I really need help on this one.

I'm a beginner playing correspondence chess with a much stronger player.  I've never had a game analyzed before, but I thought it was about time I got some constructive criticism.  Can someone tell me where I went wrong here?

Lots of good moves played ... very nice for a beginner....but you wanted a critique so here are a few comments:

#1:

5...Bg6 was better. Why block your e-pawn and limit your other bishop's movement?  If you were worried about Nxg6, consider that your opponent has made 3 knight moves only to trade it with your bishop and after hxg6, he's opened up your h-file for the rook.  One thing you must ALWAYS remember is ... when you make a move, you usually either make things better for you or for your opponent. So get used to asking that question  before you hesitate to get into a trade. It can be bad at times, but in this instance, a trade actually benefits you.

#2:

14...Na4 was unforgivable.

There's one "not so secret"  behavior  weaker players  will rarely exhibit and stronger ones either do instinctively or through a well-trained process  ... in fact, I'm pretty sure strong players always follow some variation of this thought process:

• 1. Okay, I'm about to play move X.
• 2. But wait, I'm not going to play it yet ... we need to make sure it's safe. 
• 3. First I want to know what are all the forcing moves (checks, captures, threats) he can play after I play X.
• 4. Oh, I see he's got a nasty check plus he wins a pawn. (in your example)
• 5. Can I still play X and get away with it or is his response going to hurt me?
• 6. I guess it will hurt ....well, I will REJECT X and think of another move.
• 7. Heyy..how about g6 or f5? let's spend some time looking at those now.

When you sign up to drive a car, you agree to follow the rules of the road and obey all traffic laws.   Likewise, if you are signing up to play serious chess, you need to suck it up, take your A.D.D medication and adopt a thought process such as the one above.  There is no opening book study or tactics drill practice that will substitute for this mental process.  Players who try to side-step this way of thinking are deluding themselves.

#3: 18...Qe7

Once again, as in #2, if you followed a "is it safe" thought process, you would have seen the Queen check BEFORE you played the move. 

This is not rocket science ... but this game is cruel and you'll face tons of opponents who know more than you and can see things you can't (isn't that true about life in general! :) )   but the worst thing you can do is defeat yourself by not following a clean + logical way of thinking. 

Hope this helps!

Thanks Shivsky!  Once again you've helped me out, and I really appreciate your thoroughness and patience in working through my game.   All your points are well taken, and I only wish I could have seen them when I was playing.  Your checklist of the strong player's thought process will be very useful, and I intend to print it out and keep it handy while I'm playing.

On 14, I thought my king could take the queen if she captured the pawn, because I had failed to see the bishop on g8.  This was the mistake that prompted me to post my previous thread about having tunnel vision.  You can see what I meant, and I'm going to do board vision exercises till I overcome it.

Thank you so much for all your help.

5... Be6!? 6. Bd3? f6! 7. Bf4 g5! looks just winning for black (eg. 8. Bxg5 fxg5 9. Qh5+ Bf7 10. Qxg5 e5!). Instead white should play something like 6. Nf3 but after natural continuation like 6... g6 7. Bd3 Bg7 black's position looks fine. Also, black might even be able to play f6+Bf7 followed by eventual e5.

So altough blocking the e-pawn with a move like Be6 is in general unadvisable I'm not convinced it's objectively any weaker than Bg6 in this particular position.

If we look at the whole game, I think your position was fine before 14... Na4?? - you just need to play 14... g6.

Good catch! Apologies to the OP ... Shakaali makes a valid point ... it's always worth looking into stuff (analysis for the actual position at hand) before applying generalizations as quick as I did.

Many thanks to both of you.  It just shows what a complex game chess is, that there are so many ways to go.  I can clearly see all my mistakes now, and also some of the missed opportunities.  I really do appreciate the help.