Please help analyze my game!

Hi guys, new here but lurking for a while. I play my friend often, and probably win 90% of the time. However, I tend to not play any specific openings and just play for position. Although I usually win, I know I have lots to learn and would like help analyzing my latest game with him. I was black. Thank you in advance

Sorry, just read that I need to add commentary for my moves.

3…g7: I was deciding to try the opening with the bishop on the diagonal, and when he moved to b2, I knew I needed to commit to it.

4….d6: defending my pawn on e5

5…be6: I was willing to exchange bishops here

7….d4: still willing to exchange bishops and gained space with this pawn move

8….bg4: pinned knight and attacking his queen

9….exf4: not sure why the chess board is saying bxf3 but I played exf4

10….bxf3: wanted to get rid of that pesky knight, and also try to mess with his pawn development on his kingside but it didn’t plan out as I hoped

11…..qd6: moved my queen to protect pawn on f4 and also attack his unprotected pawn on b4. Also, I realized at any time he could sacrifice his white bishop and go bxf7+, force me to move my king and not be able to castle.

12….nd7: this move was strictly to get my knight out and hope he didn’t play bxf7 so I could castle.

13…g5: I needed to protect my pawn from his double attack on f4 with his room and queen

15….qb6: after his move nb5, I had to move my queen. I still needed to protect my pawn on c7 as his knight would have forked my rook and king next move. Unfortunately this move made me lose protection on f4 but it was my only choice I felt. I felt like I was starting to lose after this move

16….0-0: when he moved to a4, I felt this gave me a tempo to castle, finally

17….cxd3: this move saved me the game. Putting him in a discovered check with my queen asbsolutely helped me win this game. His move to c3 I would consider a blunder because of this.

After this, it becomes pretty apparent that I was gonna win. But as you can see I made a few mistakes myself and he just didn’t capitalize. This is mainly why I win 90% of the time against him. He is a pretty decent player, I know we aren’t that good overall but we are pretty evenly matched, only difference is I am usually a little better with positions, forks, discovered checks, etc. Thank you again in advance for any help/tips!

I'll jump in here because I think the issue I'm struggling with is similar. I'm working my way through a book that has many interesting ideas. I'll set up my chess board to duplicate a diagram and follow along with the author's analysis. Then what? I believe we learn by playing. How do I play out a structure and a/or a position on chess.com, with real analysis as I go? I could play out the position against my greatest nemesis, Dr Stockfish, and then have Dr Stockfish show me a better move in isolation, but, beh. (If you need moves as part of the post,, let's try these: (1) c4 c6 (2) e4 d5 (3) exd5 Nd3... Oops - that's a one "?" error, right?? Thank you, Dr Stockfish.) If I were the poster above, I'd find the "correct move" provided by Dr Stockfish moderately interesting, but what I really want is to understand why Nf7 is a better move, how I went wrong re: adjusting my strategy based on my opponent's wild move of Na6 on the fourth move, play out some different structures, four moves down the road, etc. I don't think a lesson is the only way to do this. Plus I can't afford a session by anything other than my chihuahua. I have a daughter to put through college. Here's a potential alternative... Maybe chess.com could offer a space where players, including Dr Stockfish, play and analyze their games as they go, in a cooperative manner. This wouldn't be like a session with a "master of something" but more of a peer to peer learning tool. After all, we often learn a great deal by "teaching" and, essentially, both sides would be teaching. I read a comment made by Magnus the Great: play opponents of every level. Every opponent has something to teach you. That has been true when I work with junior software developers. We all learn from each other.