Can anyone check some of my games and give me some tips?

I was just hoping for some advice to have better games because I have a big game coming up against a friend. Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated...

Stop playing fast games.

Stop bringing your queen out early.

Castle before your king and/or rook run into trouble.

In general, all the usual advice for beginners that can be found many places.

Possibly of interest:
Simple Attacking Plans by Fred Wilson (2012)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090402/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review874.pdf
https://www.newinchess.com/Shop/Images/Pdfs/7192.pdf
Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev (1957)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104437/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/logichess.pdf
The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Irving Chernev (1965)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/most-instructive-games-of-chess-ever-played/
Winning Chess by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld (1949)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093415/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review919.pdf
Back to Basics: Tactics by Dan Heisman (2007)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708233537/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review585.pdf
Discovering Chess Openings by GM John Emms (2006)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf
Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro (2014)
http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-of-pete-tamburros-openings-for.html
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/openings-for-amateurs/
https://www.mongoosepress.com/excerpts/OpeningsForAmateurs%20sample.pdf

Chess Endgames for Kids by Karsten Müller (2015)

https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/chess-endgames-for-kids/
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/Chess_Endgames_for_Kids.pdf
A Guide to Chess Improvement by Dan Heisman (2010)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708105628/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review781.pdf

Seirawan stuff

http://seagaard.dk/review/eng/bo_beginner/ev_winning_chess.asp?KATID=BO&ID=BO-Beginner
https://www.chess.com/article/view/book-review-winning-chess-endings
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627132508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen173.pdf
http://www.nystar.com/tamarkin/review1.htm

Do you consider yourself a disciplined rigorous thinker and analyzer?

If you do then I know that when you are seated at the chess board table or in front of your computer screen you sit on your hands. 

It is the tried and true way  to do away with almost all blunders.  The extra second that it takes to pull your hand from under your leg and reach for an touch the piece or pawn that is a blunder will save you.

Try it for week.

Maybe some people forget the mind of a beginner... i.e. that things like pawns, knights, bishops, and maybe even rooks don't really matter because those pieces can't really checkmate. At least not like a queen. So giving them up doesn't have an impact... at least this is how their thinking goes.

So your first, and very important, lesson is don't lose material. Just in case here are the point values:

pawn 1
Knights and bishops are each 3
Rook 5
Queen 9

The points are based off of average mobility. A more mobile piece can attack and defend more than other pieces. A piece that attacks two things at once for example, may be able to win one of them since the opponent only has one move to save a piece. So for example don't trade a rook for an opponent's knight because you lose 2 points of material, 5 vs 3.

Another thing I see new players often do (and I'm not sure why this is) is instead of defending a threat they counter attack. Sometimes this is ok, but it often backfires if you just do it out of habit. For example a lot of stuff like this

I once overheard a chess coach of kids say while looking at their games, that after 3 really big mistakes he would stop looking at the game. When each mistake is the type that's big enough to lose a game on its own, there was no point going further until they could correct these mistakes.

That was the first game I saw of yours. So using what you've learned so far, on your own try to explain why white's moves 7, 10, and 11 are bad, and then suggest a better move.

Well move 7 was a big mistake because i could have forked black with Nd5.  And moves 10 &11 are mistakes because I probably should been attacking black's queen.

7. The queen knight is pinned to the king, it cannot move to d5. The knight on c6 which for some reason black did not take can be moved to safety. Anything but that is a bad choice.
10.  Black's last move attacks your undefended bishop, the knight cannot be saved but the bishop can by moving it to say d3, protecting the e-pawn.

btw the jordan 1990 game was me trying to recreate a game by some well known GM.  I think either a Magnus Carlsen game or a Bobby Fischer game maybe.  I saw their position in a YT video and wanted to try it out for fun.  

tasosgoudas wrote:

Purpose of development - why beginners shouldn't study openings

Purpose of development -  you will learn that the purpose is to gain advantages in time, space and material by using the strategies of restraining, blockading, and executing the enemy to gain control of the center (the squares d4,d5,e4,e5).  Piece moves are direct development.  Pawn moves are aids to development, therefore they are indirect development moves.

 beginners shouldn't study openings 

Almost all strong players would disagree.  The reasons they disagree are contained in 2 books that will change your  perspective of how to play chess.  The 2 books are:  "My System" , by Aaron Nimzowitsch. and "Pawn Power In Chess", by Hans  Kmoch. 

I have learned the basic fundamentals, like develop your pieces, protect them, castle early, don't move pieces twice in a row etc.

Those  are NOT the basic fundamentals.

In order to learn  the  basic fundamentals you must change your perspective of the game of chess in 3 ways. First chess is Siege Warfare in game form.   There are 3 basic strategies in Siege Warfare.  They are:  Restrain, Blockade, and Execute the enemy. 

The  second change in perspective has to do with pawns.  The principle that you must learn is:  Winning chess is the  strategically/tactically correct advance of the pawn mass.

The 3rd change in perspective has to do with control of the center.  There are 2 theories in chess regarding control of the center:

Classical center control theory - control the center by occupying the center (d4,d5,e4,e5 squares) with pawns and pieces.

