I don't get King safety

There is another saying , probably the best of all:

 "Chess is not played with sayings"

Hey Rockstar,

in the time that I've taken to go through and annotate your game you've received a hell of a lot of good advice here!

As many have said, your problems in this game weren't pawn problems. You chose the Scotch opening, which is based on violent attack on the centre by White right from the start, and which can also be a minefield of tactical traps. Maybe better to go for quieter openings until your tactics have improved a bit; either that, or learn a few lines and principles of the Scotch.

Both you and your opponent made a lot of mistakes in the opening and middle game, but you came into the endgame winning only to misjudge the way to handle that advanced pawn (which you could easily have removed).

Your question about king safety was justified; your opponent could have made mincemeat out of your K-side several times, but chose not to do so. Castling within the first 10-15 moves is nearly always a must, and you left it much too late. By then you were winning anyway, only to blunder the finish.

Don't worry about him advancing central pawns once you've castled. You have just as many pawns as he does; they can be exchanged or used to block, and if your development is better than his they can also be used to attack. Just try to keep them solid and not isolated or doubled, and he'll run into a brick wall. And remember that they can't move backwards; be careful when advancing them.

Anyway, here's the game:

Yeah you're pretty much correct here. I play tons of games every day and still can't seem to reduce my simple mistakes.

No idea how to improve at chess at this point, I'll just play for fun I guess lol

We can play some unrated on-line games and discuss about them , maybe I can give you a couple of good ideas on how to think.

Yeah I would enjoy that. My confidence is shattered right now and I'm sippin on a beer, I'm just playing for fun so I'll take you up on that offer another time when my mindset is back

One thing that helped me improve a lot after I got back into chess was learning an opening system (for me it was the Bird and the Dutch--and eventually the Pirc--not sure that I would recommend that combo, but it worked for me).  If you know where you want your pieces to be at the beginning of the middlegame, you can make purposeful opening moves, and you can predict your middlegame strategy.  It doesn't always go perfectly, and you'll probably outgrow this approach, but it is much better than reacting to your opponent on a move by move basis.  Take it with a grain of salt--many will say it's better to play open tactical games to develop your tactical sense.

King safety is important

There is a saying (oh not again!!!!!) 

"If beer and women isn't the answer , you are asking the wrong questions"

King safety is easy. You only have one opponent. Take him out, and nothing will hurt your king the rest of the game!

King safety: As the name suggests it is the safety of own king. From how many direction your opponent can attack your king. Generally the castled king with the three pawn at f2,g2 and h2 (assuming white has castled kingside) is considered safe because your opponent can not attack your king from the front if the pawns (f2,g2 and h2) are adequately guarded. Only direction from which it can attack your king is from the left side (not from the front not from the right). Thats why it is kind of safe there.The king at the centre is not considered safe because it can be attacked from the front, left and right and you need to guard it from every directions which will limit your pieces' power.If you want to understand king safety,just see With how many and from how many directions your king is being attacked. It will give you some idea about the king safety.

This short video should help you to understand the interrelationship with the opening -- middle game-- and king safety.

http://www.tigerlilov.com/how-play-openings-better-0

Also

 http://www.tigerlilov.com/attacking-chess-uncastled-king-0

I sometimes have a bit of an issue with King Safety, too.

"I don't get king safety."

Me neither. I just put my king out in the center of the board when the game begins. Makes the game more fun. King safety is for uppity GM types.

/sarcasm off

good game blueemu 

You dropped a piece on 6.Bd2??

You are lucky that your opponent didn't see it.

To keep things simple for you:

Get a foothold in the center and back it up by putting your rooks behind it - and the only way to do that is to connect the rooks as quick as possible. And the only way to connect the rooks as fast as possible is to get everyone out of the back row and castle as soon as possible.

Get your rooks ready to support a mobile pawn roller. You don't have to mate the guy, just press him into submission.

Okay I'm having serious problems getting baited and mated in the back rank because I'm leaving the 3 peons in front of my King.

Is it as simple as moving one of them out before it becomes a liability?? It's seriously annoying, I think I have full control of the game and am up in material then give up ridiculous check mates like this. I still don't get King Safety in terms of when to open up the 3 peons and when not to

http://www.chess.com/livechess/game?id=783451801

http://www.chess.com/livechess/game?id=783953048

If your opponent no longer has a queen, it's a lot more reasonable to open up your king's position.  

Also, as I said before, the concept of a "luft" in the form of an early h3/h6 (though any move of the three kingside pawns will work in as long as the open square is not under attack) will take these backrow mates, as well as many other forms of attack, largely out of the equation.  If you move your rooks off of the back rank, it's definitely time to start thinking about a luft, if you hadn't already addressed it.

It's often advisable to keep a bishop or knight within the vicinity of your king for defense.  That won't always help with backrow mates, but it limits your opponent's avenues of attack.

If it's really not working for you, you may consider fianchetto setups such as the King's Indian Attack (there are several others), which come with their own king-weakening caveats,  But backrow mates are far less common, and require cooperation from an enemy piece covering the g2/g7 square (such as a pawn or bishop in the hole on h3).

Your king will generally be safe castled.  Realize, however, that if you take your rooks off the back rank, your back rank is vulnerable.  Moving a pawn does take the edge off of the bank rank threats, but if done too early is a waste of time and always comes with some amount of cost.  Pawns don't go backwards.

The central theme of chess battle is the fight for the center. This usually leads to the central pawns being pushed forwards (either sooner or later). If your king stays in the center by then, your king will be exposed. Hence, the king is commonly brought to the flank for protection (castling!).

Regarding king safety, there is no formation that offers the perfect protection for your king. It is just a matter of time before your king's protection is breached. What castling and other protective manouvers do is to buy you time. They try to stall the opponent so that the opponent will have to take extra turns to dismantle your king's protection. What you need to do is to use this extra time to keep the opponent busy and hopefully you get to checkmate him before he does the same thing to you. Chess is a game of tempo.

Instead of trying to find the ultimate defensive formation to protect your king, you should analyze your games and discover in what way you could have made better use of your turns. Don't think of castling as a way to protect your king. Instead, think of it as a way to stall your opponent. Now you just need to sharpen your play and make better use of every turn you have.  

yes, good post.  I found that as a very aggressive blitz player, I would sacrifice early tempe for king safety.  I'd be up on pieces, or up on position, and then slowly erode into a game where many times my queen was that ONE move away from breaking them in half, but alas,I didnt protect my king.  

I read a good line from Silman once:   If the center is open think of that as a big red neon sign saying CASTLE NOW, CASTLE NOW.   However, I have found in jammed games, castling has screwed me over as often as saved me.  At that point, I sometimes will build a solid core of pawns and knights and burrow my king in.  That way my pieces are in the middle, and can quickly jump in to harass someone else's castle.

A good rule of thumb is that if you king can be put in check at any moment by a 1 or 2 move play, you better at least get him some protection.