What is the best next move?

Why did you waste a move (and give up a bishop for a knight) with 7. Bxc6+?
Actually in the position above, I prefer white. Why? Materially, the players are even. But white has 2 pawn islands while black has 1 island plus two isolated pawns! After 11. Nxg4 Nxg4 12. 0-0, white is actually better developed too.

Castling is one of the smartest moves you can make with an open d or e file.
I personally feel you could've won this easily because of the emptiness on black's left side. nxc6 takes a pawn while forking the rook and yet another pawn, and if the rook moves to protect on a8, then your rook could take the d file. Sometimes a passed pawn ends up being the deciding factor in the game, despite it only being one point until promotion.



here is one. move 4 could have been played better.
In Josh Waiztkens, Attacking Chess, I learned the concept of zweischung, or in between move. It usually becomes a turning point in the game. Its when you force a move by putting the opponent in check. then you move to your advantage. in this case it would be 4. Bb5 ...Nc6 or c6 5. Qd3.
Nxg4 is not actually best, nc3 prevents the mate threat and (eventually) threatens nxc6. The white knight likely gets to stay in the strong square, and the black bishop will need to spend a turn to relocate. After nxg4, nxg4 finishing development is slightly awkward for white unless he plays h3, in which case black's pieces end up on decent squares.
After nc3, black is not meaningfully ahead in development and the mate threat is dealt with, so black's weak pawns turn out to be the bigger deal.
I had a hard time with this move. I'm not a very experienced player and I sort of blew my position by sacrificing all my pieces in play (I'm learning everyday!). Obviously, I'm a move away from mate in this situation. From what I perceived, my options were either to castle, f3, or Nxg4. Nxg4 would just remove my last piece in play and further advance his knight. If I played through f3 then my King would be waaaay out in the open after it all hits the fan. So I chose to castle even though it felt pretty counter productive since I was feeling so far behind positionally.
I was wondering if you all could give me some suggestions as to what I could have done better at this point. Thanks.
Thanks for your suggestions, I have a lot to learn!

Castling is one of the smartest moves you can make with an open d or e file.
I personally feel you could've won this easily because of the emptiness on black's left side. nxc6 takes a pawn while forking the rook and yet another pawn, and if the rook moves to protect on a8, then your rook could take the d file. Sometimes a passed pawn ends up being the deciding factor in the game, despite it only being one point until promotion.

0-0 or Nc3. I would choose Nc3
Is the correct answer, already at move 7 for white. Development and king safety.

0-0 or Nc3. I would choose Nc3
Is the correct answer, already at move 7 for white. Development and king safety.>>>
Jaronll must feel very pleased with himself. Never noticed it's from so long ago. I think it's easier for black to draw against 11. Nc3. Without working through 30 ply of the continuation I suggested after 0-0, which may be ok for white for all I know, although black seems to get a powerful attack, I think the way to win for white is Nxg4 and then 0-0. Otherwise, black retains the two bishops and I don't think white can win. White is slightly better at the final position in the game that was actually played and needs to maximise his chances of winning.
The point of Nc3 is also to control d5 and e4 in the center, and to bring this knight into play to join the future attack and open up possible attacking combinations, it also defends the d1 square in move 11. By not moving Nc3 earlier, and not considering Nc3, the OP has violated most of the opening principles of chess in move 7, 8, 9 and 10, so he should definitely have considered Nc3 too, it should be pressing: https://www.chess.com/article/view/the-principles-of-the-opening
I had a hard time with this move. I'm not a very experienced player and I sort of blew my position by sacrificing all my pieces in play (I'm learning everyday!). Obviously, I'm a move away from mate in this situation. From what I perceived, my options were either to castle, f3, or Nxg4. Nxg4 would just remove my last piece in play and further advance his knight. If I played through f3 then my King would be waaaay out in the open after it all hits the fan. So I chose to castle even though it felt pretty counter productive since I was feeling so far behind positionally.
I was wondering if you all could give me some suggestions as to what I could have done better at this point. Thanks.
Thanks for your suggestions, I have a lot to learn!