Offered a draw because I had no clue what to do, opponent accepted it...

So I was playing (getting the motivation back after my postings about whether or not this game is all memory or not) and my opponent was rated about 750 and I'm about 700.  I thought I had great defense set up, and it got to the point where both of us just moved our kings back and forth, not knowing what else to do.  So I offered a draw and it was accepted.

Now, if I post the game here, could a more experienced player look and offer a suggestion?  I literally had no idea what to do.  None at all.  And since my opponent moved his kind around too (even though I was no where near threatening it) I assume he/she felt the same.  Can someone offer some insight?

It was a pretty even position but on move 21, you missed a tactic to win a pawn. It's not much, but it would open up the game (you're pretty cramped in the center and your bishop is redundant - so removing a central black pawn would certainly help matters).

21. Nxe4 (this forces the black queen to move as it's now under attack from your queen). If the queen moves away, then you move your knight and you've won a free pawn. If their queen captures your queen, you can throw in an intermediate move, Nxf6 check, which puts their king in check and will also double their pawns after they recapture with their g pawn... and then you re-capture the queen with your rook (rxe1).

Aside from that, I dont see anything obvious. General observation is that you make too many pawn moves in the opening and should prioritize developing all of your pieces first, before pushing your pawns. 

You need to do your own analysis first.  That way others have an idea of your thought process, ideas, plans, etc.

My own analysis is about like this: 1. I always move the Queen's pawn forward two squares.  Either I'm white and this is the position I lose from the least, or I'm black and I like the Scandinavian.

2. Get my knights out and try and prevent the opponent's knights from coming forward, because I tend to lose if I don't stop that whole knight forking thing when the knight is backed up by a bishop.

3. Try and castle.

4. Move pieces that are under attack and try and think of how to attack the opponent's king.

5.  There is no five.  At this point, I just either end up in a good position that I can win from, a bad position that I'll resign from so I don't get mated, or something like this where we agree to a draw because we don't know what we're doing.

Anywho, Kh1 was my last move before offering the draw.  What would you have done?  I look at that board and I'm as clueless as a dog trying to do calculus.

You need to do your own analysis first.  Go over he game and add notes, analysis, etc. 

Why did you make each move?

What were you trying to do with each move?

What were your thoughts?

What were your ideas?

What were your game plans?

What was your opponent trying to do?

At your level, steps 1 and 3 are a good strategy. Step 2 may be unnecessary and understanding why requires knowledge of real threats and ghost threats. There is no reason to aimlessly prevent all knight moves forward. You only have to do so if the move comes with a strong or decent threat. #4 is a terrible idea. Attacking the opponent's king is always not the best idea and it appears that beyond defending your pieces, you don't know how to make progress and improve your position. Therefore, you seem to need some middlegame strategic ideas, which I have provided below. 

Middlegame Planning:

1. Expand your position:

a. Gain more space.

b. Improve the position of your pieces.

2. Decide on what side of the board to play.

a. Queenside: a-c files.

b. Center: d-e files.

c. Kingsdie: f-h files.

Compare, space, material, and weakness(es)

3. DO NOT HURRY.  Regroup your pieces, and be patient.

I once attended a local lecture by Grandmaster Sam Shankland and asked him for advice in situations where I am unsure of what plan or move to execute. He said that in such positions, you must always ask your self three questions:

1. What is my worst placed piece?

2. Where are the weaknesses?

3. What is my opponent's idea?

Thanks for the advice so far, I'll think on that middle game stuff you mentioned.  I heard online that one thing to do when you are clueless is to just improve your worst piece.  However, when I look at the final position above, right before the draw, I don't even know what my worst piece is.  I've seen online that I shouldn't move the pawns in front of my king, so those are out of the question.  The rest of my pawns can't move.  My bishop and rook have no where to go.  If I move either knight forward, it'll get taken.  The only thing I might be able to think of now, after studying it again, would be the following: Qe2, Qh5.  Would you guys have done those moves?  Or, if you were in my position and you know the person I'm playing is only 750, how would YOU proceed?

1. I don't know why I made each move.  I start with the Queen's pawn opening because I lose a lot if I do the King's pawn opening.  I tried the English a few times and I don't think I'll be going back to it anytime soon.  After the opening move, I just kinda react to what's going on, like I'm familiar with trying to get my knights out, so I do that.  Then there really is no rhyme or reason, unless my opponent is making obvious mistakes, then I'll just capture pieces.

2. What am I trying to do with each move?  I don't know.  I just have some "book moves" (as the computer calls them) memorized, like getting my knights out.  After that, either one of my pieces is under attack, or I'm attacking one of theirs, and that's how the game plays out.

