A recent game against a member of this site... He's rated 300 points higher than me, but I felt I played a good game.  Not sure where I went wrong.  Any help?  (Note:  I am black in this game)

After the pin was removed on  6 Qd3, your bishop remained on spot. You should have taken the knight or moved the bishop somewhere else and not leave your bishop hanging on a useless square.

7 Qe7 is a mediocre move - it blocked your black bishop from moving. Better was to move the black bishop so you can castle. 

You moved your knight too early. 8 Nb4 was a mediocre move - resulted to opportunities for your opponent such as 9 Bb5+. 9 c6 prevented you from moving the Nb4 knight to going back to its proper spot on c6.

13 Nb8 is another mediocre move. The knight was not being threatened. Why move it? Better is to move your bishop away from its awkward square. 

14 Qc7 was just a bad move. If you wanted to protect the c6 pawn - better was to move the bishop back.

15 c5 is your deathblow and it exposed all your bad moves and your awkward position. 

 

 

After move 15 - there is no way of winning this game for you. Everything just went wrong on your moves - you made a lot of horrible moves.

I'll give this to you, play people on your level.

all started once your queen was taken

and on move 20. your should of moved your queen instead of taking the knight

wow you that was good! any how I think you just needed more practise but you still rock!

I agree that blocking your king's bishop for so long was bad.  On move 12.. Re8should have been replaced by Q e8, allowing your king's bishop to escape from jail.  4...Nb4 only work on beginners; always play as if you are playing an expert.

White's attack was based on gaining several tempi, while you lost tempi placing your knight back in its cot with the covers drawn over its head. I hope the metaphors help!

I'd say 10...0-0-0 was the first really big error. There were some fishy moves before that, which were probably mistakes, but after this one black will have to endure a lot of sufferring even if all the moves he plays from that point on are great.

 (10...Bf5 11.Qe2 Nd7 looks like what black should be aiming for)

 Notice that white's king, after he castles (and you have no way to prevent this), will be safer than black', and that the knight is going to have to go to the a6 square, where it does very little and is susceptible to a later b5.

 

Also note the c6 pawn which helps the b5 move open lines of attack to the black king, and that the position of the knight (after it is driven to a6), ensures this b5 push is either more forceful (because it threatens the knight as well as contacts c6), or gains time for white (if black moves the knigth before).

 

All these, coupled with white's more active stance (the e5 knight, for example, takes a couple of moves to dislodge properly, and it is a wonderful square for it), should create a feeling of dread in the black commander, and you should have started to think about how to diffuse white's possibilities. 10...0-0-0 gave him too many good opportunities.

 

 

 

tehasian1 wrote:

14 Qc7 was just a bad move. If you wanted to protect the c6 pawn - better was to move the bishop back.

15 c5 is your deathblow and it exposed all your bad moves and your awkward position. 

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14...Bd7 seem to be just blocking the much needed defense, of course after such a move, white would not take on c6. Bd7 is no better than Qc7. My estimation (so far, based on brief analysis only, but that may change), is that 14...Bd7 may be even worse. In any case, it is no better.

 

The correct solution seems to stop blocking the bishop with 14...Qe6, without going to the ugly c7 square, as well as watching over g4 in some lines. Although I have to admit, whatever black plays here, it's no fun to play. It is very close to collapsing already.

 

Of course, 15...c5 wins the position immediately for white.

At least he had to work hard to prove (if it's possible) it's a win before that. After this move, there is no cure anymore. Black's is lost and white does not even have to work for a win anymore (Black's best move afterwards is just to resign).

 

Instead, you probably had to play 15...Bd6 (FINALLY get this bishop out) looks like the best try to me. White plays 16.f4, and has a magnificent position. Black can't be picky though....