Looking for insight

Hey guys, just played my very first game (unrated) on here. I won, but was down a point in material. Not fishing for compliments, it was against a 1200 rated opponent, and that's probably somewhere around where I'm rated also to be honest. Just looking for some insight on any weak moves I made, and what I could have done better.

http://www.chess.com/livechess/game.html?id=148242637

I feel like he may have wasted a few moves toward the end with fruitless pawn attacks instead of activating his rooks. Although when he left (he didn't resign, he just abandoned the game, though I'm confident I had it won), there was still plenty of chess to be played. After 22. Qxh6 I assumed he would play 22... f5 blocking my bishop with support from his e-pawn (since if he doesn't, I've got mate at Qh7). I was anticipating playing 23. Rd3 in response, planning to bring my rook to g3. I assume he would have moved his rook on F8 to make an escape route for his King and from there I should have been able to gobble up some material and close it out. I was only down a bit in material, but I felt really good about my position. I'm just looking for tips or any weak moves I made, and better alternatives.

I will say that a definite weakness of mine is bishop positioning in the openings. I never really understand why, for example, a white player might place his f1 bishop on b5 (pinning the knight) vs c4 (putting pressure on the f7 pawn) vs just placing it on e2 (just getting it out of the way to castle kingside) vs fianchettoing it on g2. I don't see why one is stronger than the other. I know that it's entirely circumstantial, but I am never able to see why one bishop move is stronger than another. So because of that, I do have trouble understanding where to position my bishop for maximum effectiveness. I just try to make good moves!

Anyway, I'd appreciate any help or insight from you guys. Thanks!

If you could post it in one of the interactive diagrams, it would make this a lot easier to analyze, click on the little chess diagram, then it pretty much walks you through how to do it. 

That being said, I think that moves 11 and 17 seemed a little off to me. Not poor moves, but moves that could be better, ya know? On 11 it just seemed you got a little overzealous with your bishop, I couldn't find a great alternate move though, and on paper it isn't a major blunder or anything, but it just feels off. I think it's worth a look, maybe you can find something.

On 17, I apologize for not having any better alternatives, but I think you could've found a more perfect move, ya know? Hmmm, not really sure what else to say, not a bad move, but really think outside the box, maybe you can see something?

These are just my feelings, I tend to play with my senses, feeling around the board for the weaknesses rather than analyzing, so perhaps those moves were fine, but they feel a tad weaker compared to your other moves in this game.

And I'm not sure why he left, he could've escaped, and he wasn't THAT far behind, you had him backtracking but if he was levelheaded he could've put up a fight that's for sure. But a good blunder free game nonetheless   :D

Yeah, he definitely shouldn't have left. He could have escaped and it was far from over. But yeah, on move 11, I really didn't see any other moves I liked, and I knew my knight was a goner, so I just figured I'd trade down and simplify things and get into an endgame quickly because I tend to lose long, drawn-out, positional games. Just wanted to set up a big exchange where I felt like I would come out fine positionally. And it connected my rooks, so I felt alright about it, but like I said, I just didn't see anything else, and all I was seeing from him were the attacks on my knight, so I went for a trade. I personally don't see any better move there, but I'm around a 1200 player, so I guess that's to be expected. That's why I'm here asking better players what I could have done differently.  :D

17.c3 did two things for me: First, it defended my d4 pawn, so I could mobilize my queen, and second, it opened up the c2 square for my bishop to attack the h7 pawn and seize that diagonal, link up with my queen get it into the kingside attack in general.

Thanks for the feedback!

There's a few things of note I want to touch on...

You dropped an exchange early in the game with 10. Re1 (and left it hanging with 11. Bg5), meaning he won a rook for a bishop in that exchange on e4. Keep in mind not only how many pieces you have defending one of your pieces (in this case your e4 knight), but what pieces they are. In this case your knight had two defenders (the queen and rook) but was being attacked by two minor pieces. This means he can trade those to minor pieces for your knight, and whichever piece you recapture with--presumably the rook. Rooks are more valuable than bishops or knights, so he came out ahead in that exchange. I will commend you for 13. Bxe7, keeping in mind what pieces are unprotected so you don't lose a piece, and if you calculated this knowing that Bxe7 attacks his queen, good job for that as well.

You said you didn't really see anything else on move 11. I'd suggest either 11. Nxf6+ Nxf6 12. Ne5, or 11. Neg5 with the idea of 12. Nxf7 Rxf7 13. Bxe6, making your bishop a strong piece because that diagonal is weakened significantly. Either is preferable to losing an exchange, largely because they both give you active play. 

After winning an exchange (rook for minor piece), black needs to realize that his advantage, his winning chances, lie in the endgame. He needs to open files for his rooks; staying in the middle game with lots of pieces won't help him because his rooks won't have the mobility your bishop and knight will. If he doesn't try to trade pieces to get closer to an endgame, he at least needs to be aware of open files and try to make some, but he really didn't. As you saw, his rooks remained on the back rank, useless.

He did waste quite a bit of time with queenside pawn moves, letting you position your knight and bishop for the mating attack. 17. c2 was a great move for you, giving your bishop hope for the future and solidifying your center. 

On 22...f5, your idea of 23. Rd3 is good, but he's not making an escape square for his king by moving the f8 rook; your queen still guards that square. His king won't run away--you have forced mate. You can also play (this is the first thing I saw) 23. Bxf5 since the e6 pawn is pinned to the undefended queen. He has the choice to allow mate next move on h7 as you said, or give you his queen for your bishop with 23...exf5 24. Qxd6 (or 23...Qxh2+ 24. Qxh2 exf5, his choice). This isn't actually a forced mate immediately, but a win's a win; unlike a tactics problem, there can be more than one right answer

Overall you played pretty well. Be proud of your win =)