I had a hard time with this move. I'm not a very experienced player and I sort of blew my position by sacrificing all my pieces in play (I'm learning everyday!). Obviously, I'm a move away from mate in this situation. From what I perceived, my options were either to castle, f3, or Nxg4. Nxg4 would just remove my last piece in play and further advance his knight. If I played through f3 then my King would be waaaay out in the open after it all hits the fan. So I chose to castle even though it felt pretty counter productive since I was feeling so far behind positionally.

I was wondering if you all could give me some suggestions as to what I could have done better at this point. Thanks.

 

Thanks for your suggestions, I have a lot to learn!

Not very experienced either, but I was always told to try to get the minor pieces developed before doing major things with the queen. Unless you see a checkmate quickly, its important to get minor pieces out so that you can get the rooks into open files and attack positions. Remember that the rook is worth 5 pts., only inferior to the queen.

Why did you waste a move (and give up a bishop for a knight) with 7. Bxc6+?

 

Actually in the position above, I prefer white. Why? Materially, the players are even. But white has 2 pawn islands while black has 1 island plus two isolated pawns! After 11. Nxg4  Nxg4  12. 0-0, white is actually better developed too.  

i agree with batgirl!

Castling is one of the smartest moves you can make with an open d or e file.

I personally feel you could've won this easily because of the emptiness on black's left side.  nxc6 takes a pawn while forking the rook and yet another pawn, and if the rook moves to protect on a8, then your rook could take the d file.  Sometimes a passed pawn ends up being the deciding factor in the game, despite it only being one point until promotion.

i would have played Ng5- pinning the knight to the rook, if he wants the rook, he will keep that little horsy there, then you can start doubling up on that piece- if he plays Be7, you could snap off the d pawn and fork those two pieces- and thr put knight on c3 puttin pressure on the e pawn with no protection since that knight is still kinda pinned- just my perspective i am not really experienced but just my opinion--- if anybody wants to talk pilot shit i will be happy to

I think claytonjester meant Bg5, unfortunately Black is threatening ...Rd1#! Batgirl said it all, the B's gotta go, etc.

yeah soory, or you could just plan Nc3 preventing++ while taking out the piece either way after that you could still try the pin, and if he pins the Night with Bb4 you can take out that bishop, slap it onto d2, get all your pieces out and stop that Rd1 attempt. then you could castle and join your rooks up

here is one. move 4 could have been played better.

In Josh Waiztkens, Attacking Chess, I learned the concept of zweischung, or in between move. It usually becomes a turning point in the game. Its when you force a move by putting the opponent in check. then you move to your advantage. in this case it would be 4. Bb5  ...Nc6 or c6 5. Qd3.