3. As for you other questions, I don't have "thoughts", "ideas", or "plans".  I'm only a 700 player.  My only thought is to try and checkmate my opponent and not get checkmated myself.  That's the extent of it.

I obviously have no idea how serious you are about chess and improving.  But if getting better is a goal, this is why i asked those questions. 

"1. I don't know why I made each move."

Its important to have some kinda idea why you make each move.  It doesnt have to be the right idea, but it helps give others your thought process.

"I start with the Queen's pawn opening because I lose a lot if I do the King's pawn opening."

Openings DO NOT determine the outcome of your games.  This is something that is important to understand right off the bat.

"What am I trying to do with each move? I don't know. I just have some "book moves" (as the computer calls them) memorized, like getting my knights out. "

The last thing you should be doing is memorizing "book moves".  Again, the opening will not determine the outcome of your game.  Blind memorization is a mistake.  You need to have idea of "why" each move is made.  As for "getting your knights out"?  The idea behind that in the opening is to develop your minor pieces toward the center to help control the center squares d4-e4-d5-e5.

"As for you other questions, I don't have "thoughts", "ideas", or "plans". 

Again, since i have no idea how serious you are about chess, none of what im posting may even interest you, or be important to you.  In that case....ignore everything i have posted :-)

But if you do want to improve.  Your analysis of your games can be super simple.  For example.  Your first move.  1d4  Occupies the center square d4, controls the center square e5, activates my bishop, and queen. 

Start with and work on the basics.  This is what you want to do in the opening.

Opening Principles:

1. Control the center squares – d4-e4-d5-e5.
2. Develop your minor pieces toward the center – piece activity is the key. Centralized piece control more squares.
3. (King Safety)
4. Connect your rooks. There should be no pieces between your Rooks.

The objective of development is about improving the value of your pieces by increasing the importance of their roles (Piece Activity).  Well-developed pieces have more fire-power than undeveloped pieces and they do more in helping you gain control.

Now we will look at 5 practical things you can do to help you achieve your development objective.

They are:

1. Give priority to your least active pieces.

• Which piece needs to be developed (which piece is the least active)?
• Where should it go (where can its role be maximized)?

2. Exchange your least active pieces for your opponent’s active pieces.
3. Restrict the development of your opponent’s pieces.
4. Neutralize your opponent’s best piece.
5. Secure strong squares for your pieces.

Don’t help your opponent develop.

There are 2 common mistakes whereby you will simply be helping your opponent to develop:

1. Making a weak threat that can easily be blocked
2. Making an exchange that helps your opponent to develop a piece

For your rating range.  Work on the basics:

500-1000

• Queen and King, King and Rook checkmate within 25 Moves (Ending).
• How to meet the four move checkmate.(Opening)
• Knowledge of all the one move tactics (Fork, Pin, Skewer.)
• How to draw with a lone King vs. a King and pawn. (Ending)
• The 3 vs. 3 pawn breakthrough (Ending/Tactics)
• The terms for “bad” pawns (isolated, doubled and backward pawns)
• Can solve mate in ones with competence (at or above 60%)
• Drops pieces less often (once every 20 moves) but still falls for checkmates in one move.

Hmmmm...... Black was somewhat better and should have played on due to that white as kind of cramped......

IMBacon, thanks for the replies.  I'd like to a least get competent, so I'd be happy if I could be around 1200-1400, so I could sit down and easily beat people like myself currently, or at least not look like a fool when playing someone better.  Like, if you take golf as an example, I'm not trying to get into the PGA tour, but it'd be nice to be able to play those courses and at least look competent.  But what am I looking at, months or years?

Luxferre, what would you have done if you were me?

Depends...

Depends is my standard answer to pretty much any chess related question.

Your improvement will depend on the following:

Desire.

Dedication.

How much time you spend working on improving.

What you study.

How you study.

How you apply what you're learning.

Now for that brutal thing called truth...

You have played 422 blitz games.  You are not going to improve playing fast time controls.  No amount of study, practice, etc. will matter if you're playing games where you're moving to fast to apply what you're trying to learn.

This question is asked A LOT here, and for the most part it is asked by people that only play fast time controls.  Now when it is suggested they play slow time controls like Daily Chess?  They blitz out 20-30+ moves in 1-3 days, and then wonder why they are not improving?

1. Play slow time controls.  It will do you no good to play a 45 minute game, and still have 40 minutes n the clock at the end.

