This is a game I played recently. I was wondering if anyone could tell me in which areas I need to improve my chess.
We both had 20mins. for all moves.
I hope you enjoy the game!
Game Analysis Needed
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You should've not allowed that queen exchange in the beggining of the game because you moved your king,so no castling anymore.Considering your rating,you should train your tactics and learn the basic positional principles(central control,king safety,development).You played well against someone rated with 500 points above you.
i like it more like this when i was playing like that with my friends before.
right now, it's always kinda boring, the moves are almost the same for every game. no thrill at all.
- Your openings need work. Already by move 2 you are giving white an advantage.
- 13...Bxf3? In most cases bishops are worth more then knights. If you think of the bishop pair as being worth 7 points, you will be doing yourself a service for a long time. Don't give up bishop for knight without getting something else in return. Look for ways to trade your knights for your enemies bishops.
- You seem to look to trade pieces at every opportunity. Instead, you should be thinking about which of your pieces are good, and which are bad. Same thoughts about your opponents pieces. When you trade, make sure you are trading one of your weaker pieces for one of your opponents stronger pieces. Along these lines, rather then make every move an attempt to trade, use your moves to improve your pieces, put them on squares where they are more powerful. ie, instead of playing g4-g5, play b6-Kb7 and get that terrible a8 rook into the game.
- when you are down in material, you should stop trading pieces. When you are at a material disadvantage, trading pieces tends to magnify your disadvantage. For example, if you have 13 points of material to your opponents 14, you have some hope of fighting. But when it is 2 vs 1, your opponents strength is now 100% more then yours! This is too much to overcome.
The one thing you did right in this game was to activate your king in the endgame. Moving your king aggressively into your opponent's camp is definitely the way to go. In fact, this one thing nearly saved the game! Stalemating your own king was an interesting idea, and if you had played 53...Nxf5 you would have drawn (white plays Kc1-c2-c1 while black plays Nf5-g7-f5 for a draw by repetition).
Make a plan to improve your pieces. Move with a purpose. Your chess will improve very quickly if you follow this simple advice.
You can't see the forest through the trees. Of course I'm aware that knights have the potential to be stronger than bishops. All pieces must be evaluated relative to the position, but this is not where you start with a 900 player who is obviously trading just to trade.
Rook, treat bishops as > knights. Once you develop your sense of what makes pieces good or bad, you can start using your judgment of when to break the rules. In time you might even trade a rook for knight. But worry about that later when you get more experience.
Clouseau741 wrote:
Obviously the analysis has been made for white and not for black but there are some conclusions for black also.
Don't play 20 min games.If you want to play live put much longer time limits.I advise you to play on-line and record your reasons behind the moves.A good player can explain you your where you are wrong and you can improve.
My opinion is that you didn't lose because you played worst , you lost because you simply made the last mistake.You are both very weak at the endgame so the endgame was something of a Russian Roulette.
You played with an opponent 500 points above you and you didn't just lose but you gave a pretty good fight .Well done.It is obvious though that you need to understand the basic opening and middlegame principles.
Begin from trying to have a reason behind every move.In many cases you played moves that seem unreasonable.It is not important to be the correct reason but it is important to have a reason.
hello bro! I am also one with Clouseau741's opinion on the end-game. Before I saw his reply, I was thinking of asking you if you have a thorough understanding of end-game principles.
I also think you need to polish your skills on that end... 
You are missing the whole point of the thread. It's not really about this game. It's about improving this player. It doesn't matter that Bxf3 is ok in this position. What matters is that he obviously did it purely because it was possible. He was trying to trade everything he could without regard for the value of the pieces. That is flawed thinking, and that makes it a blunder. If you trade your queen for a pawn because you think pawns are pretty, the teacher doesn't need to analyze whether or not the sacrifice is actually sound. It's a mistake, because the thinking is wrong. You won't help such a player by pointing out the tactical refutation, you help them by explaining that queens are stronger then pawns. You don't start with the exceptions, you start with the rule.
You seem to think analyzing this endgame, or going over the intricacies of knight v bishop is a good plan to improve a 900, since that is all you are talking about. I disagree.
I stand by my suggestions. For a 900 player to think about trying to stalemate himself is fantastic, frankly it was one of the few actual plans he put together in the whole game. To trade bishop for the sake of trading is wrong. It doesn't matter whether it works or doesn't work in this exact game. The point is the thought process.
Now go find somebody else to nitpick, you are not helping here.
Thanks a million for your help.
Could someone suggest some books that could help me?
Are you well versed about the general rules in every phase of the game?
if not, I recommend you first read books like "The ABC of chess" to give you a guide on the general rules.
Also you might want to read chess books like "Basic Chess Opening" to give you insights on the basic rules of piece development.
Learning about the middle-game is usually done through practice, but it will also help if you can get hold of GM Max Euwe's "The Middle Game" (Book I) for some added knowledge.
For the end-game, there is this book about "Basic Chess Ending" (written by GM Reuben Fine) which can help you boost your skills at the closing phase of the game.
Most of the books I cited were really classic so you may be able to find a copy of them from friends... I just don't know if these books also have some an e-book version...
Enjoy reading and good luck on your game...
You could also try Josh Waitzkin's:"The art of learning".It provides general tips on how to improve your game.