This was the highest rated person I managed to beat, would like to know thoughts on the game? I am black.

http://www.chess.com/echess/game.html?id=41050524

I made a mistake early on losing a pawn early and he managed to take control of the center but I came back pretty strong I think.

the direct material blunders I noticed with a quick look:
- Giving the b5-pawn for free was ofc bad
- Instead of 6.-c6 you could have played 6.-Nxd5 with the idea of 7.exd5 Qh4+
- Your d5-bishop was hanging at move 15
- 19.-Bb6 looked a little too fancy since 19.-dxc6 looked totally crushing. However, I can see where you're coming from if you were worried about 20.Ne4. Still, Black can at least win a piece with 20.-Rd8+ 21.Kc3 Rxd1 22.Nxf2 Rxa1 23.Rxa1 Bxf2.
- he could have played 20.Qg1 when it's not over yet (Black's still doing good though)

surprise suggestion: more tactics training

Thank's for your comments! I struggle with interpreting moves but am working through them and your comments

19.-dxc6

That would be an excellent move in retrospect! Even if 20.Ne4, the castle A8 to D8 would be virtually check mate right?

I don't get his QD2 move, I'm guessing he's going to go H6-F3?

No, that's a horrible game, no offence. Your opponent put up no struggle and let you win. Opening: terrible.

f3 was terrible from opponent because it allows Ne4 stuff which you missed

7.a3 is terrible I think, dxe6 was necessary, if he plays 7.d6, then I imagine Ne4 still works.

I think Qb6 is a good move, but he probably shouldn't have played Bg5 then (Be3 contesting the diagonal is much better)... and Bxf6 is terrible, probably the biggest mistake of all...he should have played Bh4 there maybe or Nbc3.

b3 looks safe and fine to play, although I would have played Nbc3 and obviously he can't take the pawn because you're on his bishop...

white needed to play 14. Nbc3 Be6 15. Ne4 Be7 16. Rac1 with c4 and c5 to block the diagonal. 14. Bf5 is terrible.I don't see what's wrong with taking your bishop on move 15 with 15. Qxd5

Obviously 17. Bxc6 is the losing move, although I think the game was already lost for white... maybe he could hold on longer with Rf1 but after Qe3 it looks all over: white's position is hopeless.

9...Bd6 I'm not sure if it's a good or bad move, but it LOOKS at first glance bad. However, 10.c4 Bc6 (or Bb7) 11. Bxh7 fails to 11...Qc7!. But maybe 10. Nc3 is the simple solution.

No offence but I can't believe you're rated 1500 or anywhere near that... I've played thousands and read loads of books and stuff and I'm only around 1600 (on playchess.com).

Was this a blitz game? Bullet? I know I'm harsh, but tbh chess is an unforgiving game, as I'm sure you're aware...you need to play loads more games, imo.

Why do you play b5 out of the opening? You know that's like the worst possible move, right? I'd even prefer to play e5 with chances of setting traps in the Englund gambit.

I know it's blitz, but just...horrible game.

Again, I apologize for brutal harsh comments. That's just what I think...

Yeah Ithink I'm being overly harsh because you're not as good as I thought you were...my advice is to play LOTS more games (literally hundreds) if you want to get good quickly

Thanks for comments, will read them, I've played chess a lot but only started to take it seriously and study it now! I know I'm not very good compared to better players

Also the rating was off, just joined chess.com, lost a few games, won a few, rating was like 1150 and then I won a couple of big games against high rated players, guess that was just lucky

No, he just wants to prevent Qe3#.

Gullanian welcome to the chess forum!

Writ any letters lately?

I'm cadaz on there send me a challenge if you want

Challenge sent

Thanks McLovin, lol no letters for a while no I'm affraid!

Just had an interesting game with Cadaz, we both took notes during it as well. I like to think I played well, probably made 2 hudge obvious blunders throughout, and a myraid of little ones.

http://www.chess.com/fb/echess/game.html?id=41292942

My notes started off bad but got Ok at the end, I actually learnt a hell of a lot playing this game I think. Also lol at me for not knowing en passant properly, that's the first time I've also seen it been applied for a strategic advantage (threw my defence)!

Even though they are lol worthy, my notes: (I can only improve in the future right?)

