The first game I'm putting up for analysis - views really welcome!

Hi, this is my first posting on chess.com after I've recently become much more interested in the game again as an adult. I'm still something of a beginner, but have been playing quite a bit recently and am now starting to think about analysis a bit more in order to improve.

I play a lot of 3 minute games but I thought this one went particularly well while I was playing with the black pieces. I was just wondering if any stronger players have any thoughts on it. White ran out of time in the current position.

My thoughts are: I know white blundered a knight early on (move 12), but anyway I think I used my knights well both defensively (on e4 and g2) and attacking (to create a path for my pawn and to capture the rook). Pretty confident that the position when time ran out for white was strong for me, because white has isolated pawns and my passed pawn is a real headache for white, especially given my final move Rc2.

I'd be particularly interested to hear from anyone about whether that assessment makes any sense, and what they might do if they were playing white and found themselves in this position with a little more time to spare.

This is the game:

http://www.chess.com/livechess/game?id=699318247

Thanks anyone who spends time answering!

John

Try to annotate the game your own way first that way we can have your thoughts and we don't have to link chase. I myself can't post the diagram things right now for a few reasons, but would be glad to help

Hi John--that final position should be a winner for you because of the material advantage.  Allowing e1=Q with discovered check is definitely not on white's agenda, so Re1 is the natural move to round up your e-pawn.  You can simply play Bxd4 though, swap major pieces when white takes on e2, and leave yourself up a clear exchange.  White's "extra" piece here is his knight on g3, but it's neatly corralled by your g6 pawn and all it can do is support a pawn shove to f5.  Once you trade rooks/queens, you take the wind out of white's attack sails and with the exposure to his own king that move does more harm than good.  Some technique is needed for the final steps--rounding up white's a-pawn and converting your kingside majority into a passer--but by then there's little to fear in terms of counterplay.  You definitely had this one.

OK I will do - I'll take a stab. Probably wait til I'm not at work anymore though haha.....

Thanks pentiumjs, very helpful, appreciate it

Yeah I am just in between university classes right now

It was a 3 minute blitz game that opened with 1. h3.

The pawn is hanging on move ten.

19...Nc4 looks stronger. 20. Qa3 (only place the queen can retreat to) 20...Nxb2 comes with the threat of Nd3+ and Nxc5 winning the exchange.

20. Nc4 Qa4 21. Nc3+ picks up the queen.

You needlessly complicated the winning process with 27...e3+ 27...Nxf4 keeps the entire extra rook and starts picking up pawns.

In the final position white can play Re1 and liquidate the past pawn. If there was a way to deflect the rook on c2 Qa8+ would win, but I don't see one.

Nobody plays 3 minute games well. They also do not improve much from doing so.

Points taken. I recently started playing more 10 minute games, and I also play offline with a friend using a physical chess set where we sit properly for an hour or two. I also know this quote: "He who analyses blitz is stupid".... but I don't have any good longer games to analyse at the moment

My advice would be that if you, since you're the black pieces, you should play Qc4, followed by Rxb4 and Qxb4 (if white plays Rxb4 as well). This will win you some material and will allow you to do e1=Q or whatever you wish.

Hope this helps!

Here I put what I said into a game, I should not have expected you to blindfold what I said.

I saw a ghost, 21... Nc3 is not check, but 21... b6 does trap the bishop. 21...Ncxe3 22. Kf2 b6 is a better move order.

10...Qc7?? is a blunder.  It's already been mentioned that 10...Nxc4 leads to advantage.  What has not been mentioned is that 11.c4-c5 would have won a piece.  The Nb6 is attacked, your Qc7 is unprotected and the N can't retreat while guarding that square.  So you would have lost a piece.

I'm not sure what the possible rationale behind ...Qc7 could have been (it does not attack or defend, and puts the Q on a file only White can open), so maybe you should start there if you are looking for areas to improve.

Your opening was generally fine, you displayed healthy aggression to take advantage of your opponent's lame reverse French setup.  4...Nbd7 was an unnecessary finesse since you don't have to worry about a pin.  I think I would have played 4...Nc6, although you could also make a case for 4...exd4 w/ a quick ...Bb4+ and ...O-O

Thanks for all the constructive comments. I know it's only a three minute game, but lots of stuff I need to work on in my game clearly, and some of the things pointed out give me things to work on. Thanks all!