Total newbie, 10m blitz game on chess.com. Villain was 741, I'm 742 (pre-match).

I play black.

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qd5 Nb4 5. Qd2 c5 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. f3 Qc7 8. e5 Nh5 9. g4 Nf4 10. Nh3 Nxh3 11. Bxh3 Qxe5+ 12. Ne2 Be7 13. a3 Bh4+ 14. Kf1 O-O 15. Nc3 Nxc2 16. Nd5 Nxa1 17. Nc7 Qxc7 18. b4 cxb4 19. Bb2 Qc2 20. Ke2 Re8+ 21. Be5 Rxe5+ 22. Kf1 Qxd2 23. f4 Qe2+ 24. Kg1 Qf2#

Is there a way to present this so you can just hit play?

Thanks guys,
Mariogs

Ok, I can tell you're a complete beginner. Basically you need to focus on attacks and defenses. If you can take an undefended piece or pawn and don't see a good reason not to, you should do it. If your opponent attacks your piece, you should move it away unless you see some kind of trap. Before you capture an opponent's piece or pawn, or move your piece to a new square, double check that it is safe to do so.

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qd5
Here it was best to play 4...Nf6 - like your move, it attacks the Queen, but bringing an undeveloped piece into the game, rather than moving an already developed piece again.
Nb4 5. Qd2 c5
There was no need for this move, since your Knight is already defended by the bishop from f8.
6. Nc3 Nf6 7. f3 Qc7 8. e5
You could have just taken this pawn with your Queen.
Nh5 9. g4 Nf4
(Again you should have taken the pawn with check.) Now your opponent made a mistake by not taking this Knight. Play would continue 10.Qxf4 Nxc2+ (this is a typical deflection tactic, the Queen taking the Knight removes its defense of c2, however in the end White comes out ahead anyway) 11.Kf2 Nxa1 - here you are a Rook for a Bishop ahead, but your Knight is going to get stuck on a1 and White's pieces are ready to jump into the game with powerful effect.
10. Nh3 Nxh3 11. Bxh3 Qxe5+ 12. Ne2 Be7 13. a3 Bh4+ 14. Kf1 O-O
Why did you just leave your Knight under attack?
15. Nc3
And why did White not take it?
Nxc2
Now you take a pawn that is defended by White's Queen.
16. Nd5
And white refuses to take it, While leaving his own Rook hanging.
Nxa1 17. Nc7 Qxc7 18. b4 cxb4 19. Bb2 Qc2 20. Ke2 Re8+ 21. Be5 Rxe5+ 22. Kf1 Qxd2 23. f4 Qe2+ 24. Kg1 Qf2#

So it was a pretty brutal game all in all. But we all have to start somewhere.

The best way to do this is from this link.

http://www.chessvideos.tv/

In the left hand column you'll see a section called "Chess Tools". To turn the PGN file into something we can view, click on the link called "Chess Game Replayer". Once there, simply paste your PGN into the green box, hit Convert, and then paste the link here in the forum.

If you want to simply create a diagram, use the link on the left column called "Chess Diagram Generator". There's actually a sticky on the main page of this forum that walks you through it.

I hope that helps, and good luck in your chess endeavors.

http://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game...r.php?id=70278

Thanks a ton for the review; somewhat hard to see these leaks in your own game so criticism's much appreciated.

And yeah, just starting out...though trying to improve

I think the thing that would help you improve the quickest at this level is a quick blunder check after each move. Every time your opponent makes a move, ask yourself, "Is his piece defended? Can I capture it for free?". And every time you're about to move, before you move of course, ask yourself if your opponent can capture the piece. That alone is good for a significant amount of rating points.

Have been practicing a bunch. Mind taking a look?

http://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game...r.php?id=70880

Thanks guys!

edit: I'm black in this game.

OK chessvideos is back up, here are some comments:
Moves 1-17 you played quite well and logically, some minor comments:
2.-Nc6: This blocks the c-pawn which could be used to put pressure on the center. Imagine your position after 6.-Bd6 with a pawn on c5 instead of c7. Looks more harmonious.
14.-Na7: In itself okay, but you kinda forgot the knight there for a long time. 14.-Ne7 was also good, heading for f5.
On move 18 you could have finished him off with some simple tactics: 18.-Rxb2 19.Bxb2 Qb6 20.Qg2 Rb8 skewers b2 and b1.
22.-Qxe3 was good, there isn't any discovered attack to be worried about.
Did you notice that 25.-Nb5 doesn't work due to 26.Bb2 trapping the queen? Good for you if you did
On move 26 you could also play 26.-Rb2 to trade off more pieces (27.Rc1 Qxc1).
28.-c5 looks panicky, you could play something like 28.-Nb5 to get the knight into play without hanging pawns. If he played 29.Nxd5 after 28.-c5 he has some minor swindling chances (maybe threatening 30.Ng5). On move 30 he could and should have taken on d5 as well.
31.Bxa5 was obviously a total collapse by him. He could still play 31.Rc3 keeping chances (for instance 31.-Bxc3 32.Bxc3 Qa2?! (Qb1 immediately should be better) 33.Ng5 and you still need to find 33.-Qb1 to cover h7 and not 33.-g6?? 34.Qf6.

You've clearly improved, congrats on that

Hey wlrs,

Thanks for the advice / comments! Still gotta drill in those tactics

In addition to the above, on move 44 you had checkmate 2 different ways, but you chose a third move instead. You also had mate-in-one for moves 46 and 49. Even though it would be hard for you to lose from those positions, you have to be able to recognize mates like that.

Thanks for the help guys. I've been getting some lessons with Dan Heisman and been practicing tactics / playing longer games. Here's one where I feel like I blew the ending but would love advice / comments whenever in the game:

I'm black (1090) vs. villain (1110)

http://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game...r.php?id=72404

Thanks again,
Mariogs

I'll just go with the first 3 things that clearly stuck out to me:

1) Why 11...b5 instead of ...d5, which was your plan anyway?

2) 37...exc3e.p.+ looks better. After 37...Nc5 38. Re8+ Kh7 39. Kc2 you don't get the knight fork you were looking for.

3) In the end, putting your bishop on a7 would have helped (either 46...Ba7+ or 45...Bg1+ 46. Ke5 Ba7. Then, if his king attacked your bishop, you'd move it along the a7-g1 diagonal, eventually sacrificing it for the a-pawn. After that, maybe you can win with your h-pawn if you can hold back the c-pawn. It's certainly not worse than just giving away the bishop and allowing the a-pawn to queen right away.

A bit late to the party here, but one general comment to make, and of course like poker this has a zillion exceptions, but:

- if you're ahead in material, look to trade pieces

- if you're behind in material, avoid trading unless absolutely necessary

This is not exactly right. If you have an extra piece (knight or bishop) the easiest way to win is usually to trade off all the other pieces and then use your extra piece to pick up the opponent's pawns.

When playing down a piece, the best chane of drawing is to trade off all the opponent's pawns, since an extra knight or bishop is not usually enough to force checkmate without pawns on the board.

So the general rule is when ahead in material trade pieces and not pawns, when behind in material, trade pawns but not pieces.

Thanks again for the advice guys. Am getting involved in the 2+2 correspondence tourney and getting in a ton of slow games on ICC

Like I said, a zillion exceptions. I was basing this off of the games he posted. It seemed that he was avoiding trading pieces while ahead in material at times, and was going out of his way to trade when behind at others. In other words, I don't think he was aware of why/when to trade and when not to.

Good point on the pawns though, I would see that as the next natural though progression for him.