your rating will start to climb and you will start to see much better middlegame tactics open up.  I'd then study "Pawn Power" by Hans Kmoch and "Reassess Your Chess" by Jeremy Silman, after you have solid opening theory knowledge.  If you ever plan on playing in tournaments, you'll also need to study endgame theory, middlegame tactics, positional theory, etc.  Good luck and I hope I didn't discourage you.  

Just going to address these, but I do suggest turning chess mentor onto progressive, it will bounce around, but give you a more well rounded training.

Tactics trainer- click on analysis board, it has the notation as well as the "score" for each move sequence, {+XX} means better for white {-XX} is better for black using the point system (pawns=1, N/B=3, R=5,Q=9) That may help a little to understand where certain moves would lead to, and why they are not as good as the solution. Also, if you get it wrong, try again, and keep trying until you get it right- dont just click solution... then use the analysis board to see why the moves you made were not optimal.

On the computer analysis, click through the game, It will show you a score, as well as point out when the computer thinks you made a less than optimal move. On those moves, there are tabs of what it suggests is better, click that, and run through it- when that line is over it gives its opinion on how much better one color is, (slight, moderate, decisive or drawish) use this especially on your blunders, and see what the better move would be, dont pay too much attention to inaccuracies (you arent really there yet) mistakes are semi important for you, but really, the blunders are pure mistakes, either you missed a great attack, or like the above game, missed a pivotal defensive move to avoid getting your queen and rook forked.

Lastly- Developing pieces does not have to be long moves (really shouldnt be most of the time) You should look at the board as 5/6 being the middle line, and making certain moves at certain times to fill every every space in your camp(while not blocking other pieces from moving where you want them to be), as well as beginning to fill spaces in theirs, making it harder for them to make advancing moves. 

The hard part in the learning of chess, is the fact that it is independant study. You have to work hard to understand the moves being made. When analyzing the games (either alone or with the computer engines) or TT puzzles, after each move, try to understand the point or significance of the move, some you wont understand until several moves down the line (this gets easier the better you get-thats why I reccomend the computer analysis). Chess mentor is great for that, as there is an explaination in mistakes and the correct answers.

I would suggest reading articles, and buying a few books on strategy, "the complete book of strategy" by jeremy silman is one of my favorites, I bought it a long time ago, and open it up every few weeks, and every day a few weeks before a tournament. I also like several of the books JeffGreen333 reccomended. You have a great tool in the "Opening Explorer" as well to understand and work on book openings. There is a reason they exsist, and are played by the top players. There is a theory behind them, the books explain them well- to help you understand 20 moves in why they are pushing certain pawns, castling on certain sides, why you keep certain pawns static, and push others at certain times, etc.

Chess is an illusive game, and the difference between children, average, and the top players, is how they look at the board. Viewing less pieces and more square control, is one of the major steps in the right direction, as is pawn structure, and development strategies.

Something I recommend you to do is to watch the free "everything you need to know"  video series, skip the first one. The second one is about the opening and it explaines every opening principle.

Q=7 points, seriously?

lmao whoops, wrong corner of the numpad. Its been corrected. 

I'm not sure that he's ready for this yet.  I couldn't understand square control, space or positional theory until I was about a 1500 player.  That's kinda deep stuff for a beginner/novice.  I agree with the rest of your comments though.  

You made so many strange pawn moves in the opening.  You left so many weak squares on your side of the board, and your opponent clearly exploited them by demolishing you with his knight.

:) I completely agree and understand your point. On the other hand that "click" in my head is what made me a 1500+ player.

Yeah, at some point it all clicks and then you can somewhat understand master games and why they did so and so.  Defensive square control is also important.  Most beginners are so caught up in their own attack that they leave squares open in their own territory, for a knight to hop into.  Beginners also tend to value knights more than bishops and rooks, because they don't know how best to use bishops and rooks.  Learning about the value of the bishop pair in middlegames and endgames is also important and knowing when NOT to trade your bishops.  

Some explanations to your questions, I'm not sure if they were all covered.

'Doesn't a4 and h4 improve the activity of my rooks?'

Somewhat, but the better way is getting your other pieces off the back rank and into the game. Then when you castle your rooks will be 'connected' which means there is nothing between them. They work well together like that and defend each other.

'Why should I castle?'

It helps with the above, and makes your king safer behind a wall of pawns. That's another reason f4 isn't often a good move, often you will castle on that side so this removes some of the protection of your king.

'I thought this was a wasted move on black's part.'

He is clearing the back rank so his king can castle.

R.e. e4 'hanging' the pawn. You will be able to bring pieces or other pawns to the defence of it. Nothing can attack it immediately.

You basically allowed lines to be opened for black to attack your king in the centre. He shouldn't be wondering around the middle of the board while black still has a queen and so many other pieces.