Hi!

I recently played two games of chess OTB (a luxury for me) with a guy named Dalton. He looked like he was in his 30's. I played 2 games with him, losing both. Can you help me?

Game 1:
I played this one without skimming through a single move, and played well. I noticed that we were in an awkward position, and so I FEN'ed it onto a sheet of paper. Then my pencil broke, so I don't have the game. I'll just say that his b-pawn made it to the c file and promoted. I lost quickly after. How SHOULD have play continued?

Game 2:

We had to rush the 1st game to finish before dinner. Afterwards I found a new pencil and recorded this game. Please analyse.

EDIT: Some technical glitch caused the games to be switched. Game 1 is on the bottom, and game 2 on top. Sorry.

I think you blundered alot,you need to be more careful in how you play.Every move you play must have a reason,because i think you made couple of random moves.

First game in your post:  7.Bf4 costs you a pawn.  I don't know why black put his bishop on f6, but I'd consider taking it with his pawn on g6, and grabbing the bishop pair.  If he recaptures with the pawn then probably o-o, if the knight, then Bh6.  Also, if you feel space is a problem for you then in general try to exchange some pieces.  13.Be5 wins the rook.  Same on move 14.  The rook fork around move 20 wouldnt have worked because the knight can move and connect the rooks, but obviously black wants to save his bishop too.  21.best to keep the queens on the board as you are down material.  22.Qe3 is the only move.  31.hangs your rook. 

In the diagram, white should advance his king towards the knight via f2, kick the knight out of the way and win the pawn.  Black won't be able to stop the pawns on both sides of the board, white will queen a pawn and win. 

Alright, you were doing pretty well in the beginning, and you had a pretty good attacking brewing on your opponents weak f7 square, but you didn't use that. Some mistakes I noticed were:

8. If you have control over 4 ranks, you aren't cramped, if you only have 3, then you are cramped. You had plenty of room and nothing to complain about. 

12. Nxf6+??, Nd6 and you pick up a free bishop

13. Qd2??, Be5 and you skewer his queen and rook, Qxf6 was a big mistake by him. 

14. Be5 is still a winning move

16. Qa5?, hollow trap which your opponent saw through, Ng4 or Rxb5 probably better. 

17. Bh6??, hung your knight. 

18. Kd2?, Kf1 probably safer

21. Rhe1??, if Qxe1 Rxe1 Nxc5 and you dropped a rook.

22. Qa5??, left your bishop hanging. 

27. Qxa4?? Nc3+ forks your king and queen (easy to see that it is a bad move) 

31. Qa6??, what is the purpose of this, you desperately need to deal with the extremely powerful attack your opponent has going. 

Summary of the game: You did pretty well in the opening, and had some good attacking options. Your opponent slipped up tactically early, but unfortunately you didn't pick up on these blunders. After your mistake on move 17, it was all downhill as your opponent played pretty precise and picked you apart. 

I would definitely suggest studying up on your tactics, if you didn't make 1 move tactical blunders and took advantages of those that your opponent made, this game would easily have been won by you. 

ha

Dude you where probably making random moves because thats not how you play with me.Next time.       BECAREFUL