Closed game help
1) e5 gives up the pawn to the knight. He did not take it but probably should have, and you are behind already!
7) c5 undermines your pawns a bit, makes D pawn a target or forces something to babysit it.
10) your light bishop is "semi-developed" which is "ok" --- it can support squares without having moved in other words and the only negative to it is the unconnected rooks --- that is to say Be6 isnt critical, you can move it whenever to whereever as needed.
12) b4 isnt the way to open it. Take the pawn opens it, pushing he has to reply as he did because of his poor rook position, and his reply locks it up.
Nd4 at some point, move 14, 15, maybe, seems like it may be useful.This move is available off and on for half the game, and at times, it seems powerful. You eventually go for it.
h6 seems panicky, so what if his knight comes in? That makes Nd4 even better for you and he can't do much. H6 can chase it away if needed, until then, you took a square from your bishop and messed up your pawns a little bit.
23 Rf8 pointless, not a useful place.
25 Knight sac seems poor. You did absolutely nothing with this except lose a piece. There was potential there but you have to make it worthwhile somehow by say finding a way to attack his now weakened pawns.
41 white has Bxd6! wins a pawn, discovered attack on your queen. He finds only the attack, and fails to win the pawn, but you made a blunder here.
47) Rf8 exposes yourself to queen check rook nab. This idea continues over the next several moves. White does not seem to know what he has.
50) Qxf6 another blunder, white takes your rook for free. Instead white gives you a bishop. Wow.
52) Rb8 prevents the pawn snag.
... white wins with a mating net after you hang your rook again.
Honestly it seems like both players were just pushing pieces at random half the time. Find a weak point, target it, and hit it, and a closed position will break open. Easier said than done, but shuffling pieces in the back won't do it. Figure out which pawn(s) if hit make the position fall apart, and use your knights to get them. You maybe could have done it with your knight sacrifice, but you went back to piece shuffling afterwards. Another possible was pushing the F pawn at some point.
Thank you Jonnin. You comments were exactly what I was hoping for. I think half the time we were jsut making random moves in the hopes the other person makes a mistake.
Considered drawing, but wanted to see how it will turn out and try to learn from it later.
Between duck_and_cover and jonnin there's not much left to say. Regarding closed positions, two more cents:
Why is 25...Nxb3 bad? Protected passed pawns are usually strong, right? Well, the passed pawn in this case is easily blockaded on b3, and is unlikely to ever make it down to b1 safely. Plus white's pawns aren't really weakened, so it's just hanging a piece. Giving up pieces for passed pawns is generally not good unless the pawns are mobile, and can be quickly pushed for effect.
Rewinding a little now, after 18. Bc1 or 24. Ne1, what is your plan? This is a very important question in closed positions. Basically, (after checks captures threats) you want to look at all possible pawn breaks, and judge which one is best for you if any. In both cases, only the ...f5 break stands out, and you could've tried for this to weaken white's centre if he plays too passively. (e.g. Kh8, Ng8, f5 or somesuch, just protect the square and rush.)
This is one of my first games after not playing for a while. I am not very good with closed positions. I think half the game we were jsut waiting for the other person to make a mistake. Can someone give advice on how this could've gone better. I was playing black.
Thank you