Recent game I was in

I lost this game and black made me pay for my mistake. What I would like to know is your thoughts on what my strongest move SHOULD have been. I think I saw it afterwards, but it is always good to get feedback from other players, as that tends to be more objective in nature.

Here is the position right before I decided pawn hunting was going to be a better move. Be advised that the back rank mate I found myself in was overlooked until it was too late.

I captured on C7, with the idea that since I was a pawn ahead that starting to knock out the unguarded pieces or pawns, whichever they may be, would give me an advantage. Capturing on C7 also protected the knight on E7, and I would then take out the black bishop possibly, and work down the other pawns if the need arose.

Afterwards when looking at the game, I saw a potentially much stronger move--moving the white queen to E5, challenging the black queen while simultaneously protecting the white knight twice. Had we exchanged queens it would have made his assault less damaging on my right flank. Moving the black queen could have also netted me the bishop, and keeping the heat on the queen and potentially the rook, neutralizing his threat and leaving me plenty of pawns on the A through D file to potentially promote once endgame was reached.

What do you all think of what I should have done? Or maybe something different altogether?

Your thoughts on it are appreciated. This game was also against someone 300 points higher than me in rating, so I definitely wanted to win this one.

I was so absorbed in this game!! I enjoyed this one the most so far even though I lost it.

Since he can checkmate you on a1 with his queen, Qe5 is the only move that doesn't lose outright or give up your queen for a rook, so that would be your best move.

both moves look good but he has a back rank checkmate after Qa1+ Re1 Qxe1#,you have 7 moves that would prevent this Qe5,Re1,Re5,f3,f4,h3,h4 but a pawn move loses the a file pawn after Qa1+ Kf2 or Kh2 (depending on which pawn you moved)Qxa2. This leaves you three moves Re1,Re5,and Qe5.Obviously the best move is Qe5 to prevent Rxb3 where you would be down material. Qxc7 is a good move but cannot be played immediately because of his back rank checkmate. It would put you 2 pawns ahead and give you a passed pawn that probably would be able to promote to a queen with proper play.

Is it guess what happens next or what why dont you post up the actual gameMuch easier to analise for your viewers

Qe5 is the only move to stay in the game.

It also might be wiser not to be playing guys 300 points higher than you bit by bit is better and you will probably learn a lot more that way. Its a bit like evolution nothing seems to be happening for a long long time maybe thousands of years and then suddenly in a moment the world is melting within a few years. So build it up bit by bit and suddenly one day it will just fall into place

The old addage probably sits well in Chess--The harder you work the luckier you become. its not like text messaging or making coffee .

So if you want to enjoy chess and learn rule one work hard .

Rule2 Dont beat yourself up when you loose put it down to experience part of the learning process.

Rule 3 Process thats what it is so stop trying to get there to fast.

Rule 4 once a month play someone at a much lower level someone about six hundred lower maybe not a rating contest but just a game you can try teach them a little and boost your confidence when you realise you were once at that level

Stay clear of bogey players.

Some guys can have the indian sign on you they maybe lower rated but somehow they keep beating you thats ok their style probably just doesnt suit you so avoid playing them for a while dont get caught up in a brawl with a lower rated player or revenge.

Dont forget chess is a challenge not a competition (a bit like life) the challenge is for you to play to the best of your ability. If you do this you will be very competitive. Dont forget what pele said he never really competed with any other footballer or tryed to be better than anyone else he just tryed to be the best he could be given his abilities, and he worked hard training and developing his skills by doing this he became the best footballer that ever lived.

So I hope some of these rules can help you and maybe some day you will be a GM.

Here is the actual game in question. I put out a seek and it was accepted. I normally play those around my level for the time being but I wanted to see how I did against a higher rated player once I saw his rating. Thanks for your comments! Any additional comments are welcome concerning other points in the game.

rook_battery

Pretty good game. You made a bunch of mistakes here and there, but you're definitely playing stronger than 990 :)

3. d4 is stronger than  3. Nc3 because you are ahead in development and this will keep the initiative, whereas after  3. Nc3 (not really bad; it just allows Black to recover a little from his weak 2nd move)  ... Nf6 lets Black develop and attack something.

I meant 4. d4; not 3. d4.  And I meant Black's weak 3rd move, not his 2nd move!

Thanks Brandon..I have no idea where I am really at ratings-wise...but I believe that after x amount of games I should have a more solid idea of where my real  playing level is at.

When I started here I was using Internet explorer and it was disconnecting me during games and I took a couple of losses because of that. FireFox fixed that though. I had two draws but the game froze so we both figured drawing both was only fair. This is not making excuses--just letting you know what was happening my first few days here.

Mistakes are what I am trying to rectify. I know I make them here and there and the only way for me to stop making them is by study and the old adage of playing more and more games to get more sharp.

I look forward to my time here--Chess is something I enjoy and I am the type of person who likes to improve whenever possible.

Tonydal-----great combination there to get the queen. There was a case there of not seeing the better move with the rook checking the king. My queen would have been toast too probably but the material advantage I still would have had would have been hard for him to overcome.

More time on the chessboard and those combinations will reveal themselves to me more readily.