Hi all!

First of all, I've only been studying chess seriously for a couple of months. So after revewing this game I played with a friend, I found that my plan and what was suggested by Fritz differed a lot. So I thought it would be interesting to write down my thought process and let better players criticize it. Here it is :

[Event "rated standard match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2009.11.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sorcerer808"]
[Black "x"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1555"]
[BlackElo "1516"]
[ECO "C41"]
[TimeControl "900+10"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Be7
{Since my opponent is taking such a passive line I might as well develop my KB to c4 and put more pressure on d5. I don't know why fritz prefers Be2.}
6. Bc4 O-O 7. O-O c6
{At this moment I stopped a second to evaluate the position. I got a space advantage in the center, I have a lead in development and his last move weakened his d6 pawn. My plan is to
prevent him making the d6-d5 advance, which would free his position and remove his pawn weakness. By moving my knight out of the d file, I prevent 8...d5.}
8. Nf3
{I guessed I might as well put it on f3 to solidify my king side.}
Bg4
{Here fritz suggests 9. Be2, which would break my plan apart. At first I thought I would respond to that pin with Qd3 but I figured I would develop my black bishop and see if he wants
to exchange his bishop for some reason, which would loose myself a tempo if 9. Qd3.}
9. Bf4 Na6 10. a3
{Here I missed Bxa6 which would break his queen side apart.}
Nc5 11. Re1 b5 12. Ba2 Qd7
{Here fritz suggests the line: 13. e5 dxe5 14. Nxe5 Qxd1 Nxd1 etc... I didn't really think about that nor do I get it. I was more concerned about his intrusive knight.}
13. b4 Na4 14. Nxa4 bxa4 15. c4
{Here I must say I didn't analyze much. I just thought I'd solidify my control of the d5 square. Fritz suggests h3 or c3.}
c5 16. b5
{Threatens 17. Qxa4. and gains territory on the queen side.}
a6 17. Qxa4
{Here I missed 18... Rxa3 after 17... axb5 18. Qxb5}
Bxf3 18. gxf3 axb5 19. Qxb5 Qxb5
{And he missed it too }
20. cxb5 Rxa3?
{He then falls in a trap}
21. Bxf7+ Kxf7 22. Rxa3 c4 23. e5
{Here my idea was just to clear the board and simplify, I missed 21... dxe5 22. Bxe5 Bxa3, which is what happened in this game. Black ended up winning in the endgame. sight.}
dxe5 24. Bxe5 Bxa3 *

First of all, for a "beginner" this is already a pretty decent thought process.

There are a couple of interesting questions though:
1. Why did you take with the knight and not with the queen? Do you see the transposition to the Ruy Lopez?

2. The problem with Bc4 could be 6...Nxe4 with the idea of 7.Nxe4 d5. Did you see this tactic and if so, what was your answer? Btw, this combination is still possible after castling and actually a mainline (do you see the difference that castling makes?).

3. Did you ever consider castling queenside? What are the problems with 6. Bg5 and 6. Be3?

You are starting to lose control at move 8. The point is that you can allow him to play d5, because it will result in an isolated (weak) pawn on d5. His real threat was b5, so your choices were 8. a4 or 8. Re1 with the idea of 8...b5 9. Bf1. After playing Nf3 you probably noticed, that you somehow lost the initiative and had to make one concession after the other.

Just for the record, Fritz prefers 6. Be2 because of the plan 6...0-0 7. 0-0 Re8 8. f4 Bf8 9. Bf3. This is just a way to develop the white pieces on good squares.

The overall problem with this type of position is, that it is very hard to find a plan. This is one of the reasons why I don't recommend 1.e4 structures to beginners or even intermediate players. It is absolutely true, that you can memorize a ton of "forced wins" after 1.e4 as a professional, but in practice the amateurs usually stumble pretty fast. There is a rule of thumb: If you have to make concessions after 1. e4 without getting a pawn for it, something went wrong. The analogy to poker is that you have to bet pot on every street.

6.Bc4:

Depending on White's play Black has 3 positive ideas to choose from.

1. Pressure on e4: O-O, Re8, Bf8
2. Play in the center: c6, d5
3. Expanding on the Queen's wing with a6, (c6), b5 and c5, hoping that active pieceplay compensates the structural weaknesses

6.Bc4 makes idea #1 difficult but supports the ideas #2 and #3. Overall this natural and popular move is rather harmless.

