Do games ever start out sucky?

I swear, some games are losers right from the start. After just a few moves, I can tell I am losing (and not just negative self-talk) but actually from the positioning on the board. Everything just feels off balance and odd.

There should be a chess rule that, after five moves, the one with the sucky setup can abort the game. I'm just sayin' .... // END RANT (and yeah yeah opening book and all that)

Oop~

Or you can keep playing, lose that game, then practice that opening on game analysis OR keep playing and see what the tide might bring,

“Who knows what the tide could bring?"

Tom Hanks in “Cast Away”

Hey Morphy! Looking good, sir!!

Now here's a visualization I can latch on to ... loved that show. That image is a keeper!

Movie not show like tv show

Yeah because openings take zero skill and shouldn’t decide the game.

Oh whew! I was going to go study openings but now I can take openings off my study list! Thanks, Flynn!!

ADDED: Hmmm, now I just need to do the same thing with middlegame and endgame. I'm working on it.

ADDED AGAIN: I should clarify that I assumed Flynn was joking so went along with the joke. But truth is ... what some top players ... openings DON'T decide games so there's that.

Movie - show ... I've watched very few of them. I hadn't even heard of Matrix movie either! So 'show' means TV? Anyway, WILLLLSSSSSOOOONNNN! I KNOW the feeling of losing someone/something you've become attached to. It is heartbreaking every time

This happens in lots of games where I'm White, oddly enough. For some reason, I find that trying to create an immediate idea as to what I should do to attack my opponent is harder than defending against my opponent's immediate ideas to attack me.

Uhh I think he was being sarcastic but just learn opening principles

I wasn’t being sarcastic. Openings require zero skill.

Ehh

well i've been round and around about openings which comes first the chicken ahem, I mean openings or knowing one's middlegame style and i'm not getting in this one. I think both sides seem valid but what do I know ... I'm a low-rate newb.

I used to attack immediately. Now I focus very hard at Opening Principles and don't attack until done which are: Pawns in the center for control, deploy pieces (Knights then Bishops). Bishops after Knights because you don't know for sure where Bishops will be most effective (until 3-4 moves in) and move them at the center.

Then castle and move Queen out in support of Bishops' diagonal attack or elsewhere. Rooks can join, usually attacking D or E file whereever file is open or half-open. An aggressive OP doesn't always allow me to get it done but I try! This is just my perspective however.

Perfect example ... after this game, the first thing I spotted ... HUGE RED FLAG. Know what is wrong for BLACK?

No, I'm [Redacted] and have no idea what is wrong in that position. 🤪

Black’s underdeveloped, a weak e8-a4 diagonal, Ng4 is lost with check

Correct, DrNukey. Openings can get a chess game pretty messed up pretty fast. Focus on development of pieces to the best squares in an order of operations you see fit & you'll have cleaner openings. Happy chess, d4. 🙂♟️

That is PRECISELY what is wrong, @DrNukey! I was attacking with my Knight before I fully developed my pieces. Why? I was irritated that the OP was stopping my attack plan. I wanted to take c5 pawn so I wanted to kill that white Bishop at ANY cost and yes, it cost me the game.

@TetrisFrolfChess is also correct, "Openings can get a chess game pretty messed up pretty fast."

Great players don't repeat the importance of Opening Principles just to repeat old dogma ... it is critically important to put King safety and piece deployment FIRST before attacking. The saddest part (for me) is - this game was just a few weeks ago.

Thank you all for responding! If we don't listen to good advice, we deserve to lose and this is why some games start out sucky. WE make sucky moves. // END RANT