Trying out the Dutch defense....

I think I'm something like 3-7 in the last 10 games, but I could care less about the losses. The real issue is that I'm playing terrible, unfocused chess.

I need to force myself to be careful and read the board properly. I don't even know that I can learn from the losses because the play was so careless.

So that brings me to goal 1:

• Build a library of my games that I can learn from

Actually, maybe this latest game against KingDub30 might be worth a look.

http://www.chess.com/livechess/game.html?id=134723045

I didn't sit and think about the opening too much. I'm not comfortable with Queen's Pawn openings, so I just launched into what I thought resembled a Dutch Stonewall defense. You can see that in 1. ...f5 2. ...e6 3. ...d5 4. ...c6. I was aware that the light-squared bishop protects the pawns at b7 and helps out at e6. I was also aware that yes, Ne5 is playable for White and should be expected.

I'm interested to hear your analysis of 6. Be6. I've been thinking about this: what if White played an early Bh5? g6 by Black definitely weakens the kingside, but White's ability to get the Queen into a position to do damage seems problematic. And White probably needs the dark-squared bishop to really cause some fatal blows. Still, I haven't looked at this too closely except for an exchange or two.

I wasn't sure what exactly was happening with 9. Bh5. I didn't feel terribly threatened by it and thought I should attack the center. Keep in mind this is the first time I've played a Dutch defense. Should I have done this?

And as for the rest of the game... doubled rooks are powerful, I learned once again the hard way. They're almost tactics-proof. Despite my many blunders, 24. ...Nxd4 25. ...Qe3+ was quite nice. Trouble is, with doubled rooks and that stupid bishop blocking my own rook, it was kill or be killed time, and I got killed.

Any suggestions for what I should be looking to do with the Dutch are welcome.

Also - a few of you are actually talking to me about my writing, so here's something to read if you like: An Introduction to Machiavelli's "Prince"