A few interesting situations there might try to screenshot some boards

might be best not to put the facebook link there

Your opening play needs some work!
2.Bc4 isn't that good because of the type of thing Cadaz did in the opening (e6, a6, etc) where he is threatening to gain space & attack your bishop at the same time. They're also useful moves for black to play in the position as well. You should be doing something else in the centre - 2.Nf3, 2.Nc3 & 2.c3 are the most common methods (with Nf3 being by far the most common).
7.dxc5 is horrible. In your notes you mention that you can swap queens & either stop castling or make his knight retreat ... this is almost never enough compensation for losing a bishop! The simplest option for you seems to be 7.exd5 exd5 8.Be2, which is fine, although black has definitely equalised out of the opening (being white you should aim for an advantage, even if it is only small). 7.e5 might also be worth looking at, though it seems complicated ... and not in a good way!
9.b4 is not good, mainly because he can play cxb3. If you want to try to limit the scope of the bishop, 9.Be3 is the best try, although Ng4 could be annoying at some stage. Black is happy to play Be7 & 0-0, which you're not realistically going to be able to stop, so you just need to try and make the best of the situation.
13.e5 is a good try, though 13...Nd5 would have been a much more straighforward way to stop any threats you might be developing.
19.Ne4 is not a particularly good move. You are down a piece, so you want to avoid swaps if at all possible. Now you have allowed black to trade a rook off (although black didn't make the trade), which makes it easier for black to win. If you get the opportunity for the discovered double check, you want to play Nd6+, not Nf6, so that you can take the c8 rook.
25.h4 seems like a nothing move. You note that you have lots of options, but you need to come up with a plan ... where do you want your pieces to be, what tactical ideas can you exploit, what threats do you need to worry about, etc. You just seem to be playing moves & most of your ideas are just one-move threats which can be easily stopped. By the same token, consider black's plans ... pushing a & b pawns, activating pieces & restricting yours (particularly knights). Black's next few moves go about putting the plan into action, while you are still looking for one-move threats for the most part.
27.f4 has a tactical problem that you noticed, but didn't see at the time. 27...Bg4 wins material. Of course even without the tactic there is a relatively simple solution to your 'threat' ... simply f5 (attacking the knight) followed by e4 keeps the centre blocked.
31.Re1+ doesn't achieve anything & simply removes the one square your knight could retreat to (f4 was defended by the rook). Checks are only good if they achieve something ... which in this case is ??
You could have gone down in style with 36.Rg1 (attacking both bishops!) ... of course it loses to 36...Bf3+ 37.Rg2 Rc1# ... but at least you had a threat!

Overall you made it tough for yourself after a poor opening. The general 'knights before bishops' opening priniple needs to be applied!

My notes fwiw:

2.e6 Plan is to play ...a6 and threaten ...b5 to punish the early bishop move leaving the bishop no good square.

5. Choice between nf6 and g6 here. Nf6 means I dont have to commit my bishop yet and also prepares an immediate threat of d5 so going with that.

6. D5 keeping pressure on the bishop and attacking the center.

7. Claim the bishop while I can..

8. nxe8 may be slightly worse than kxe8 because knight is probably just going back to f6 anyway but I want to keep things simple and castle if possible so going for nxe8.

9. cxb3 wins the pawn on c5

11.bd7 developing and gives rook the option to go to c8. Looking to attack c6 somehow probably with rc8 maybe rb8 then b6. General plan now is just to try to trade off as much as possible and keep it simple.

12. Rc8 continue with the plan.

13.bxc5 looking to trade off as much as possible. Opens up my kingside so probably should have been playing kxe8 a few moves ago if I knew this was happening. Ne5 is playable too.

16.rxg7 dont want him to try to protect that pawn in any way plus now have direct threat against his queen.

17.e5 frees up white bishop. Threat of bh6.

18.f6 seems like simplest way to deal with the threat. Got to be careful of tactics now.

19.bd7 because nxf6 makes my life difficult. Plus would have to move/defend bishop anyway after rxc2 nxc2 (considered playing rxc2 first of all). Cant take knight because discovered check wins my rook. Bishop also stops that problem

20. Realised that bd7 didn't stop issues with nd6+ so trying to solve that problem and force the knight back.

21.bxa4 greed but means the threat on the king goes out of the window

22.bc6 looking to trade off again although my bishop is a nice piece to keep normally I have enough advantage to not worry about it. Need to ease pressure.

23.bd7 Probably should have spotted that and saved myself a move. Initially saw ba6 then realised it gains me nothing because of threat of nd6+

24. ke8 Feel like we're going around in circles and I have no plan whatsoever. Not good.

25.b5 trying to free my knight.

26.rf7 only move that stops me losing rook.

27. nb7 executing my plan to get the knight active. Not sure if it's the best one but at least I have a vague plan. Still can't move that e pawn unless I want things to get messy.

28.nd6 Threatens to take his knight and stops threat of fxe temporarily

29. bxd6 cant see any tactics so not sure why he did that

30.exf4 forces him to trade off pieces. Knight is cornered.

32.bg4 happy to lose the pawn on a6 for the knight.

Generally I think I made a bit of a mountain out it and didn't follow through with my plan to simplify the game. He made some decent moves to try to gain back the material and I was on the back foot a bit more than I wanted to be.

2.Bc4- I don't like this for white, and I don't mind encountering it when playing black. That said, it's an OK move.

4.a4- Logical

7.dxc5??- Just hangs a piece for no compensation. As mentioned previously (7.exd5 exd5 8.Be2) is better.

8...Nxd8- I had the position wrong for a while because I played out Kxd8 here automatically. After Kxd8 and even if we imagine white is not down a full piece, I think the position is pretty balanced and I wouldnt mind playing black.

Comments are not needed anymore but: (9.Be3 Ng4 10.Bd4 Nc6 11.0-0 Nxd4 12.Nxd4 Bxc5) is pretty much the same thing as 9.b4.

+1