Improvement plan game #6

This game was an unrated 15/10 game against a stronger opponent. It was a loss and I said I would analyse the next loss and post here. I was black and although I didn't make any blunders I did make some mistakes towards the end when I couldn't think of a strategy. White dictated the game from start to finish and I was probably guilty of playing too safe. Where there any missed tactics? I couldn't see any myself so this is where I need help from the experts and general comments on my play please.

Billy big bollocks Dan! A defensive Kings Indian? On this - you cannot play a game with a defensive mindset - you need to pose problems for the opponent. Indeed, against stronger players you should play with more freedom as you are expected to lose anyway. Also this was not really a Kings Indian, and the KI is in fact an aggressive try by black to get tactical chances and a potential kingside attack. Anyway, you know you missed some things here, perhaps most pertinently you made some one move threats with your knight and it would have been better to develop your bishop, centralise the rooks, push some pawns for space. I also suggest that almost always if you play g6 your next move should be Bg7. No harm done here but you are obviously going to do it so dont delay and leave the rook open to awkward stuff like Qd4 in some positions. You did not need to prevent Nd5 with e6 because if Nd5 then you can go e6 forcing a retreat and white has wasted time. e6 made it awkward to get the Bc8 to play any part for you.

And now I see the full game 29.Rb8 was necessary and looks pretty equal. And Bh3 losing the rook was somewhat mystifying.

The Fundamental Chess Openings Handbook suggests players  to first learn to play classical chess rather than more modern openings like the Indian Defenses.  You have to learn have to learn how to crawl before you can fly.  I saw a post once where a guy played only one opening as black and one opening as white.  I think it was KIA as white, and KID as black.  This is a terrible idea, especially for a beginner.  

The difference between me and a 1800-2000 player, mostly, is that they see more things.  They notice things that I don't, because they know more.  They see me make a move, and say, Oh, they made a mistake, I can take advantage by doing yada yada yada.  

I'm only a couple hundred points higher than you, but don't let that fool you, I am a stronger player otb, and would be a lot stronger if I just play more often.  I see your games, and I notice things you don't...  Modern openings like the KID are very theoretical based and much of what is done to prepare for this is to just memorize lines, however, at the beginner level, 9 times out of 10, the players will leave your book moves by move 3, and then what do you got?  Nothing, but a bunch of meaningless pawn moves.  

In this game I didn't see something that hallmarked bad play by you, however, as your opponent suggested, a common thing to know is to not weaken your dark squares like you did playing e6 after you already committed to g6.  Normally a bad idea, though, there are exceptions.  The only way to know those exceptions is to hire someone to tell you them.  You will not figure them out yourself.  That is why, I say don't even play this opening.  Up to you though.  

The only thing I got to say about the game is you lost to a blunder, and you said you didn't make any blunders.  Which brings me to my next point.  Don't rely on chess.com's computer analysis because it is crap.

Sure you made a lot of one move threats that didn't amount to anything but I don't think that is a bad thing.  Sure you could have spent your time mobilizing your rooks instead but I don't think that would have made a difference in this game unless you could manage to control one of the open files completely, which usually in most games even if you do mobilize your rooks that doesn't happen unless your opponent blunders.  that is just my opinion.  I could be wrong, and I didn't analyze your game fully, I can't find my Fritz cd so I am without a nonchess.com engine right now.

It's up to you what route you want to take, however, I have played a lot of correspondence games, and even with the extra time for them to think, while I am just making less than one minute moves, I can beat most people who play the KID at my level, in correspondence.  I don't run into too many people that play it in live.  I used to play the austrian attack when playing against the KID, however, I've been told not to play 4 pawns and instead just play 3 by my chess coach, so I stopped doing it.  So far it worked well with the change.

In the end we all gotta do what we gotta do.  Just giving my two cents.

I wouldn't be able to help you with an opening repertoire however.  That you are on your own with.  Hope to see more games posted by you.  You should have posted that other game you lost recently.  You blundered your advantage away in that game in a thirty minute game when you had over 25 minutes on your clock and you made the move in 10 seconds.  I have the same problem.  I am guessing you are a good blitz player.  It helps out in rapid to be a good blitz player but at the same time you have to take into consideration that a 30 minute game is no 3 minute blitz death match.

Hi Daybreak and thanks for your input. It is appreciated. 

Regarding this game, it was an unrated game against a chess.com friend hence the reason I tried something different in the opening. I agree that as a beginner (have been playing about 3 1/2 years now) I should stick to one or two openings but occasionally I do like to experiment and try something new, especially in a game of this nature, where I may learn something. You will never see me play this opening in a rated game as I don't know the ins and outs of it.

Fair point about the blunder, I suppose just because the computer didn't mark it up as one, from my own analysis it was fairly obvious. In fact I reckon I made 3 towards the end when energy was low and ideas where non-existent. I was more interested to know about the moves leading up to this poor move, did I miss anything, what should my strategy have been, where there any weaknesses to exploit or was I too negative in my approach etc?

The whole purpose of posting these games up is to try and get better at analysing them myself and trying to find where I went wrong without the use of computer aid. My analysis isn't very good, I miss a lot of basic tactics not only in the game but when reviewing. This is why I like it when stronger players point out ideas to me that I missed.

The reason I didn't post up the game you refer to is that a) it is shameful as I rushed the moves and b) I know exactly where I went wrong and don't need the help of experts to tell me I played an awful move that cost me the game. 

For the record I am no good at at blitz and only play unrated blitz games for fun against friends now.

Already got a lot of advice, but FWIW

Lots of strategic themes through the game, so maybe a lot of my notes may seem arbitrary or just generally unhelpful. The biggest thing I'd say (other than tactical / calculation oversights) was your obsession with his g2 bishop. Yes it's often good to trade off this piece (even when you can't attack the king) but sometimes it's just not in the cards (or I guess I should say pieces heh).

Typically players focus their play in the area of the board where they have more space, more pieces, or both. Open files are also a big clue (in this game white's c file and black's d file) because open lines help make your pieces active. After 12.Bd2 all your assets (so to speak) exist on the queenside / center. The g7 bishop hits these areas, your open d file is in the center, and most your pieces are on the queenside.

How to attack from there? Very strategic position. White has no weaknesses, so really nothing I say can make it easy, but for example infiltrating on squares like d4, c2, b3, or others let you attack the surrounding pawns. Win some pawns, and you'll probably win the endgame. That's the basic idea (not that it's easy )

Thanks so much PN - yet again lots of good stuff for me to go over here. Your posts always leave me feeling positive.

1. I won't be playing the KID again until I've studied it - which may be years away. (I don't even know about the sicilian let alone the reverse sicilian!!)

2. Move 9 allowing the c pawn to get forwards by playing Ncb4 didn't achieve much because playing a5 and not c5 meant when the knight was forced back I still had the same issue. If I have a choice of moving 2 or more pawns than I need to consider each move and not the first one that feels right.

3. Instead of trying to target a fiancettoed bishop look for open files

4. When playing a move like 12...Ne5 onto a square that is attacked make sure I won't lose material before playing it and make sure that white doesn't gain an advantage from it (clearing the path for bishop)

5. When struggling for a plan look for potential targets

6. Protect the base of pawn chains at all costs

Looking again there were some really suspect moves at the end of this game Bh3 being one of them, it was actually doing a good job of closing off the e file, your variation is much better. Thank you for your time and help.