Please analyse this position from my game

Hi,

The following is a position that arose in a game I just played. I'm not looking for someone to tell me what the best move is (I have Houdini for that) I'm just looking for someone to please go through what my thought process should be when analysing a position like this, what concepts should be applied, anything that I could've used as a hint to find the best move. Basically, what do I need to know to find the best move here?

I am rated 1700 (normal) on FICS. I don't know my FIDE rating. Let's just assume it's 1500. I've been playing casually for a year, focusing mostly on general principles and drilling basic tactics into my brain. Any complex positional concepts are foreign to me at the moment so please keep any responses fairly simple.

FYI the best move according to Houdini 1.5a at 25-ply is Nh5 (-1.70) followed by a5 (-1.24). My move Rf7 is at least a pawn worse than Nh5, so a significant blunder IMO. Thanks in advance.

White's light-squared bishop here is quite strong.  Your rook is very weak.  I think Houdini is saying with Nh5 that trading the rooks off the board (..Nh5 Bxf8 Bxa1) and forcing white to lose a move by retreating his bishop will benefit you.

You might be able to use the knight on h5 somehow...Houdini certainly thinks so.  Perhaps it is thinking you can play f4 soon, and suddenly your light-squared bishop is on the attack, and your queen can join in.

So to answer your question, look at the strengths of the pieces.  Sure, your rook might get into the game someday, but the white bishop is a problem now.  The bishop is currently worth more, realistically.  White has absolutely nothing else happening - so if you get a chance to mess with the bishop by trading rooks, so much the better.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the response zirtoc. In fact, after Bxf8 Houdini likes the exchange sacrifice Qxf8 c3 f4 Nxf4 (I assume the Knight eventually gets trapped if it ventures to g5) Nxf4 exf4 Qxf4 Re1 Bh3 Kh1 Be5 etc with the evaluation now at around -4.00. After Bxf8 Bxa1 Houdini 25-ply evaluates the position at -0.78 in comparison with -2.95 for Qxf8.

Back to the original position, should the undefended Knight and possible discovered attack on it after f4, along with the weak pawn structure around the white King signal the possibilty of a King-side attack (beginning with Nh5) or is this just an example of the supreme calculating ability of a super strong engine? Is it too optimistic to expect a player of my limited ability to make the exchange sac here? At my level, is Rf7 a blunder? If I played Nh5 Bxf8 Bxa1 would that be considered a blunder?

Sorry if I'm asking too many questions

Without going into too much detail, Nh5 isn't terribly obvious.  I did see the benefit in moving the knight right away, however.  What you really need in this position is some momentum.  I have discovered after thousands of games that if I am too passive, I'm probably losing.  You want to be as active as possible, and out-develop your opponent and force them to make odd moves they don't really want to make.  (Bxf8, for example.)

I had not considered saving your bishop - that's a pretty deep calculation.  I will say this, though - your opponents will rarely expect you to do a sacrifice exchange.  If you are confident you can have a winning position by doing one, go for it.  I often lure my opponents to take something on the queenside while I'm attacking the kingside.  It puts their defenders out of position, and makes their game hopeless.  Again, it's about real piece worth - if your rook isn't in the attack, sac it and get an extra move!  As long as you have compensation.