Hi guys.

I know everyone asks that but if you help a bit here, you have my words that i will give it back to someone else later on.

I discovered 2 months ago that i like chess, even when losing.

But some games are really frustrating to me, even when i win: when it was a lucky win (3/4 of my games :()

After 3/4 games (even won ones) i run computer analysis.

I do not know exactly how thoses "-" and "+" scores that are shown are computed, i do not know if i should try to be able to literally follow them and always be on a "+" as white and "-" as black.

For now, when i win a game in standard chess, it really is either because:

- I have been lucky "randomly" positioning myself well.

- I have been lucky and the opponent did a blunder (one to three moves) and i rarely miss to sanction a blunder

In blitz, i am doing blunders myself (1 move) or loose with a clear advantage (time), add "normal looses" to it and you got a terrible rating.

I have a couple of concerns regarding how better players thinks.

- Do they really compute more moves than i do ? Or do they know "general lines" that has a high chance to lead to "computable 3 moves" (or 4 or 5 but not more) piece gains ?

How can i improve ?

I have been trying chess mentor "roots of positional positioning", while sometimes "finding the right move", i cannot tell what i should have learn with it, and a lesson that you cannot summarize was probably not understood :(

What would you recommend ?

Here are a couple of games where i end up in clear terrible positionning and where the opponent wins, and i didn't saw more blunders from my side than opponent :

(computer analysis pending on the previous one)

If you didn't read the whole post, feel free to comment on anything (except the lenght of the topic )

Thanks !

Thanks for your answer.

What i thought :

- influenced by previous computer analisys in cases that i thought similars where it recommended me to support the pawn. But i notice that for this game it recommends NC6 !?

- I aslo thought exactly the opposite of what you and the comp recommands: it supports the pawn and i had the general rule of never putting the two nights front of theirs pawns. Then it looks like "never" is "never the rule" then ? could you develop a little bit on cases where both knights front of the pawn are fine ?

edit: thinking of it again, indeed this pawn blocking NC6 hasbeen annoying the whole game.

Just as a general answer I notice you have twice as many blitz games as standard and most experts recommend relative beginners stay away from blitz.  It just doesn't give you enough time to think.  Do blitz to try out new openings and get a quick feel for them (always reviewing your games afterwards of course) but otherwise play slow chess.  Might even be a good idea to try some "training wheels" chess, better known as correspondence chess ("online" in Erikspeak).  Because it's open book you can use the Explorer to stay in "book" and even guide you into the middle game.  The analysis board will keep you from blundering.  NM aww-rats attributes his OTB success to years of correspondence play where he would research every move for 2 or 3 hours.  Or if you're serious about ever doing OTB tournaments the Dan Heisman Learning Center group has regularly scheduled 60 and 90 minute tournaments.  

Your comments guys are quiet interesting and appreciated, i already learned a bit:

- So far i at least unlearned the wrong principle about the two knights front of their pawns and that pawn that i have been often placing here in most of my games in this situation.

I indeed started "correspondance Chess", and i think you are right it will help improve, i indeed used the explorer for the first moves, i do not want to use the analysis because i think that the "think ahead" training coming with every game will be "inexistent", maybe i will try a game with it just to see it reveals "memorizable" moves or "patterns" that i could not find without it.

I would love to do some OTB (if it means playing physically/ On The Table ?), when i will be back to France but right now i am traveling a bit and i do not have time during the week-end to go at the unique "chess club" around (middle of the afternoon).

About the Blitz, i saw most good players doing a lot of Bullet and Blitz and i thought my openings where terrible and that i had to think quicker. But so far i cannot and i often blunder in this version :( Maybe i will indeed play more standard chess.

Thank you guys for the time and advices.

first game, move 17 Qxd4 ?? loses the queen to Bh7+

So definetly you should study tactics! This kind of thing should become as natural to you as how the pieces move (you don't have to think about how a knight jumps either do you?))

You can play as well as you want, if you don't know your basic tactics, you'll always lose to someone who knows them.

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second game: move 5 you play exf6. You shouldn't. The pawn on f6 is on the natural square of the knight and is more an annoyance to black then anything else. Let him suffer a bit ;) Also, setups with g3 an Bg2 are slow in nature. If black plays h5 on his first move and gives you the center, I would want to play quick. So f4,Nf3,Bd3 would be my moves. Followed by a quick f5 and a Bg5 and I would probably castle long here and go for a quick win.

Move 7, Qe7+, blocks his bishop. If you play Qe2, you give him the opportunity to make his mistake right by exchanging. Don't do that, play Ne2 there, it develops a piece and black will lose time trying to get out of the mess he made.You can then play Qd3, thretening check on g6, preparing to castle long.

Move 11 hxg3, you should recapture with the h-pawn. Keep your pawns together! and capture towards the centre.

There is a lot (really) to be said about your games.. You are a the level where you give pieces away, your opponents do to. He who takes most wins. The next step is obviously not giving presents anymore (christmas was a month ago). Practice on that, don't give presents. More then anything I typed above this.

