Not sure what you mean...
... You seem to claim plenty of space - rather than being cramped.
Was my opening correct?
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I prefer 7. Bd3 provoking the weakness ... g6.
11. b3 looks unnecesary, I would want to go 0-0 as get my rook on the f-file.
Another win at move 14 is 14. Bh4+ Kd8 15. Nf7+
At move 20, 20. Qg6+ Ke7 21. Bg5+ hxg5 22. Qxg5+ Ke8 23. Nd6#
21. Qxg7 threatening the discovered check looks better.
24. Nf7+ Kd7 25. Nxh6+ Kd6 26. Nf5+ exf5 27. Rf6#
You just played it not perfect but very well. Your opponent made many mistakes, and you took advantage of it.
Although ; in addition to what has been said before, I prefer 4.Nf3 (!) to counter a too early try to free by 3...f6 ? in French opening (but 4.f4 is good too). The knight on e5 is better than a pawn as long as you can support it.
k thanks guys! good advice :)
and by cramped i just meant all my power pieces were grouped together in the back of the board. i wasnt sure if it was bad that i wasnt more aggressive right off the start.
I think the opening play is quite good actually. For the seventh first move I have nothing to say, as I would have played the same way. I don't know about 4.Nf3. I'm not a specialist in the french so I generally prefer to keep a good center with pawns, so I would have gone for 4.f4 as well. But it is possible that 4.Nf3 is stronger.
8.Be3
I don't really like that move. Not that it is bad, actually I think that it is the best square for that bishop if you have to play it now. The problem is that you spend a tempo to put a piece on a square where it is not more active than before. It will only get an active role if your opponent plays for c5 (which he should do in most cases). But he he plays for another plan, then your bishop will have to be played again. The advantage of that move is that you can pile-up on the diagonal to play Ng5 without having to exchange queens. (as 8.Ng5 Bxg5 9.Qh5+ g6 10.Qxg5 and black can 10...Qxg5). I would have developped the light-squared bishop here, waiting for black to commit himself with his development before comitting myself with my darksquared bishop's position. Either Bd3 or Be2 might be good. I would go for 8.Bd3 so that after my f3 knight will have moved it will be faster for my queen to join in the kingside action. You would as well have more room in your camp to move your pieces with Bd3 than Be2. However I think Be2 has some good points as well.
9. Nbd2
I don't like this move as well, because d2 is not free anymore for your queen to help your bishop controling the kingside, and that knight has for the moment no prospects to go to an active square. Here too I would go for Bd3 or Be2 to wait for black to show me where my pieces will be strong before moving them. However, your knight can still join the kingside after Bd3 or Be2 with the manoeuvre Nd2-f1-g3 (or e3 if it is free at that time).
11.b3?!
This move is interesting. It both removes c4 as an active square for his knight and prepares a c4 pawn break. However I don't like it. Your opponent's development is clearly aiming at 0-0-0, which means that he will need ton move his queen, and to do so his bishop once more, to the c6 square (since on b5 you can move your a-pawn with tempo to prepare a pawn-roll onto his freshly castled position). From the c6 square, if you go c4 then he will be able to get rid of his central pawns and maybe gain some activity (in the center) with his so far inactive queenside pieces. As well, 11...Nc4? is not to be feared now. First, it would give you a pawn, and second you would exchange your inactive d2 knight. This is not a problem. Which means that to me this move is not accurate, since both his goals are not useful in that kind of position. I would have 0-0 with the aim of playing as dynamically as possible just after that. Because as your opponent will have to play a few moves to remove his king from the center, then you should have the time to rule the kingside and activate your pieces.
13...h6?? This is of course very bad. Bxg5 had to be played in my opinion.
I like the way you ended the game. Maybe a computer analysis could show a best way to win, but this seems nice to me. I tried to calculate thoroughly through the possible continuations, and your moves seemed to me at least equal to the best other moves.
I think that Nf7 is best than Nxe6. As you win more material with Nf7, you have more pieces in the fire, and most importantly your opponent will have less room for his defensive manoeuvres. 14.Nxe6!? Qxe6 15.Bg4 Qf7 16.Rxf7 Kxf7 and you have less pressure on the black king, as well as less extra material. But this is just an opinion. To me it looks like Nxe6 wins the game as well. It might simply take more time.
Although I won the game, I felt like my opening was really cramped. What do you guys think?