I need help analyzing this game.

Hello,

I recently finished a game on live chess. I won, but I'm slightly disappointed because the win did not utilize any deep ideas or brilliant tactics. I believe I finally obtained an advantage right before the final tactical blow, which was a fork between the king and the rook, but I think that the game probably should have ended in a draw. Anyways, please help me to develop a coherent thought process rather than mindlessly exchange pieces and forcing my opponents to exchange theirs.

just a quick blurb, pretty sure 14 ... Nb6 wins almost immediately cause you force the queen to move and then pick up the knight.

otherwise, forcing trades as black is not a bad way to obtain equality. unless, of course, there are better variations. 

in general, i find the IQP is nice to play against as it's permanently weak, especially when its side is undeveloped and lacking attacking potential. White gives up too much trading down and accepting the IQP IMO. Maybe he was hoping you would mess up? you seem to have played the opening just fine, and that seems to me to be the most precarious part of the panov-botvinnik in the CK.

Was time much of a factor in this game for your openent?

one more thing, frequently the best chess is simple chess. don't be hard on yourself for not seeing a super-deep sac or whatever. 

Thank you chhhillout for helping me with this. Regarding 14...Nb6, if he/she played 15. Qb5, the knight is saved. Anyways, thank you for your comments, and I suppose I was just struck with how simply I played because it just seemed too easy, like I missed something and my opponent missed it too. Your comments are helpful and well appreciated :)

EDIT:Nevermind.The Queen can be kicked from b5 easily! Thanks for showing me that.

EDIT(2): Wait, the queen has a flight square on a5... I'm going to need to analyze further =.= I'm soooo slow sometimes! Oh well.

EDIT(3):It appears the queen can fly off to c5 and threaten my rook that's a little jammed in and then save the knight.

EDIT(4) Nevermind. The silly king can then take the queen!

EDIT(5): Okay, FINAL EDIT. It appears that the queen can fly to e5 after 15. Qb5 and then easily defend the knight thereafter. If Black threatens the fork with 16....f6, then White will play 17.Qxe6+ and save the knight from there.

just a quick glance, but i think you can still gain several tempi on the queen. and maybe boot the knight with h6. then both your knights can easily be in position to take d5. and then with your rooks on the open lines, you have an enviable position as black.

edit: meant to add, good eye on the saving queen moves. this is the sort of diligent awareness that chess demands

chhhillout: I suppose you are correct. This is exactly what I need, ideas to have in my head to develop a better thought process while playing. Thanks also for the compliment on awareness. I just wish that could be present in ALL of my chess games -__- But alas, such is life. 

Oh, and another thing about the simplicity of the win; my major concern was that if I played that simply against a much better opponent, a draw would have ensued. That was a big reason why I wasn't thrilled with this win at first. I feel better about it now, though. 

even so, a draw as black means you neutralized white's initial advantage. i've heard/read the Russian school of thought is "win white, draw black". That might be overly simplistic, but drawing as black is not a bad result.. unless maybe you're playing a very poor opponent. ;) cheers good luck

Well, I suppose that's true. Thanks for all the help :)

Your Opponent made a "little" mistake by isolating his QP, this structural weakness is what tied down his rook to a passive defense position behind the pawn that eventually led to the final blow of the fork.

Don't be upset because you did NOT achieve a complex tactical position where you could have shown some "fireworks"; your opponent obviously was playing to draw exchanging pieces "whole sale"; now that is bad, because when you play to draw often you get your rear end kicked, always play to win and if your opponenet doesn't make any mistakes, then settle for the draw.

22..Rxd4 wins a pawn, (note that 23.Rxd4 (by white) is eventually forced, when nxd4+ threatens an annoying e2 check.), after which it is difficult to convert to a win, but proper defense (by everyone) these days is never played.

It should be noted that 4..nf6 gives black a very acceptable game as an alternative to Qxd5.

I agree with Randomemory on 4..Nf6 as it's the move I usually play. One step closer to castling.

Randomemory: You are correct! I totally missed that during the game. Thanks. Thanks also about the 4...Nf6. I'll probably play that more often, should I reach the position again (which, I probably will). Thanks also, Mauriciolopezsr and chhhillout for your contributions. Posting the game here was a good idea! I should do this more often :)

I just ran the game through Houdini - neither of you made a single mistake giving the opponent more than +0,7 (white´s last major blunder excepted); and this happened only once in the game. The reply was then inaccurate, making the game even again. For 95% of the time the advantage was between 0 (often) and +/-0,3. You both played extremely well, and there were no major chances which either of you overlooked. Well played!

21.f4 weakened white slightly, giving you +0,5. Houdini suggests 21.Nc3. Your reply 21...Nb5 was correct. His next move 22.Ng5 weakened him further, giving you +0,75. Better would have been 22.d5 Rxd5 23.Rxd5 exd5 24.Ng5 h6 25.Nf3 (still +0,5 for you).

Your reply of 22...h6 looks logical, but 22...Rxd4 23.Rxd4 Nxd4 24.Kf2 is  better (if 24.Nxh7 then 24...Kg8 25.Ng5 Ng2+ 26.Kf1 Nxf4).

After your 22...h6 the game remained absolutely balanced until white´s 36.Ng5 (Houdini recommends here 36.Rh1), when your advantage jumps from 0,0 to +1,3. You found the best reply with 36...Nc4, and white´s reply was of course the end of all his chances (37...Re1 would have been correct).

Hope I could help!

Thanks for the computer verifications CapnPugwash. It's nice to know that I, at the very least, played accurately (except for 22....h6) and made no huge blunders!

You´re very welcome! Playing the game through on Houdini was very instructive for me. The first time I ran it fairly quickly, looking for the sudden leaps in evaluation which would have meant missed chances, and I was very surprised that there just weren´t any, except at the very end. At your (our) sort of rating that always makes me suspicious, so I went through it again and compared Houdini´s suggestions to the actual moves played. What really surprised me was that, apart from the forced sequences during exchanges, there was very little correlation; you both played lines which were (very nearly) as good as the computer ones, but quite often in a completely different tactical direction. A very interesting excercise!

Well, I just plugged this into the Chess.com computer analysis available to free members. It said that I made 7 inaccuracies, 1 mistake, and 0 blunders. Thats the best computer analysis I've had from chess.com! :)