Thanks for that. I'll have to take a look at what you say. Unfortunately, I'm not a member at ICC and I don't know my way around there AT ALL.

I'm looking forward to going through your comments! I'll let you know if I have any questions. I love learning and it's very very kind of you to post so much. I'm quite sure I'll learn even more!

Hi Dr_Cris

Jump from the DHLC forum! Here are some comments on your game. I like the Online Games - they provide an opportunity to properly think through every move and play with the analysis board. A few times now I've found problems with lines when I play them out, which I didn't when I visualised it. I guess the trick is to improve visualisation so that 'live' game play improves.

3. e5 - when I decided to play the French, this variation bothered me. I'm used to open games and having f6 available to my N. I'm getting used to it though.

4. c3 - another response is Nc6. I prefer this, as it starts development and still leaves the option of cxd4. Oh wait, you're white... Scrap those first two comments!

6. Nc3 is worth a try here.

7. Qx may be better. It develops the Q, but also leaves the N to go to c3, which may be a better square than d2. That said, you're attack is likely to be on the K-side and Nd2 gets is over there more quickly.

9. As PJK said, Bb5 is a blunder.

12. Since the pin is gone, Bd3 may be better.

13. ... but since you were on a4, is Bc2 better here? The a2-g8 diagonal is locked, so your B is not well deployed on b3.

14. "Ifs and Buts and Candy and Nuts" and all that, but... if your B was on c2, the Qd3 you played would be even more powerful - mate threat on h7.

15. Could consider Qd2 to prevent a4, which would be a pain, given your B protects the potential forking square of c2.

17. "Every cloud..." The forced move of your Q chases the N which threatened the fork.

18. Not sure about this. Maybe keep the N over on the K-side

19. The a-pawn was up for grabs (Nxa4) , as you protect with your light B.

21. .. Bc8. Adding to your comment: and his N too.

24. The a-pawn up for grabs again.

25. Told you so!! 

In Online you have the chance to do it at every move, but now is probably a good time to think about the position in more detail and about your plans from here to the end. If you haven't done so yet, have a look at Dan Heisman's first few series of videos on ICC. He sets out a good way to think about evaluating positions. In short, and this is my interpretation, you count material, assess King safety, piece activity and pawn structure, and determine who stands better. Then you can assess your opponent's move (what can they do now -the "null-move test" - was their move safe, did they parry a threat). Then you can postulate your plan (what positive things can you do, identify potential tactics). Then it is on to exploring candidate moves (checks, captures and threats first) and deciding on the best one.

29. Ra8 also worth a look.

31. To add to your comment. Be careful with relative pins with a Q. If the pinned piece can unpin itself with check and your Q is unprotected, or the object piece < Q, then your Q is in trouble. Here the object piece is also a Q, so you are fine.

45. Oh yeah!

Well done for hanging in there and making the most of your opponent's mistakes.

I"ll have to take a closer look when I have time, Harvey.  I do hope you went to the bathroom after that!!!  ;)  

@Dr Cris,

Here is a game that'll make you chuckle. I played it today, Mass Chess Association G/60. I played the first two rounds (both draws) in U1600, then had to come home to do homework for tomorrow...

The theme is this:

1. I haven't played OTB since last October
2. This is round 1 so I'm simply trying to play chess, nothing fancy, nothing catastrophic, just somewhere in between
3. My opponent is a 9 year old. Alarm bells go off... It is common for scholastic players to be playing way above their rating since they improve so fast.
4. We start the game after introductions, including the opponent's father. He plays 1.e4, and I say "ok, let's go for it" and I play 1...c5 locking in to the sicilian, even though I'm still learning it.
5. The game is below, unannotated since I just played it today, summary is:

• Play is standard up to 8.Qd2 when I realize he may be using a Queen/Bishop battery to remove my g7 or "Dragon" Bishop. THis really threw me since I am used to seeing this in a closed Sicilian, not this line. I need to look it up. In any case, I play 8...Ng4 attacking his Bishop, and preventing 9.Bh6 (trying to exchange the Bishops). We tussled for a while (not sure how good the tussle was), and then...
• 12.Bh4. Hmmm. I realized he has a pin of serious magnitude going on, so I did what any decent chess player would do, which is to use my pinned Knight to capture a pawn and threaten his Queen :-) Yes, he can take my Queen, I take his and lots of "fur goes flying" as they say.
• My opponent didn't play as strong as he could have, and by 19.f3 he is in serious doo-doo (technical chess term). However, as chess games go, I was having a hard time finding continuations. I knew I wanted my Bishop to skewer his Queen and King if he took my Knight, etc. but what to do in the meantime? 
• Of course I chose a very weak continuation, 19...Bd7. at which point the game quickly swings in my opponents favor, to a large magnitude, complete with a bonehead move on my part 24...Re8, trying to distract my opponent's Queen so I can mate him, but I wasn't looking at the right variation. Using the d4 pawn and advancing to d3 etc a few moves prior would be the right thing, but...
• My mind was clouded by anticipating a trip to the "restroom" (@Dr Cris knows another story of mine about using the reastroom and getting distracted), and worse yet, I had just a couple of minutes on the clock... no increment, just a delay of 5 sec.
• So the game is quickly spiraling out of control, but I figure I better sit right there (despite the "restroom" urgency) even though my opponent had 25 min on his clock. Ugh.
• But, I figured somehow I need to keep digging deep. By move 27 my opponent was concerned enough about the threat of mate he exchanged his Queen for my Bishop! (although he was close to mating me a couple of moves before that). That was progress. Later he lost a Knight to a Queen fork on move 34.
• By this time I had less than one min, the "restroom" trip sounds great, but that is tantamount to resigning. Plus my opponent seems to be buckling under the pressure. So I have one Queen, and my opponent has two Rooks and a Bishop. But one of the Rooks and the Bishop are not developed...
• Always finish developing before hanky panky on the board :-)
• And... his King is very exposed and happens to be hanging around my Queen. By this time, I am trying to crank out each move in 5 sec or less to not run down the clock too much, and I manage to get into a situation where I can force a repition of position, and we agreed to a draw.
• And I had a comfortable 20 seconds left on the clock.
• Drama :-)

