Can someone help make make improvements for black (Specifically in the opening)?

on move 10...g5 you could have played Nb4. you didn't need to worry about Qxg6 becasue of 11....Rf6 12 Qe4 Re6, 13 Ne5 Bxe5. and you have a bishop for a pawn.

After 5.Bc4, play 5...Nc6!

another nice idea is 5... c6 then b5 and push that bishop back and it expands your queenside without losing time.

if you play 5...Nc6 your looking to play Na5 on move 6 or 7 to get the light squared bishop off that stong a2-g8 diagonal.

If you are missing things like eating a whole queen with your knight in a tournament game - openings are the least of your worries. Focus more on the middle game.

The trap ...Nxe4 Nxe4 d5 that you had planned is not as strong as it looks.  I used to play that and always wondered why e6 and g6 became so weak.  The only way to make it playable is to force yourself to play d5 and leave the e-pawn backwards, otherwise White has the plan c3, Qb3, Ng5 with killing pressure on the a2-g8 diagonal.

The plan you're looking for is queenside expansion, facilitated by the loose placement of White's KB.  It's especially important to use your Queen and KB to mount a tactical offense on b2+d4 (Qb6) or c3+a2 (Qa5).  What to do with your QB is more problematic, but consider the opportunity to trade it for White's KB with Ba6 at some point in the future.

6...c6 is the way to go.  Now

7 0-0 b5

8 Bd3 (Bb3?! b4) Nd7 etc.  With the plan to advance b4 in the future and open the b-file.

I'm concerned that after 6....c6 they can simply play 7. a3 and have a nice square for the bishop to fall back to....still on the strong diagonal. 

zanmi wrote:if you play 5...Nc6 your looking to play Na5 on move 6 or 7 to get the light squared bishop off that stong a2-g8 diagonal.

---

 Actually if white plays 6.d5 right away, black can play 6...Nb8! and prepare to play c7-c6. Then if white decides to keep the pawn on d5, black can try to make the e7-e5 and f7-f5 breaks, therefore, expanding in the center. Also if white decides to play d5xc6 with the pawn, black can re-capture with the knight and have a Sicilian-style defense. This will give black a good game.

 

Here's an example of a line:

k123163 wrote:

I'm concerned that after 6....c6 they can simply play 7. a3 and have a nice square for the bishop to fall back to....still on the strong diagonal. 

---

Don't let the boogie-man scare you, because that's all that bishop is if you play correctly.

Interestingly enough, I did some searches with rybka (sorry ), and with the queen's acces to a5 things change with the Nxe4 trap.  So, suppose that after

6...c6

7 a3 (a waste of time) Nxe4

8 Bxf7 Rxf7

9 Nxe4 Qa5+!

The Black queen will proceed to b5 or a6 and prevent castling.

----------------------

Btw, why haven't we criticized white's 6 h3?

Yes, after the rather lame 6h3 the fork trick played in game is playable, and in fact played by GM's when checked up on online chessbase. Think black was ok, with two bishops to compenstate for slightly loose king and pawn structure until 10...g5, and not sure losing with that move.

Of course there are safer ways to play. For example the first thing looked at was 6...c6 followed by d5 which looks very solid.