Help me improve

I'm black. I made a couple of misplays that i immeaditley regretted (like when the king got checked by the bishop i meant to move it in front of the queen so i could to attack knight not that made that much of a difference) but yea thats generally how i play and considering my rating and that i lost i could use any adivice on what i should of done/what i should consider looking into, etc.

Thanks.

I don't normally like to give chess advice, because I think my chess abilities are such that I should be receiving advice rather than giving it. Still, this game looks like your opponent obtained control of the center, and you replied with somewhat solid defensive moves but without really contesting central control. For example, playing e7-e5 on any of the first three moves might have helped.

The second thing I would say is that you suddenly weakened your Kingside with your 5th and 6th moves, allowing his pieces to get at your King. You were powerless to defend against this without having developed most of your pieces, and therefore you couldn't castle away behind cover.

By this point, the game was essentially over already, because his attacking units couldn't really be chased away without further weakening moves. For example, his Knight could sit on g5 rather comfortably because your 6. ... f5 weakened the g5 square. On the other hand, his 12. c3 move weakened his own d3 square, but this doesn't matter because he gained tempo on your Knight, and once you moved it away, you could not prevent his Knight fork on your Queen and Rook.

Moral of the story: 1) stake a claim in the center, 2) avoid moving too many pawns early on, otherwise your opponent's pieces will maneuver around them... (remember, every pawn move permanently weakens some squares), 3) develop your pieces quickly and efficiently, and 4) castle early. Just some thoughts.

what quiote said, but also when his queen comes out early, start chasing it. You can usually get free development that way.

My Live Chess rating is less than yours, so please go over my thoughts with a stronger player. With that said, I may not be too far off base in that over at ICC (Internet Chess Club) my live chess rating for 15 minute games is over 1600. I got off to the wrong start on this site by playing 5 minute games and simply don't have enough stored patterns yet in my head to play that fast.

"Moral of the story: 1) stake a claim in the center, 2) avoid moving too many pawns early on, otherwise your opponent's pieces will maneuver around them... (remember, every pawn move permanently weakens some squares), 3) develop your pieces quickly and efficiently, and 4) castle early. Just some thoughts." - quixote88pianist

Sound advice. It's very important to learn the rules before you bend them. 

Strong players all the way up to super GM's don't always play by those rules. I'm currently learning an opening system for Black called the Hedgehog Defense. It's not a gimmick opening and has been used in tournament play by the best players in the world.

In the Hedgehog Defense, Black does not fight for the center in the opening phase. What is the compensation? An almost bullet proof defense. The main line has Black trading his c-pawn for White's d-pawn.

In the game below where you will see the Hedgehog Defense, I didn't push the c-pawn because White also did not make claim to the center. The classic pawn structure for the hedgehog is h2, g2, f2, e6, d6, x , b6, a6. I was able to push the e,d,b and a pawns to get that structure before pushing the c-pawn when the time was right in this odd little game.

So, Hypermodern vs. the Hedgehog!

e5 on third move = checkmate. Other than that, sounded ok.

Doh! Can't believe I missed that. I guess I just glossed over it a little too quickly. Thanks for catching my error.

1...Nc6 is a tricky defense against 1.e4, you should consider building a repertoire with one of the more common systems (French - 1...e6, Caro can - 1...c6, Sicilian - 1...c5, Pirc - 1...d6 or even 1...e5). With 1...Nc6 you could of course transpose into something more normal by playing 2...e5 or 2...d5 early on. Having said that I believe that openings per se do not matter that much, much more important is to a.) develop your pieces and b.) control the center.

I briefly checked some of your games and here are some general comments for improvement:

In the opening:

• Avoid unnecessary pawn moves
• Develop your pieces
• Avoid moving the same piece twice in the opening (unless necessary)
• Try to castle early and bring rooks into play

Middle game:

• Material rules - try to see if your opponent is leaving pieces en prise
• Always consider checks and captures
• Activity is important - if you can't seem to find a good move think about improving the mobility of your pieces (knights in the center, bishops and rooks on open files)

End game

• Games are decided before end game but you should know how to give checkmate with 2R+K vs K, Q+K vs K and R+K vs K

Further reading:

• Novice nook -columns by Dan Heisman
• Check out some online tactics training sites

Good luck!