Analyze your current 40 move game and try to figure out why you lost. You can post the current game for more experience players to analyze if you choose to.
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Your interest in the game will carry you through. I suggest you take each major opening and play ten games with each. When you get the feel of the opening, move to another. In this way you will improve, having learned the basic openings and counter moves, and so forth.
Hey Devin,
I'm in a similar position I have really benefited from the Study Plans available for free on Chess.com and from the Tactics Trainer (you get 3/day even if you are just a free member). Here is a link to the study plan directory http://www.chess.com/article/view/study-plan-directory
There are also many free videos available on this website. Hope it's helpful, has been for me (still have a long, long way to go).
You allowed your opponent to gain the initiative starting from 5. a3 Bxc3. You played mostly defensive during this game.
Hi Devin, some things you may want to work on are pawn structure and piece activity. Looking at the position after 15.gxf3, almost all of your pawns are easy targets because they're not able to support each other. When your big pieces are tied down to defending pawns they become passive, and eventually over-burdened. With 15.Qxf3 your pawns are neater, your king is safer, and your queen is more active. Back to move 13, c4 could have been played to open up your b2-bishop, and after 13..bxc4, 14.Bxc4 you've weakened black's pawns, and both of your bishops are free. And on move 7 (I don't know why I'm going backwards 
) Be2 or Ba4 would have avoided blocking in your d-pawn, allowing for easier development of all of your pieces.
It may be a good idea to play with long time controls, like 15 minutes/game or more, so you'll have time to think critically about every move. You're more likely that way to develop good habits and a strong understanding of principles, which can then be applied in quick games. Good luck!
Thank you for the analysis. I will say that my weakest understanding is in openings and pawn structures. Hopefully that will come with experience and work.
You didn't play badly, there were some positional errors that made your position more difficult to play though, and it did seem you were struggeling to transition beyond defensive moves. The tactics are what killed you though. Still I mention some basic positional stuff that would have made your play a little cleaner and given you an easier to play position.
6.dxc3
This follows the rule of thumb to capture towards the center, but better here (and in similar positions) is to recapture with the d pawn instead. Your move isn't bad, but it keeps you a bit passive. Taking with the d pawn opens up a line for your bishop and you can make use of the half open d file. (Half open files are files with only 1 color pawn on them, they can be a good place for rooks).
7.Bd3
Again this isn't a blunder or anything but it's passive. You played the first few moves very well by bringing your pieces out, this move cramps up your position, both bishops will have to do some work to get active.
15.gxf3
Ruins your pawn structure for no reason, better was queen takes.
But really your position is still OK, it just might take more care in the endgame with all your doubled pawns and pawn islands... you do have the bishop pair.
18.Rac1
Unnecessary and passive position for the rook. Also tactically bad as it allows Ne2+ (which he eventually plays).
26.Ba2
drops the pawn at c2 for no reason (again he eventually sees this), better to bring out your other bishop to e3.
And of course 30.f5 drops a piece as in the game.
from my feeble mind this looked good to start. several things that hit me however were :
5)a3 - i would have continued with development - and i like waffle's point about capture w/d pawn on move six
7)Bd3 prevents moving the d pawn which not only prevents moving the pawn up to help fight for the center, but also dooms the dark space knight
and the last thing that struck me was 15)gxf3 - i read somewhere to avoid at all costs moving pawns in front of a castled king. bringing the queen up might have helped some to even the balance of power.
But i try to remember hindsight is always 20/20 and i miss alot in the heat of battle. I am in the same boat as you- just trying to learn and have fun, so i must say thank you for posting your game for review.
These are all very good suggestions. It may sound corny, but I think part of it was getting used to the online board. It is a lot different to my eyes then watching the intricacies of a real chessboard. I have been playing more online and had a really good win (at least what I consider one). This has boosted my confidence and hopefully that will be enough to keep me going. Maybe I will post it in this thread later, it seems weird to me though for others to analyze when you win. Maybe this is just a beginner mentality.
Analyze all games, won or lost. Although there may be less to analyze in a won game, even the best players in the world could play even better. By the way, I have the reversed version of your problem: after playing hundreds of games on online 2-D boards, I sometimes get thrown off playing OTB.
Funny, it's harder for me to see everything on a real board.
I agree with NachtWulf, although maybe it's hardest of all to analyze your wins. Not because we don't make mistakes in won games, but we don't want to admit it.
@NachtWulf - I know just what you mean about getting too used to 2D boards and not seeing a real life board the same way. It's for exactly this reason that I'm using a physical wood set and board to play through the positions in the chess book I'm currently slogging through. I figure that spending time concentrating over the positions on a real set will help keep my real like skills from atrophying.
Hello everybody. My name is Devin and I just recently got back into chess. I used to play when I was a kid with my dad and cousin, but never really got very good. I have rediscovered it and have taken it up as a daily hobby. I have been trying to improve but I am hitting so many snags that I am getting frustrated. I play other people and sometimes win, but usually lose. I don't really know where to start with improvement and I make moves that probably aren't very good, but I don't know how to look 3-4 moves ahead like some people can. I have the game Chessmaster: Grandmaster Edition and the book Chess for Dummies. Besides working with these where should I turn my focus to try and improve?
Thanks