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Ya I totally missed Kf5 after Rxe4. And probably Ne5 was bad since I got the doubled pawns. I still think it was strong game for someone of my rating vs. his.
wasnt really that close IMO, Black was just playing solid and waiting for a slip. A typical 1st round pairing where the stronger player just squeezes and waits for a mistake. Your opening was unorthodox so black probably had to adjust his thinking but this is only going to benefit the stronger player. Whose more likely to make a mistake in an unusual position?Players learn that trying to flatten someone tactically leads to unnecessary complications and risk when just waiting for the lower rated player to make a series of small errors and just squeeze
quick points
1) study IQP pawn structures- it is very clear you dont understand them and where the pieces go etc... look at the games review and you will see. Seems the player with the black pieces had to figure things out since the position was different than most opening sequences since I dont like some of his moves either. (Na4?!) If you want to learn from this game study what Black should have done to punish whites loose pawn structure in the center and around the king.
2) study pawn endgames. you should have NEVER traded rooks in that position since the pawn endgame was just dead lost for you and very easy to understand so a glaring weakness to me. Losing with rooks on the board fine but the rook trade was just the same as resigning.
3) rook endgames as well,... too passive and black pounced on this once he saw you were trying a passive defense Minev has an exceptional book on rook endgames you can find and just read that wont make your head hurt like other books. also the videos on chess.com are good too
Thank you all for the feedback. Good to know what I need to work on. When I play the average player, one doesn't realize that those mistakes won't be overseen by a strong player. Hey at least I ain't horrible.
I used to talk to an IM a lot on another site a few years back and share games etc. He asked me once,... What is your evergreen game? I said "what do you mean?" His clarifcation was, "a game you feel you played brillantly in." I responded,"Well I had a few that I was proud of until I looked at them with you and realized how much I missed." Horrible is so relative.... you doing fine just areas that I saw that were highlighted to me.