Beginner analysis 8

Hi there!

I felt I had a had a pretty good game, but couldn't really manage to pull it through. Finally, I ran out of time and made some fast moves.

Can you guys spot positions where I could have performed differently to have a better chance of a win?

you said it yourself your knight sac was a blunder you could've gotten a normal endgame after exchanging the bishop

and i like Bxe6 too

Traditionally 4. Nxe5 is better 4.  ... , Bd6 5.Nb4, this is very strong as black can make his position worse with b6, trade off his bishop pair for a knight with Be6 followed up next move with Bxc4, (not recommended as he loses the bishop pair, blacks lets white get his bishop active with Bxc4 after black takes the knight there, and after black has played Be6, white is able to play b3 and gets him one less move away from getting a fiencheto on b2.  So 4. Nxe5 is better becuase either black loses time, position advantage ( after 5.  ... , b5) , or dynamical advantage (loss of the bishop pair.)

8. Be3, this would have probobly been better if you play b3 followed by Bb2 getting the fiencheto and aiming a bishop, queen battery at the king side, this virtually forces him to castle queenside.  Notice that he doesn't have any of his pieces out of the way on the queenside and this would take longer to get castled giving you extra time to develop.  If he still chooses to castle king side then you have the ever present threat of Qxg7# if he moves the knight.  This would be extreamly strong against a king side castle and it makes him waste time if he decides to castle queenside.

10. Qd5, believe it or not I would recommend neither Qd4 OR Qd5, I would instead recommend trading queens, with 10. Qxe7, (10.  ... , Kxe7 is bead becuase it loses king safety.) Bxe7  11. O-O-O or Bd5 would work too.  This gives your bishops mighty power over the center and the a2-b8 diagnol, and in addition the adjacent a1-h8 diagnol.  The queen side castle gets the rook on the open file immidatly, whereas O-O would simply force you to play Rfe1 afterwards.  O-O-O is recommended after the queen trade.  Strong diagnols, exelent development compared to your opponent, king is safe, and an open file.  All of that for nearly no black compensation!

You comment on move 13 that your position is strong, it is fairly good, but not as good as it would have been after the queen trade.  You see the queen trade would have left the open d-file for you, there wouldn't be that Bxh2 threat, remember that the bishop would have been on e7 instead of c7.  And black wouldn't have his queen, the queen is really only the "good" piece that black has, whereas nearly all of your pieces could be qualified as "good".  It is kind of like simplyfying a position in the endgame.  If you are up, the more trades you do, the bigger your advantage gets.  If you have a good position and nearly all of your pieces are good, (and only a few opponent pieces are good) then trade off their best pieces for you good or average pieces.  This just increases your positional advantage.

14. Ne5 was OK as it didn't make your position worse, but slightly better would have been Bxe6.  Becuase after fxe6, blacks king is weak, and if they play Qxe6 instead, the queen is a little more vonerable then your would want her to be.  Over all Ne5 was fine but Bxe6 would have been slightly better.

Ouch, I"m sorry to say this but 19. Ne3 was a bad blunder, again, not becuase it made your worse but you had much better.  19. Qxg5, Bxg5+ Kb2, woud have made your position much better.  Black had to acknowlage himself to the fact the the only logical way to get his knight in the game, (and deastroy the threat of Re8+ Kh7 Be6 winning the knight for free) he would have to play Nd7, a passive move, but the only logical one.  After this position your would have a very good position.

22. Bc3 wasn't your best move, every so slightly better was the move Bxb6, axc6, and your opponent has doubled pawn an inactive rook, and a pathetic knight on the outer edge, if you can trade of knight and rook now, which your should be able to do in this position then you would win because of the doubled b-pawns.

WHAT?!  24. Nf6+ definatly wasn't your best move!  Rd3 would have been MUCH better.  I see that you are scared about loseing the exchange or the bishop for knight, but Rd3 is much better.  If they play Na4, then you simply retake with he rook and your arn't down any material!  True, a bishop may be better than the knight in this position, but you lost a knight for a pawn in the actual game! Oh well, you can't take back moves, but remember, even when you are scared in a game, look for every good move, don't just see a move and play it.

28. resign was probobly your best bet in this position, however with Bxb6 a few moves earlyer, this would have been a won game for you. 

Sorry about it being pretty long but please go through this and take these examples and learn from them.  I spent the time looking through the game so the least you can do is actually read through the move analysis. 

If you have any more games post the game in the forms, secnd me a message or note with the full title of the game and then I should be able to get an analysis back to you in a day or two. 

Happy playing!

I like the Bxe6 as well, it is in my analysis. 

"28. resign was probobly your best bet in this position, however with Bxb6 a few moves earlyer, this would have been a won game for you. "

Not sure about that at all. Best play I think it would be drawn.

Wouln't that have been a win?  with the doubled b-pawns shouldn't white be able to win this?

22.Bxb6axb6

White would be better for sure. But better is far from winning, let alone won. White is going to need to force a win of the doubled pawn, or otherwise create a passed pawn, and it's not clear how he will achieve that.

not clear?  Well of course it isn't clear because there are many ways to do this!

Thanks for your replies, guys! Long and short, thanks for your effort to help :)