It is not legal to seek advice for games that are on-going.
But assuming you know that and that this game is now finished, I would say that O-O woiuld be a good move for black. I cannot think of a better one. There is nothing to worry about - the position is ok for black.
This game is finished, it is not ongoing.
Thanks, I guess I just felt a bit cramped with White pieces so close to mine.
How long do you ignore them for before trying to push them back?
White's knight does not belong on d5 so early. There is a general rule for the opening not to move the same piece twice prior to developing all (most) of your pieces. While I do not see a concrete way to exploit this immediately, it, at the very least, limits whites flexibility. If white were to play bxn, which white sometimes does in these sorts of positions, the knight would have to move again demonstrating that it was a wasted move in the first place.
Castling looks good.
White played poorly. As ArtNJ said, Nd5 was not a good move by white. It moves the same piece twice. I notice that in the actual game, white played Nc3 on move 8 - moving the piece three times!! - and you took advantage by trapping his queen and winning the game in nine moves. Well played.
When the opponent has a knight in your half you do need to be careful of attacks on c7 and f7 (if you are black) in particular. But in this case there was no threat.
I note that in the actual game you played d6 instead of O-O in the main poistion. This was a perfectly reasonable alternative and worked well for you.
I would not have played Nxe4 (after white's Nd5) by the way. I think I would have played d6 or possibly developed the f8 bishop.
Thanks for the comments and advice. Regarding the knight, that was my main thought process. A lot of times I just focus on developing my pieces and then I get caught out by a Knight, forking my Queen and Rook for example. I'm probably just overly weary about Knights being too close to my back line.
Can you elaborate on your two move choices for me? I assume d6 is to protect pawn and also to free our light squared bishop? Where do you think is a good place to develop our f8 Bishop to?
4. nxe4 might have been good, I'd need to think on it more. Its important to realize that the pawn isnt free though - white can play qe2 and the knight is going to be moving (if f5, then d3), then white can take your pawn. When white has already castled, its particularly important to realize that the pawn isnt free, as moving the rook to the efile is more natural then the queen (which blocks the bishop). An alternative is bc5, a natural development certainly, but do be aware of a common tactic in this position - nxp, nxn and d4 gets the piece back with possible improvement in white's position - so you have to evaluate that. Although d6 blocks in your dark square bishop, it makes the threat to win the pawn real - if white moves the knight backwards to c3, then the position is symeterical, except its your move, and you got d6 in for free. If white plays d3, then his bishop is blocked too - nxn, pxn, ne7 should be good for black.
Hi!
So this is my first game on this site, I'm only a beginner chess player but I'm enjoying playing. I'm playing against a friend of mine and I was really unsure on my next on the following board;
Any advice appreciated.