The sharpest idea for White is 6.Bf4 followed by Qd2 and O-O-O. Then idea #1 is rather pointless, idea #2 means a pawn sacrifice and idea #3 is sometimes too slow. As far as I know it's still considered to be the best try for an advantage. But as said the lines are sharp and so Black is not without chances.

With 6.Be2 or 6.g3 White can try to contain Black and secure a small room advantage. It's the ginder's way.

8.Nf3:

Not a bad move. To my eyes Black's main threat is to kill the play by Nxe4 followed by d5. We could prevent this with 8.Bb3, but then we have to reckon with the idea Na6-c5xb3. I like 8.Re1 best.

10.a3:

Good move. Instead 10.Bxa6?! would indeed disrupt Black's structure but he gets the bishop pair and counterplay on the half open b-file in return.

11...b5, 12...Qd7:

I don't like these moves much. Especially b5 doesn't make much sense with the knight on c5 a white pawn already on a3 and no white piece on d4.

13...Na4?:

A positional blunder. Better 13...Ne6 with a fine position. 14.Bg3 is dubious because of 14...Ng5 so White must retreat to e3 with a more or less equal position.

15.c4?!:

There is really no need to fence the Ba2 in. Simply 15.c3 is much better, i.e.: 15...c5 16.bxc5 with half a plus pawn (+=).

seriously? this seems like appalling advice, I would recommend beginners-intermediate players play 1. e4.

OP - I think your general thinking is good and probably above average for your level. However you need to work on your basic tactics. Seriously, squabbling over 1/10 of a pawn advantage in the opening is worth very little when you can drop a rook for nothing 10 moves later.

Two thematic/positional things you should nevertheless think about:

1. As Shandrax says you should at least be aware of the 6...Nxe4 idea: sometimes it is good for Black, sometimes nothing special but you need to be aware of it because it happens all the time in these positions. Note that after 6...Nxe4, 7. Bxf7+ is usually a mistake - you don't really expose Black's king and it's more important that you've given him the bishop pair and an extra central pawn.

2. 8. Nf3 is not necessarily a terrible move, but it is unnatural. Your knight is beautifully placed in the centre, it controls e6 and might go to f5. Instead you move it for a third time, backwards, away from the centre and where it may be pinned. This move is so unprincipled you shouldn't make it unless there is a concrete reason to. Here Black is not threatening your kingside, you do not need the N to defend. ...d5 is not a threat because you can take it and leave him with a weak isolated d-pawn when your pieces will be well placed to stop it.

When I wrote that 8.Nf3 is not bad I overlooked the simple 8...b5 which forces the bishop to d3 (otherwise 9...b4 and 10...Nxe4). After 8.Nf3?! b5 9.Bd3 Nbd7 White should still be OK, but I prefer Black.

A recurring theme seems to be valuing abstract positional values over the 'real' scope of your pieces. One of the key foundations of positional play is making your pieces good. You play a number of moves with positional ideas in mind, but they make your pieces significantly worse.

The first example of this is 8. Nf3. You want to reinforce your control of d5 - a positional concept, but in exchange you make your knight much worse and simultaneously make his light bishop very good!

Next is you wanting to play 10. Bxa6. I completely agree that this is a good move, but his queenside is not the primary reason (although it certainly is one). The main reason is that his knight will be just a complete monster on c5. While your light bishop is a good piece, it won't be even nearly as good as his knight on c5 so you trade it off. Gaining a small positional concession from him in a weakened queenside is just icing.

Next is 15. c4. Again, with the idea of reinforcing your control of d5 but at the same time you are really hurting your pieces. You suddenly make your bishop on a2 nearly useless. The only reason you'd want to play c4 is if you had some sort of idea of play a fast e5 followed by c5, so your bishop is only temporarily entombed. But if you plan to keep that pawn on c4 for an extended period of time, as you would if you plan to use it to restrict his d5, then it's no good since it hurts your bishop so much.

I'd recommend dropping the abstract and focus on the concrete. Just make your pieces good. Trade your bad pieces for his good pieces, and play to make your worst piece better on each move.

I don't remember too much of what I was thinking anymore but like you all said d6-d5 wasn't a real threat. I think I overlooked the weakness it would create to his pawn structure.

Also, Shandrax, I find it interesting that you suggest not playing 1.e4. I always read that it's suggested to stick to classical, open games at first.

Nice post Dire, thanks all!

OK I've got rid of all the Shandrax stuff about Black and White, if anyone is still interested in OP's game you can discuss that here