Hi!

I recently played a game in my 1st congress and, although i did lose, i thought it was a very fascinating game with lots to learn. If anybody could point our errors with the game, it would be very beneficial to me.  My opponent was rated much higher than me, but i like to think i had to make him sweat for his [well deserved] win. Thanks!

Nobody

Thanks for an interesting game. I am guessing that the ratings you give for the two players are BCF ratings. Is that right? Could you give us a rough estimate of what the USCF or Chess.Com equivalent ratings might be?

As to the game, you got a pretty good position out of the opening, I think. His advanced queen-side pawns make his King position a little insecure. I think 15.Qd2 was not best. I would have tried 15.Bg3Your black-squared bishop is aimed right at the heart of Black's castled position, so it's worth preserving

I like the idea of 18.a4, with the idea of weakening Black's queen-side pawn formation. The more you loosen up those pawns, the more chance you might get an attack on the Black King. 19.a4 would have been good too.

Unfortunately, by the time you offered the draw, Black was already a bit better, and with the bishop pair against a bishop and knight, particularly with his strong B on b7, Black could play for a win with no risk.

That ending looked tough to me, but perhaps someone with more endgame skills could hold it. It's worth studying. All in all, a pretty good effort, you were just up against a stronger opponent

i played david gilbert at british U140! he's a very good player. i managed to get a win there, but don't worry about losing ;)