A pretty nice win, although each side missed some chances.
Your plans are good ones, but you seem to switch between different plans too quickly. Bg5 and Bxf6 fights for control of d5, but it's not necessary to grab this square before going after the target on d6: the immediate 12.f4 Nd7 13.Nf5 is more effective, as you still have your dark square bishop for defense and Black is cramped with less counterplay than in the game.
Switching plans is OK and sometimes necessary, but it is usually better to follow a medicore plan to completion than switch back and forth between good plans.
I am working my way through Jeremy Silman's book HOW TO REASSESS YOUR CHESS. Those of you familiar with it know that it is all about how to form a plan in chess. But I fear I am still not very good at that.
What do you all think about this game?
White: Kovacs (chess.com rating 1598 after six games)
Black: Chess.com player rated 1556
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Nxd7 5.O-O Ngf6 6.Re1 e5 7.c3 Be7 8.d4 cxd4 9.cxd4 exd4 10.Nxd4 Ne5
So, at this point I decided to start thinking in terms of Silmanian imbalances and startegic planning. Material is even. I like my bishop better than black's. What I ultimately decide is that I really like the stress I am putting on the center. Given how many of my Queenside pieces are undeveloped, I decided to get them all involved in controlling and occupying squares D5, F4, F5.
How is that for a plan? How do strong strategic thinkers think about a position like this?
The game continued: 11.Nc3 O-O 12.Bg5
(my idea being to remove black's only influence on d5)
12.... h6. 13.Bxf6 Bxf6 14.f4 Nd7
I see now I should have been preparing for black to respond 14.... Nc4. At the time I was thinking about how to reply to 14... Nc6.
15.Nf5 Qb6+ 16.Kf1 Nc5
I think black must also be new to the game (I am new, so to speak, after a 15 year hiatus), because he could have caused me real trouble by capturing on b2, a move she never seemed to see.
17.Qg4 Nd3 18.Re2
Seeing how annoying life would be if the black queen landed on f2 right now.
18....Qa6 19.Nxh6+ Kh7 20.Nf5 Nxb2??
Mate is now inevitable.
21.Nd5 Nd3 22.Nxf6+ gxf6 23.Qg7# 1-0
So, I am aware that chess.com frowns on posting games that you win. But I don't have a lot of non-blitz games yet and what I am really trying to do understand is how to form a plan/strategy.
That said, please comment on this game, but I am most especially interested in what people think I should have been thinking about when I made my eleventh move (as seen in the diagram above).
Thanks in advance for your help!