Nice job :)

I think you get a little too emotional while playing. Optimism (although realistic) while defending is something I am working on now, I find I play much stronger when when I have a better attitude.

Very nice game. I can tell yo took your time on this one, which is papramount to success at correspondence chess./ Too many people view this type of chess as an alternative to over the board chess, which it isn't. et when both payers are here at the same time, ofte 10, 20 or more moves are belted out in record time. Also, I was impressed you were looking at the games when it wasn't your move. Back in the days of chess by postcard, it usually isn't your move in the vast majority of your games. This was an area I focused on, analyzing positons when it was my opponent's move. i still do this here with online chess and it's very helpful to understanding the positions you get. Keep analyzing, your strength will grow!

Hi kingscannonse3e2,

1. c4 is actually known as the English opening, and it was an opening former world champion Mikhail Botvinnik played regularly. It's quite a solid opening and many strong players still play it nowadays.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Opening
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Botvinnik

2. f4 is known as Bird's Opening, I think it was named after Henry Bird who was a renowned player back in the 1800's

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird%27s_Opening
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Bird_%28chess_player%29

@Dr Cris, great game and good for you to find awesome defensive resources. Plus your commentary made your game fun to review!

Here is a game I played earlier against somebody with the username gustavo_11 by move annotation. I was playing the white pieces. My opponent resigned after my 21st move because he saw that there was no way to avoid checkmate. Here are the annotated moves to study and analyze. They are as follows:

1.c4 e5 2.e4 Nc6 3.g3 Nd4 4.d3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Bc5 6.b4 Bd6 7.Nh3 Nf6 8.Bg5 b6 9.Nc3 Bb7 10.Nd5 h6 11.Bh4 g5 12.Nxg5 hxg5 13.Bxg5 c6 14.Bxf6 Qc8 15.Nxb6 axb6 16. Bxh8 c5 17.b5 Nf3+ 18.Qxf3 Ke7 19.Qf6+ Ke8 20.Qxd6 Bc6 21. Bf6 1-0

I don't know what level of strength this is at or anything like that, and I do not know if this particular style of opening is played by other players of like the IM or GM level because I hardly ever see it played by most as it seems that a lot of players play thinking and/or believing that the only way you can influence or control the center is by playing either the d or e pawns to the fourth or fifth ranks. However when I saw it yesterday for the first time, I saw that the c and f pawns can attack as well as influence the d and e squares in the center of the board while also helping to develop the minor pieces as well as it also shows another way to play the game with more imagination and creativity. I do not know if this particular opening has a name, but if it doesn't, then I think that maybe with some analysis and study, I may have possibly come across something that might bring the game of chess a new and creative system of play, like the French, Spanish, King's and Queen's Indian, the Gambit's, and the like. I would definitely appreciate input and opinions of what you all think of it.

The server doesn't?    That's news to me.   I didn't know that.  In my regular correspondence/online games, it just DOES it.  It happened to me before, I think.  No hold it a sec.  Maybe not.   yes it has.   I've gotten "draw by three fold repetition" or something like that online, I'm sure of it.  But of course that was when I played the computer.  I wonder if it's different?

Chris,

The server WILL NOT declare a draw by repetition!!  You must claim it by hitting the draw button. (just like an OTB game) You need to do it before he moves again.

After annotating this myself, I took it to Houdini and Houdini yelled at me for move 9.  I didn't understand why though.  Thanks for explaining. 

9.Bb5 is a mistake Michaele. It can be met by 9..Qa5+ and it's a goner next move (: Watch out for those pesky tactics!

The same does not work after 10.Ne2 because 10..Qa5+ can be met by 11.Nc3.

There ARE lines in the French where you develop your b1 Knight to d2 and then f3 but thats for another time.

It was a see saw ride. Congrats Michaele and remember not  burn yourself out. Little steps:)

Huzzah:)

You HAVE to save..... and I do that.. It took me an hour and a half to annotate this.  The  game is there now, I promise!

Yes, I don't see the game either. :P

The game has packed it's bags and left! :)