My first attempt for positional play
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Instead of playing 9.h3, you could have played 9.e4, creating a big pawn center. The goals of d4 openings are still the same as e4 openings! Usually, black tries to keep white from playing e4, but your opponent didn't do much to stop it.
"d4... I 've heard it allows more maneuvering possibilities than standard e4."
Both d4 and e4 are standard. Yes, d4 usually leads to more maneuvering.
"here he surprised me pleasently leaving me both my bishops"
Good, so you recognized the bishop pair is an advantage. And the typical way to exploit such an advantage is to open up the position.
"perhaps too aggresive, problem is I don't know what else..."
He's the one being too aggressive. Chasing off his knight is fine. After h3 your opponent must waste a tempo retreating and the g4 square is off-limits for his pieces. You've created no holes in your position, and you have luft in an ending. The only downside is a possible sac on h3, but that's a long way from happening. e4, as GotGoose suggested, is also a great idea (and would be my follow-up move after h3).
11.c5? - "I wanted to eschew trade offs having positional advantage"
This makes no sense. You have the bishop pair, which trives in open positions, and he has the knights, which thrive in closed positions... and so you keep the position closed??
13.Ne5?! - "I want to start attacking on the kingside"
You have the bishop pair, but chose to close the position. Now you have a queenside space advantage, but choose to attack on the kingside. Your plan should flow from the position, and it shouldn't be changing every turn or two. Even if you were sound tactically you would lose against a player who follows his plans through to completion.
14.f3? - You've created a hole on g3. Now your kingside is weak. 14...Nh5!
23.Kf2 - "Perhaps not bad with better coordination"
No, it's just bad. Centralize your king in the endgame, not the middlegame! I focused only on the strategic, as you requested, and overlooked the tactical.
Thank you very much for advice. How could I forget about bishops in open, knights in closed games rule?! Now I'm going to try it again. :-)
Good game, I think you shouldn't always advance your pawns as far and as deep as possible because they become weak. King side pawns' number 1 mission is to protect your own king and only if you see clear way to attack use them to break the enemy's king's castle.
Good game though.
Jun 3, 2008
0
#6
I haven't found any problem with white's moves until the 15th move of the game. Perhaps better was 15 Qd1, that may better justify 14.f3. The problem I see with 16.e4 is that it allows Black to get out of a cramped position. You see, players who are cramped will try to trade off so that they can get some flexibility. If your opponent is cramped, don't help him get free. If you're cramped, trade off*.
*Note: IM Josh Waitzkin noted that suggestion on Chessmaster8000.
Jun 3, 2008
0
#7
I think you're right about your pawns being pushed too far. The problem is that you create weak squares in your position; weak squares are squares that cannot be defended by a pawn. So, you either have to use pieces to defend these squares or allow your opponent to plant pieces on them that attack your position and restrict your movement. At 24, look at where the black queen and knight are sitting. And at 17, Ng3 places the knight on a weak square.
The best positional approach to opening is to fight for control of central squares with pieces. Moves like e4 and d4 are good, because the open lines and promote development of the bishops.
In this game I played against Mephisto talking chess tainer (elo~850). Time setting was infinite time for me, in avearge 15 minutes for him. I tried to get a long term positional advantage, but soon started having problems. I guess my biggest blunder in the game(apart from those obvious tactical errors :-/) was to overexpand my pawns.