Hello,
I think there are a couple principles you should be aware of in your game.
The first is to not move pieces multiple times in the opening. This happened with 9. Be5. Better was to simply castle kingside with 9.0-0. 9.0-0 would follow a second principle, which would be to get your king to safety as soon as possible.
Your second error could have been 10.Qd2, as that allowed 12...Ne4 to happen with impact. I would prefer 10.0-0, or 10. Bxf6. You generally want to avoid giving your opponent tactics or "power squares", where pieces can hop into important squares with tempo.
11.h3, could prove useful in the future, but I don't think it has a great purpose in the position. Every move should have purpose. I would have given 11.0-0-0 a try. If you wanted to delay castling even more, 11. Ne2 could have been tried, as the knight is not as active on c3. Unfortunately, this would have the great downside of giving up e4, so I would not play it without preparation.
Same comments with 12.a3
Instead of 13.Nxe4, which would ultimately lead your knight on f3 to be kicked away, I would have considered 13. Qe2. If black decides to capture with 13...Nxc3, the plan would be to recapture, castle kingside, and use the a3 and c3 pawns as battering rams towards black's kingside and center with potential rooks playing on a1 and b1. Remember on each move you have options. Sometimes it is ok to accept doubled pawns, if that leads to compensation like : greater piece activity, files for rooks, diagonals for bishops, greater control of the center, etc. Doubled pawns most often show up in weaknesses in the endgame, as they are troublesome to defend, and can use up tempi. In the midgame and opening, it could be a different story if you decide to prove it as such.
Instead of 16. Qxd4+, I would considered 16.0-0-0 to get my remaining pieces into the game.
After 20...Rac8, you enter a rook endgame where you are worse because :
your rooks are not connected or active yet
You have a weakness on b3
You have a weakness on e4. The pawn cannot be defended in this situation as it is isolated, and it will soon drop.
This happened because:
You traded off pieces and liquefied the center with no purpose or other intention.
Giving your opponent targets is something you generally want to avoid. More targets for you will increase the chances you will get on the defensive.
If not for 29. Rd2, I am optimistic you could have held on to draw. You will be on the defensive as black has a greater central and kingside majority, while your pieces are practically paralyzed.
Try to avoid positions where you get paralyzed. The last lesson is that rooks on the 2nd and 7th ranks can be fatal.
As for the rant, I would say you have multiple options.
The best way to improve is to study master games. Find a game collection book with a bunch of annotations like "Power Chess" by Paul Keres and read away.
Watch Youtube videos with game analysis. For beginners, I recommend MatoJelic. His videos are usually 5-10 minutes long, and highlight some key tactics and points in the game.
Try to find other adults in your area that are interested in learning about chess and write to whoever is in charge of chess lessons. The key is to show enough interest for everybody.
Online chess is one of the best things to happen to improvement. You could always go to forums like this, or play slow online games like 3-day chess to improve.
Self-analysis is another great away to improve.
Hope this helps.
Hi,
I just finished playing my second league game :-) .
Lost to a 1700 ELO player (obviously, [no fide rating until 5 games, but I'm 1400 here] )
I would like to analyse my game.
I see and understand the tactic the engine said that I missed on move 29. But I can honestly say that that is beyond my abilities in a league game. (I thought I had already lost the center by then). As far as I am concerned the game was already lost by then.
My question: Is there any strategy (not tactics) that I missed beforehand? I am looking for general pointers to improve my rather low rating. ( 2nd worst player at my club ).
Rant: I am rather bummed out by the fact that I can't get good analysis sessions with my club players. I am too old (in my 30s) to go to the courses offered to kids. But since my games are weak the club regulars, are not very enthusiastic about sitting down and analysing them with me. So it's hard for me to find analysis partners. All that the local guys seem to be interested in between league play is: playing blitz, which is is not helping me develop. I read somewhere that for a beginner player such as myself, playing blitz might actually be bad.