My first losses on Chess.com

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Edrid

I got royally owned at a couple of games by Eldy today after a three-game winning streak. Please help me analze these games.

13ronis13

first game: in move 7 u should have capture knight with ur king instead of letting it take ur rook or queen.

NO.6 was also useless moving ur pawn twice in the opening when it doesn't really do anything

there is lot of blunder but keep playing u will be good

Edrid

Thanks! Now that I see the 8. Kxf2, I feel kind of stupid, but we must learn from our mistakes!

Loomis

There are lots of moves where you just let your opponent take your pieces. Until you can pay attention to what your opponent is able to capture, not a whole lot else will matter.

SouthernWolf

Edrid, there is nothing to feel "stupid" about, playing often, and studying your games afterwards, and "seeing" your mistakes, will soon show you routine captures and moves that you are not yet EXPERIENCED enough to "see", for example, that king capture of your opponent's knight at f2 in your first game.  You are not stupid, don't become discouraged, for chess is like any other game of strategy, it takes time to become good at it, and only in losing will you learn how to win, as long as you don't let losses get you down.  Best wishes to you.

Hydroxide

You missed a mate in the second game: 21. Qh8#

Mainly just take more time on your moves, after every one of your opponent's moves re-evaluate the situation: is there anything new that they're attacking, why did they make that move, etc. Before you make a move make sure all of your pieces are defended properly and that your move has a purpose, don't leave pieces hanging! These losses were both due to blunders, hanging pieces of your own, or not capturing your opponent's hanging pieces (your king is a piece too, I forgot this myself sometimes as well). There were other mistakes as well from both sides, like theory mistakes and stuff but don't worry about that till you can defend everything properly, then try and get some tactics going.

RDBhan

Hey Edrid, hang in there!  We all start somewhere, and when higher level players analyze our games we feel "stupid."  Study your tactics, that's they key. Playing the Colle like a champ won't help you if you drop pieces to simple oversights or combinations. Don't worry about the openings, they don't mean a thing at this level.  Concentrate on not leaving pieces where they can be taken, and on taking advantage when your opponent does make mistakes (like that knight fork at f2 that you could have captured).  Incidentally, and not that it matters, the point of the Colle system is to get in e5 and start a kingside assault.  Playing b4 is not strong, as you asked.  But again, openings don't matter.  Keep playing!

RoyalFlush1991

In the first game 8. Kxf2 would give you a dominating advantage. You should usually challenge sacrifices or gambits by accepting them and forcing your opponent to make good on his material deficiency (certain opening lines obviously excluded). I am not sure whether you feared some kind of attack or just missed the move completely but unless you can clearly see a strong continuation for your opponent (usually checked by going over the most forcing lines like checks and captures first), take the free material. You should have realized that after 8. Kxf2 your opponent does not have any checks at all, usually a good sign, and not to mention it would be fine from a king safety standpoint as well since after Re1/Rf1 and Kg1 your king is in a castled position and your rook is in a strong position as well.

In the second game, your opening was okay, but a little modest and too boring in my honest opinion. If your opponent played better moves, he could have easily equalized and I'd recommend you to at least take a look at the first 3 or 4 moves in the Queen's Gambit. There are too many mistakes for me to go through and point out each one and have a beneficial learning experience for you. I think a piece of general advice would be much more fitting: even in time controls like 15 minutes, at least try to predict your opponent's response and always check to see if any of your pieces are hanging. Playing a move and then analyzing its consequences afterwards is not the way to go.

Good Luck in your future endeavors!!!