Analysis of a position of a low rated player in order to improve

Question

I am a beginner in chess, and I am trying to learn how to play well. I am rated 800 in Chess.com, so I have a really low rating, and I am trying to improve it. I was playing a game and I have been in a position which I considered a good position in my opinion, but since it is the point of view of a beginner I would like to have a comparison with someone who is better than me at playing since the perception of what is a good position changes depending on the player.

I was almost at the beginning of the game and this was my position:

[fen "rn2kb1r/ppp2ppp/5n2/7q/4NPb1/3P1N2/PPP1B2P/R1BQK2R w - - 0 1"]

I had the white pieces and in this case is black turn to move. It was still the beginning so I am not sure it is possible to evaluate if the position is good or not at this early stage of the game.

Is it a good position? And which in your opinion would be the best move in this case?

I was thinking about moving the pawn in f4 to f5 in order to try to move the bishop to g5, which seems to me another good position.

What do you think? Thanks.

Answer 1

The first thing that comes to mind is that your king-side has been weakened quite a bit, but thankfully, it is your move. If it were black to move, you would be all but lost after 1...Nxe4 2. dxe4 Nc6, and Rd8 next since your queen would be forced away from your king, and it would likely perish to an attack.

 [FEN "rn2kb1r/ppp2ppp/5n2/7q/4NPb1/3P1N2/PPP1B2P/R1BQK2R b KQkq - 0 1"]

 1...Nxe4 2. dxe4 Nc6 3. null Rd8

In this position, even with you having the first move, I would still say that the position is more difficult for you. If you let it think for a moment, Stockfish rates it as slightly better for you, but if you do not play the EXACT best moves, it is easy to end up with black better. That is generally a sign that your position is not so great in practice since we are not computers.

Especially in the opening, you should post the moves that led up to this because I would say that you have made mistakes, and it is probably more important to correct those than worry about a position that is already tricky to play.

In this position, you have a few moves that do not lose immediately: Ng3, Be3, and Nf6+. The computer likes Ng3 the best and I will give that as the primary variation. The computer is not 100% sure about this variation, and often changes its evaluation on what is the best move for both sides as you go along, but you can see that many of the moves are not human. In cases like that, you are likely to play moves that are worse because you want to play positions that are easier to find good moves for you, and that make it difficult for your opponent to find them. Tal made a living off this principle.

 [FEN "rn2kb1r/ppp2ppp/5n2/7q/4NPb1/3P1N2/PPP1B2P/R1BQK2R w KQkq - 0 1"]

 1. Ng3 Qa5+ (1... Qg6 $4 2. f5 Bxf5 3. Nh4) (1... Qh6 2. f5 Qh3 3. Bf1 Bxf3 4. Qxf3 Qh4 5. Qxb7 $18) 2. Bd2 Qb6 3. Ng5 Bd7 4. Bh5 Nxh5 5. Qxh5 g6 6. Qe2+ Be7 7. Bc3 O-O 8. Qe5 f6 9. Qd5+ Kh8 10. O-O-O {And finally, it is clear that white is much better}

Answer 2

It would be interesting to see the game itself. I'm guessing you moved the f pawn and didn't defend against Qh4+ which is a common beginner mistake.

From here I'd probably play Be3 because it stops most of what black might want to do and develops a piece. Nxf6+ is probably reasonable. It's not a bad idea to trade pieces when you're being attacked especially if you can inflict long term weaknesses like doubled pawns. The engine likes Ng3 and it's probably the strongest move.

White isn't bad in this position but his position is a little loose and there are lots of chances for him to go wrong.

Answer 3

I would worry more about looking at GM games to get a feel for what good moves are. Also look at typical bad things beginners do; but do not worry about analysing bad games as that is not really useful.

You want to be making better moves so you are never in a position like those bad games and won't care about those moves.