Why was the engine giving such positive evaluations for my game with equal material?

Question

I just played a game on chess.com that was roughly equal material until the final move (I was one pawn up for most of the game) but the engine favours my position to the extent that by move 12 I had a +5.5 evaluation which steadily rose until the end of the game.

I can see that at move 32, all of black's pieces are stuck in a corner while mine are active around the king and because of that, there is a forced mate that black doesn't have time to stop, but for example, on move 22 Stockfish 12 gives me +7 at depth 22 being only one pawn up even though black's pieces are out.

What is it about this game that made the engine so happy? And more importantly, how can I consistently/intentionally play like this? A lot of the moves I made were deemed inaccuracies because I guess I just didn't understand whatever amazing plan Stockfish saw.

[FEN ""]
[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.01.23"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Me"]
[Black "NN"]
[Result "1-0"]
[CurrentPosition "r1b1k3/1n1q1p2/1pB1p3/4P3/1P5B/p1P1PQ2/P4P2/1K5R b q -"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "D00"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Queens-Pawn-Opening-Accelerated-London-System"]
[UTCDate "2021.01.23"]
[UTCTime "10:53:13"]
[WhiteElo "1375"]
[BlackElo "1343"]
[TimeControl "600"]
[Termination "matt2230 won by resignation"]
[StartTime "10:53:13"]
[EndDate "2021.01.23"]
[EndTime "11:03:23"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/live/game/6320705182"]

1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 Nf6 3. e3 h6 4. Bd3 g5 5. Bg3 h5 6. h3 h4 7. Bh2 Nc6 8. c3 e6 9.
Nf3 Bh6 10. Nbd2 g4 11. hxg4 Nxg4 12. Qe2 b6 13. Bg1 Bg7 14. Nh2 Nf6 15. Nhf3 h3
16. gxh3 Ng4 17. O-O-O Nf6 18. h4 a5 19. Kb1 a4 20. Bh2 a3 21. b3 Na5 22. Ne5
Rxh4 23. Bg3 Rxh1 24. Rxh1 c6 25. b4 Nb7 26. Nxc6 Qd7 27. Ne5 Qa4 28. Bc2 Qa7
29. Bh4 Ne4 30. Nxe4 dxe4 31. Bxe4 Bxe5 32. dxe5 Qa4 33. Qf3 Qd7 34. Bc6 1-0

Answer 1

on move 22 Stockfish 12 gives me +7 at depth 22 being only one pawn up even though black's pieces are out

Black's pieces are not all out and the ones that are aren't on the right squares. Black is still several moves away from being able to castle safely. Meanwhile you have completed development, including the queenside castling safety move Kb2, and some of your pieces are on very good squares.

how can I consistently/intentionally play like this?

The best move you made was picking a patzer for an opponent, someone who develops two pieces and then starts a wild attack making pointless wing pawn moves. The next best thing you did was obey standard opening principles of developing your pieces properly. Continue doing those two things, particularly the first, and you should win all your future games.

Answer 2

Position counts just as much as material. Often more.

Like Brian Towers said you played a patzer.

Play some good players and learn to appreciate position more than material if you want to improve.