Have fun!

On the first game your biggest problem was that you neglected to develop half your pieces. That was why you were in no position to hold your own. A bit more detailed analysis: 

9. ..Bxc3 is a mistake. If you want to take the Knight do so on the first move after he plays a3. Both keeping the pin and exchanging is objectively ok but don't do it like you did and waste 2 moves first keeping the pin and then exhanging. Make up your mind when he plays a3. 

10. .. b5 is also a mistake unless you have a very concrete idea. Instead you should focus on developing your queenside. Either with .. bg4, Nbd7 or similar. I would personally play Nbd7, Re8, Ndf8 with idea of putting the Knight on either g6 or in the center. And then worry about how to either exhange off the lightsquared bishop or active it possibly with a pawn advance. There's many possiblities, but b5 doesn't seem good. 

12. Qd6 is not directly bad but an innacuracy. The queen will be subject to attack and it's not clear what its doing there. If you wanted it on b6 where it ended up you should've have waited a few moves and moved it there directly. 

However 13. Nfd7 is a terrible move. You move your only developed piece and most useful kingside defender to a worse square and at the same time you continue to neglect your queenside. At this point your position is really bad. 

Anyways, from this point of your opponent misses some ways to win more convincingly and you miss some ways to try to equalize and defend the position. I don't have time to analyze in depth, but really your key problems in this game was with development. I suggest you read the beginner articles about opening principles and development here on chess.com. A few good guidelines: Don't undevelop your developed pieces (like you did with Nfd7), don't ignore your pieces that are still on the starting squares unless you have to meet a direct threat by your opponent or you have a very concrete idea about how to get an advantage (with for instance a pawn advance, don't leave your king without defenders in an open position and don't spend too much time moving your queen unless you have to. 

Good luck improving!

Thank you both, some stuff are gold here, i didn't saw that with the computer analysis

Mrxjn

first game, move 17 Qxd4 ?? loses the queen to Bh7+
I saw that blunder indeed as soon as i did it ^^ hopefully the opponent didn"t noticed. which didn't changed the result anyway :(

Move 7, Qe7+, blocks his bishop. If you play Qe2, you give him the opportunity to make his mistake right by exchanging. Don't do that, play Ne2 there, it develops a piece and black will lose time trying to get out of the mess he made

I didn't saw it this way that's a huge advice ! Since i've done this mistake so many times (didn't saw it as a mistake before)

Move 11 hxg3, you should recapture with the h-pawn. Keep your pawns together! and capture towards the centre.

I read somewhere, "in chess, there is only good moves", well here i was tromatized in previous games being checkmated on the h-line, but there was no Queen this time !.

Kijiri

9. ..Bxc3 is a mistake. If you want to take the Knight do so on the first move after he plays a3. Both keeping the pin and exchanging is objectively ok but don't do it like you did and waste 2 moves first keeping the pin and then exhanging. Make up your mind when he plays a3.

Crazy advice too, i always do this mistake.

Either with .. bg4, Nbd7 or similar. I would personally play Nbd7, Re8, Ndf8 with idea of putting the Knight on either g6 or in the center

Looking afterwards using the previous comments, considering my c6 pawn mistake bloking the "normal path", i find quiet interesting that you would really take the time to reposition the knight, it's three moves, from my beginner perspective it really looks risky but i guess you are right :).

12. Qd6 is not directly bad but an innacuracy. The queen will be subject to attack and it's not clear what its doing there. If you wanted it on b6 where it ended up you should've have waited a few moves and moved it there directly.

I thought i could pressure checkmate with NG4. Even if it could be easily countered i thought putting pressure could confuse the opponent. And i thought that in the worst case the queen QD6 was giving me space. But indeed it looks like a waste of moves.

However 13. Nfd7 is a terrible move. You move your only developed piece and most useful kingside defender to a worse square and at the same time you continue to neglect your queenside. At this point your position is really bad.

Interesting i will keep that in mind.

Thanks a lot guys :)

I will try to keep in mind all thoses advices.

In 1st game on 26 th move was chekmate Re8 1-0

Just to follow up on the comments. The reason I would choose the Nbd7-Nf8-Ng6 plan is because well you need a good square for the Knight! and often it's not doing much on b6. Ofcourse another alternative is to develop it to c6 :)

About threathening checkmate with Qd6, let me give you another piece of general advice. Unless it is super concrete and forced (which usually is only the case when your opponent plays a super bad move, or is a beginner) an attack using only 2 pieces is just not going to work when he has several pieces to defend. You simply NEED to use your entire army! 

As a little excersise next time you play a slow game and you're not sure which move to make ask yourself the question: Are there any of my pieces that are doing absolutely nothing that I can activate? If not then continue asking yourself, which of my pieces are worse - and how can I put them on better squares or exchange them off? 

help the dude improve

&%$# it Lets go Bowling

I'm pretty bad at bowling too so i'm gonna stick to chess for now

Thanks for the tips Kijiri, got a lot to work on :)