Hypermodern center control theory  - control the center with the power of your pawns and pieces.  This avoids your pawns and pieces becoming targets of the enemy pieces because they are not physically occupying the center (d4,d5,e4,e5).  

Once you learn what the basic techniques of restrain, blockade and execute the enemy are, and combine them in your brain with control the center, develop your pieces, etc. you will understand opening books. You will understand how using the strategies of restrain, blockade, and execute the enemy together with  control the center, develop your pieces, etc. combine to increase or decrease advantages/disadvantages in time, space and  material.  

The change in perspective in your brain causes you to shift your focus back and forth from concentrating on  the squares the pawns and pieces control to concentrating on the pawns and pieces  themselves as you analyze the position.  It is difficult at first to do this.  But as you practice it drastically improves your analysis of the position in front of  you. 

The second change in perspective causes you to concentrate on pawn structure.  Concentrating on pawn structure will reveal 2 things to you.  The first is the 3rd change in perspective which is what center control theory is being applied in the opening that has developed on the board.  You  will learn that there is  a difference in what moves are made if you are fighting for control of  the center with the hypermodern  method with what is called a small but secure center.  Or you are  fighting for control of  the center  with the classical method of occupying the center with your pawns and pieces.  Pawn structure is the terrain of the chess battlefield.  The second revelation is the pawn structure itself which forms the hills, valleys and  mountains of where the  war is fought.   Your plan of  attack move by move has to conform to the pawn structure,  Otherwise  your  battle plan might call for going thru a mountain given the pawn structure of the position on the board.  The bird's eye view of the  pawn structure of the position on the board makes finding candidate moves much easier.  Especially if you know  that one the important characteristics that you are looking for in the pawn structure is where the pawn breaks are or will  be in the very near future.  Pawn breaks are those places in the pawn structure where the opposing pawns are in contact with each  other in a  formation that permits captures of other pawns or pieces.  Also, the execution of a pawn break is almost always the move that signals the first move of the beginning of the middle  game.

I struggle at the next moves - the middle game - lack of plan I guess. What can I do in order to get the initiative in the middle game?

Studying  opening books teaches you the move that begins the middlegame in that opening.  Knowing the exact move when the middlegame begins is a big advantage in itself.  Studying the opening books also teaches you what typical middlegame plan(s) of attack result from the opening you are studying.  Being familiar with the typical middlegame pawn structures and where the pawn breaks are in the opening you  are  playing in a game is a great advantage over your opponent.  All of this information confirms what you wrote in your post:

I believe, that learning an opening (10-15 moves) could give you an advantage in the middle game, especially at my level, and help me have an actual plan. Am I wrong? What should I do?

What should I do? 

Select an opening repertoire that consists of 2 openings as White and 2 openings as Black(one opening against  White's 1.e4 and one opening against White's 1.d4).  Your overarching goal will be to build a visualization pattern memory bank into your brain of those openings, middlegames and endgames and the typical tactics that are themes or motifs in those 3 stages of the game.  As you are studying the openings, the middlegame, the endgame, and tactics your goal in your training is to keep adding visualization patterns to the memory bank in your brain.

I also find it difficult to apply the tactics puzzles I have sold, as there are barely any tactics that can be done, with a bad positioning.

Your chess training system should consist of  adding visualization patterns to your memory bank everyday of the following sections:

1. Tactics visualization pattern memory bank

2. Openings visualization pattern memory bank

3. Midddlegame visualization pattern memory bank

4. Endgame visualization pattern memory bank

All my friends are dead.

The basics of each phase of the game

Opening:

Follow the Opening principles:

1.      Control the center squares – d4-e4-d5-e5

2.      Develop your minor pieces toward the center – piece activity is the key

Ø  Complete your development before moving a piece twice or starting an attack.

Ø  Move pieces not pawns.

3.      Castle

4.      Connect your rooks

Ø    By move 12, you should have connected your Rooks, or be about to do so.

Middle game:

When you have completed the Opening Principles, you are now at the middle game.  Now you need to formulate a middle game plan.  The middle game is a very complicated part of a chess game.  A simple way to develop a middle game plan is to perform the following steps.

1.      Scan your opponents 5^th, and 6^th ranks (3^rd, and 4^th if your black)

2.      Look for weak pawns, and or weak squares.

Ø  Weak pawns and squares are Pawns, and squares that cannot be defended by another Pawn.

Ø  Knights are excellent pieces on weak squares.

Ø  When deciding on weak squares, and weak Pawns to attack, the closer to the center the better

End game:

Start with the basics:

1.      Learn basic mates – KQ vs. K, KR vs. K, KRR vs. K

2.      Learn Opposition, and Key Squares

3.      Learn basic King and Pawn endings

Pre Move Checklist

1. Make sure all your pieces are safe.

2. Look for forcing moves: Checks, captures, threats. You want to look at ALL forcing moves (even the bad ones) this will force you look at, and see the entire board.

3. If there are no forcing moves, you then want to remove any of your opponent’s pieces from your side of the board.

4. If your opponent doesn’t have any of his pieces on your side of the board, then you want to improve the position of your least active piece.

5. After each move by your opponent, ask yourself: "What is my opponent trying to do?"

 This book was written especially for you. https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B06XKG1VZD&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_5Gb1ybDW6F9S3&tag=patriandpeopl-20