Annotated live game #1; analysis appreciated!

I've decided to cut down on the number of games I play, both in Live Chess and Online, because I want to really analyse my games afterwards, to learn more from it. So in Live Chess, whereas I might on occaision play 10 or so bullet games in a session, I've decided to stick to 15|0 games, and make sure I annotate the last game before I allow myself to play another one.

With that in mind, I logged into Live Chess and played a fairly poor game, making multiple mistakes in the opening to come out with a horrible position. I defended the position, fought back, and managed to snatch an undeserved win. I would very much like to hear other people's thoughts on the game; I've annotated it myself to try and show what I thought about it, both during and after.

So the lessons from this game were:

-Major one; don't play 7.Nxc6 in the position! In other variations of the Sozin, notably 6...g6, White can get away with it as it is followed up with an immediate e5, but here the e5 square was blocked, and Black turned an advantage from the move. As a replacement move, Nf3 might be better.

-Don't develop automatically. e3 was the wrong square for the dark square bishop; g5 was more logical. Other moves like Qd3 were also too mechanical.

But really I'd like some other views on this. Did I have better chances to stir up trouble in the opening/middlegame; I thought I was pretty reactive during the whole period and didn't really come up with a threatening plan, just defended. Comments welcome!

Like you said, trading the knight on your seventh turn is a bad idea because it allows black to capture back with his pawn and fix the hole on d5.  Better was probably to retreat the attacked knight to b3.

Thanks everyone for the comments, other peoples' views are really appreciated! Yeah, I felt black played well, and should have won, but maybe he did think the position would win itself and didn't look for oppurtunities to close the game out. I like all of your suggestions paulgottlieb, 18.Rfc1 is a good move and I think White has no answer to your line after 29...e3.

I played another interesting Live Game last night, so at some point soon I'll analyse that and upload it in the forums as well, it's a lot more tactical and I think there will probably be a lot which I missed!

I'm one of those people who thinks beginners should start with the slowest time controls and not be allowed to play faster time controls until they improve - I would be like a Mr-Miagi-wax-on-wax-off type of chess coach. Seems to me, if you're not much good yet playing blitz is just random-moves-cheap-tricks chess.

Also, be careful you don't over annotate - no comments explaining you just castled (self evident), and keep the notes brief and to the point i.e mostly the positional aspects, maybe some of the tactical stuff can be left out. The how of annotating is an interesting question - not too sure myself.

Here are some comments on your game, mainly on the middlegame:

Hope this helps.

Thanks b1_, I appreciate the comments, and I think they were on the most important part of the game for me.

I would have felt the nead to break up black's centre. Those rolling pawns should have steamrolled you; slowly and painfully. 13. f4 looks natural. Something like this;

I'm aware the analysis is a little bit lazy as well.

7. Nb3 is a solid reply in this line and all the points mentioned on moves, most notably Rfc1 and e3 are spot on. One of the things a Bishop on the 4th or 5th ranking attacking (depending on color) is it weakens the pawn on the opposite side of the board it was supporting (c6 covers e5 for example) and also removes an attacker on the same side of the board as the Knight. It also makes the square in front of the Knight slightly weaker if recaptured by a pawn. The drawback is that once that Bishop is gone those squares it would otherwise defend are weak as well. For some reason I have found that the side that holds the Bishops pair in the Sicilian has a better advantage (likely because the long range power is good in the open board). For this reason, your position seems to have slightly improved after move 13 though sharp play was called for. b1's comments are very accurate, especially the f3 advance. While holding e4, this also exposes your King needlessly. Better to try for counterplay if your opponent is not making a serious threat to your position, especially as White.

Still, great play with solid technique in the endgame. TT is a foe to all of us but at least you saw b7 as the winning line and followed up. Please continue to analyze your games and share tehm, especially any losses as I believe we learn more in loss than victory.

Good luck and hope this all helps.