2. TAKE YOUR TIME.  Use as much of your time as possible.

3. Follow Opening Principles.

4. Use a real board, and pieces when playing/studying.  You learn better in 3D. 

5. Write down your thoughts, ideas, plans, etc.  It doesnt have to be accurate, good, or like GM's.  It gives others an idea of what you were thinking.  Just posting a game, asking for help without doing any of the work yourself is like asking the teacher for the answers to a test.

6. Do your own analysis.  DO NOT use an engine unless it is to ONLY check for blunders, and missed tactics. 

7. Have Fun.

Black’s first seven moves were aimed to secure the e5 push.  So after 7. .. Re8, Black is ready for the central push. White’s play, on the other hand, is to secure space and open up lines on the queenside.

After 8. ... e5, I feel this is a major cross road.

White can go for 9. exd5 Nxd5, 10. Bb2. This is probably more inline with white’s earlier play- the b4 pawn preventing black from getting a c5-d5 pawn pair, so white can try to exploit the exposed d5 pawn.  White would also be in a good position to do a ‘minority’ attack. Black will have to prove the kingside attack is strong enough to win.

white could also ignore Black’s e5 push. As played, 9. Bb2 e4 leads to a closed centre where black could continue with a kingside pawn storm. I feel 11. c4 to put pressure on Black’s Centre is needed to counter black’s kingside play.

Instead of following through with his earlier play, black went for Bb7. This places the bishop on a diagonal that’s severely blocked. Black could have tried to do a Qc8, Bd7 battery to provoke  kingside weaknesses. But after putting the bishop on b7, I feel the initiative transferred to white.

However White rushed to open lines on the queenside. White could have prepared for the opening  of the a-file by doubling or tripling on the file. As played, it is Black who ended up controlling the a-file.

in the final position, I feel Black has some advantage as he can try Bb7-a6, tying up white’s pieces further. Black could also try to sink a knight on f3. White has 2 pawn breaks that looks double-edged at best. They are f3, and c4. White will have to be consider carefully as they could lead to opening the position for black. So I feel white did the right thing to offer / accept a draw. I can’t say the same for black though

Thanks wfloh.  That was wonderful for me to read, I was opening the game in another tab on my browser and stepping through the moves as I was reading what you wrote.

However, I'm starting to get the idea chess is more like trying to be a pro body builder as opposed to someone who just goes and exercises because they enjoy exercise.  What I mean is, I would never want to have to learn weight lifting and nutrition like the pro body builders do - it would take all the fun out of it.  Maybe the same goes for here as well.  Maybe I should just be happy being ignorant of what's going on and just stay at around 700.

I bottomed out around the low 600's before getting back to around 700.  I now feel that I can comfortably beat anyone below 650.  If I just keep playing and failing, will I get better naturally, or do I have to treat this like taking a class in school?

Secondly, could a Grand Master have won from my (white) position?

Thanks for the compliments

you can enjoy chess at any level.

a general rule of thumb is to seek out opponents better than yourself if you want to improve.

if you just want to win (and winning is fun!) then squish those below your playing level

as for your other question, whether a GM can win from white’s position...

My best guess is: it really depends on who is playing Black. I feel Black has an advantage though I wouldn’t call it a ‘won’ game. So if you have an advantage but not enough to win, then it’s still a draw. Example, a pure king + minor piece vs king is drawn due to insufficient matierial to force a checkmate, though one side is a whole piece up.

Ok wfloh, if you were black and you saw me moving my king back and forth, indicating I have no idea what to do and I don't want to make a mistake, how would you go about playing black's position?  What would your next move as black be?

Starting from the final position. And assuming I don’t know what you intend to do...

i would play Bb7. The threat is Rc8, the target is not the Nc3, but the c2 pawn. How will you defend the c2 pawn? The c2 pawn is needed to support the Nb3. The Nb3 currently prevents my Queen from getting to Qb2. So if you’re thinking of Na1 to defend c2, then you’ll have to consider my Qb2.

Perhaps you are thinking of Ne2 after my Bb7. Then I would go Qc4, again with the intention of hitting c2 while keeping the Nb3 under threat (so you can’t move c2-c3). 

From the starting position again, if I knew (or strongly suspect) you are content to move Kg1-h1-g1 all day, then I wouldn’t play Bb7. I would move the Nh5 to Nc4, via Nh5-Nf6-Ne8-Nd6-Nc4. That’s a lot of moves, so I want to be sure you are reduced to passive moves before undertaking this. Nc4 allows me to go Nh3 to hit c2 with a minor piece. 

To summarise, I’ll try to hit c2 from as many angles as I can.