A Tough Opponent

This guy certainly knew his opening tricks and positional accuracy. Then again the killer is rated 741, so what did I expect. Right?

White is extremely tactical, so predicting his attacks is crucial.

Here you must sense instinctively that your Queen is in danger. Calculating the opponent's tactics, and preemptively diminish the damage.

I think that opponent in reality is an intermediate player. He doesn't do the typical mistakes we beginners do. He covers all tactics excellently, and he blocks positionally with skill.

I appreciate all tips I can get to beat this guy in the future. What can Black do better?

I don't think he's a typical 700 either. Just learn from his attacks, and be prepared the next time.

This game is a typical insanity game by lower rated players. This is why I sometimes play unrated games against sub 1 200 players.

White is a slightly better player. Though one would have to look more than just one game, I am saying this only based on a single game which is a bit unfair.

Both of you made mistakes, and both of you missed opportunities.

For instance, you played 7. ...Nh5 and already that is a non standard move, it moves the knight from a perfectly good square to the rim. Allows a few things. One is a tactical shot Nxe5 and then Qxh5 that white missed and played an inferior move. Along with that tactical shot (which wins a pawn but is not without downsides) there are 2 other logical moves. One is a simple developing move Bg5 that develops with a tempo. The best move is probably to move the knight back to f6.

The second interesting move is to play Nd5, though that is weaker and less intuitive. Bg5 or that tactical shot are probably a bit more logical. In any case, intermediate player would probably find one of those 2 moves. Instead he goes for d4 that loses a pawn with the attack on his minor piece but his position is still ok because he still can play Bg5 that he should have played on a previous move.

And again, you should have just play Nf6 back, as that knight is worse on the rim. Queen shouldn't be on e8 here as there is an immediate problem after Nd5 as c7 will be attacked and a fork will be threatened.

And that move wouldn't be a problem if your knight was on f6, you could simply exchange.
So your troubles start with that 7. ...Nh5. Let's go further.

His Ne7 move is illogical, why allow knight exchange when that knight was great. Because the game is chaotic, I admit, it is not easy to see that 12. Bb5 instead wins a piece ( as far as I can see) as it threatens to take the knight on c6 and then play Ne7 with a fork to the king and queen. He didn't notice it and that would be too much to see for sure on this rating level.

In any case, after the exchange of knights white is better but only if he doesn't move the rook and threatens mate with Nf4. Anyway, all this is too much. Black has a problem with weak back rank and white didn't exploit it as it was a bit complicated.

In any case, 14. Ng5 is a crude obvious attack by white, he had many better moves. But yeah 14. Nf4 ignores the threat and loses material.

15. ...Kh8 is even worse, you had to sacrifice the queen for 2 pieces, and the game is over afterwards, though of course the position was losing even without Kh8.

To sum it up. You both played a few normal opening moves, then you played bad Nh5 move, the opponent answered badly, but then he found a good move afterwards, and had an initiative for the pawn, he played some less than optimal moves, but you were under pressure because you didn't finish developing and you lost. Don't beat yourself too much, this chaotic position would be difficult for anyone.

The thing you should take from this game is that principles are there for a reason. You paid the price of not developing as fast as you could, not connecting rooks as well. Sure, there are some cases where principles are not the greatest moves in the position, but more often than not, novice players will lose because they do things like Nh5 and not developing as they should.

Sorry for the long post, hopefully you will use some of it to your advantage, though when I see how long it turned out to be, I would understand if you don't have the energy to read it all.

I know that this player looks like he is Kasparov today, but you are closer to him than you think. he got the better of you today, but tomorrow is a new day.

I just remembered what I wanted to say. When you wish to play a move like Nh5, before you finished development, always ask yourself why are you doing this (because in itself this knight become less effective on the new square). If you wish to spend a whole move to make your piece less active, you have to have some concrete reason for it, especiallty this early in the game.

Usually, that kind of move is only good if there is something concrete like winning material, or at least going for the bishop pair (even then it can be less than optimal). Plus as you can see from my previous post, sometimes it fails tactically and loses material because that knight is an undefended piece.

Basically, if not for that move, the whole game would be different, as this move dictated many things that followed.

I read and learn as well. I think that game would be instructive for any non-professional chess player.

The thing with these games of sub 1 200 rated people, and I've seen many (I've played some several years ago as well), things get complicated because of some non standard moves.

Because of that knight move, black was late with connecting the rooks, so some tactics were in the air. For instance at a certain point even the black queen could've been captured because black had a weak back rank.

Things in the game unfolded differently of course, but what I want to say, these a bit more complicated tactics will not be too helpful for someone below 1 000.

The key is that black could avoid getting a worse position by not playing a slow "knight on the rim" move that actually made his piece worse.

The key for white is that he could simply have gotten a better position by playing Bg5 right away without throwing away the pawn and converting the position is some sort of gambit where he certainly had the compensation, but he could've had the same position without giving the pawn up.

Everything else unfolded because both players made the moves they did at the start, and the game became really difficult to maneuver.

Yes, I agree that the 7...Nh5 attracts a gifted opponent to attacks. I still do moves for moving's sake, apparently. He seized the opportunity to invade my poorly defended camp.

Nevertheless, I feel that speaking about Italian openig theory is necessary to become a regular 700. Understanding the Fried Liver and its implications, and the Blackburne Shilling gambit as Black.

Keep posting tips, since everything is most appreciated. Thanks for all ideas.

Well, opening lines rarely decide games at that level. This game was very unique because of couple unexpected moves by both.

I wouldn't worry too much about opening. What you can do, on every level really, at least before some pretty serious amateur level (certainly a lot higher than mine)?

You memorize a few moves. Then you play, analyze games, review opening as well. Perhaps you see some mistake you are making. You correct it. Then you don't worry too much about opening. You will naturally gain experience in the opening as well, if you learn about chess and analyze games (first just blunder checking then seeing things you have learned).
Then, after a while you will start losing more against some lines.

Then you learn some ideas, perhaps memorize some moves if the position is very sharp (if not, just ideas, familiar structures, maybe some tactics, etc.). There are YouTube videos on certain openings, it is fine to inform yourself, but really don't stress yourself too much.

Advanced players then look through some master games, but all that... too much and unnecessary for you. I only did it for some games, and even that wasn't necessary, but because I wanted to do it at that time.

As for concrete thing against Italian... well on your third move you have a choice: 3. ...Nf6 that alows Ng5. After that e5 is the best and sacrificing a pawn for some activity. that is the main option after 3 ...Nf6.

There is Traxler as well, but it is unsound, and I wouldn't play it. I prefer sound moves. The game would be very chaotic.

Or you can play 3. ...Bc5 (after which there is no Ng5 as it loses a piece, queen would just take the knight), and this allows Evans gambit with 4. b4. This gambit is actually not bad, the position is equal. Evans is probably not so popular among beginners, less popular than Ng5, but after some time, you would have to look it up at least to inform yourself. 
If the opponent doesn't play Evans, well, more or less, other lines are calmer.

I am not playing 1 ...e5 against e4, so my knowledge is very limited.