Well, you didn't play terribly (except for hanging the bishop), but why did you castle queen-side? (the "left side") That is where black had his menacing advanced pawns, while on the kingside (the "right side"), you had a fianccetoed bishop protecting you and black had nothing. Also, after move 30, where you were at a loss, 31. Qg7! wins at least a pawn because it is hitting the rook on h8 as well as the pawns on e5 and d7.
Beginner Game (1161 vs 1361)- First Game Posted with Questions and Annotation
Thanks very much!
I castled queen-side to put pressure from my rook on the d-file. I probably was way too focused on offense here, and didn't look into the alternative, which, in retrospect would have been a much better play, particularly later in the game when all his pieces collaborate on queen-side.
I like the 31 you suggested as well. That would have been solid and kept up tempo (which I was trying to do with the move I chose - Rd5) but without throwing my rook into the fray.
Again, thank you very much for your comments! :)
Feedback is generally hit-and-miss - depends who's online and has time to kill :-)
I agree with your comments - black's initial pawn moves didn't do much.
Your 6.g3 left a tactic for your opponent - 6...b4, causing you to move the knight and he can take e4 with his bishop.
I agree with the earlier post, that the castle might have better on the kingside.
15.Kb1 I think is OK. I might not necessarily have gone for the knight trade a move back but it shows you're thinking strategically which is smart.
37.c4 looks good b/c the bishop is pinned by the rook. The e5 pawn push - not sure what you were aiming for there.
Caesarsecundus and TrojanKnight: 31 Rd5! is an excellent move. One needs to eventually bring the rooks into the attack, especially in a wide open position such as that, and Rd5 does so. Besides, it also wins the pawn, as BxP follows (Black cannot save a pawn at this point). The problem was that, on your followup, you did not move the bishop far enough. Then, Rhd1 and black's position starts to look terminal.
I'm relatively new here on Chess.com, but it's rekindled my excitment of the game. I've never really studied chess at all, simply playing (poorly) recreationally.
Since arriving at Chess.com, I have been playing much more, doing my best to learn some conventional openers and defenses and generally trying to change how I think about the game.
I have been playing noticeably better against opponents of similar ranking (1000-1300, generally) but ran into some trouble recently with this last game.
I've never posted here on the forum before and am interested to see if the community feedback process at Chess.com is as great as I've found everything else to be.
I would really appreciate comments on the game. *Everything* you post will be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance :)