This is my simul game against a better player of around 1900 elo. While checking in the analysis board, I found that I did notice that I would lose some material (unfortunately after I made the move) in the first blunder highlighted .
However, I failed to understand my second blunder. Was it easy to notice?
As this is my game with a much higher rated opponent, where should I really improve my gameplay on? Tips and suggestions? thanks in advance. :D
Tactics! (Bxe4, you used 4 seconds on that move)
And about ... f6, you give away all the lights squares. To put all of your pawns on dark squares without the light squared bishop is not a good idea.
That mate in 7 is hard to find for sure. But if you play by some basic principles you will find that f6 leaves g6 permanently weak. Also you opened the diagonal for the Bishop. I don't think that there is much to analyse in this particular game. At least from my point of view. But then again, your first blunder baffles me.
Thank you arve! I made the move f6 to save that pawn. Are positional considerations very often to be carefully considered while saving pawns?
And was the 4th move e5 quite right? Looks too ambitious to me, although the analysis says it is OK. :P
Thank you Zara. I tried that f6 move to save the pawn. Should I usually sacrifice pawns in favor of avoiding weaknesses like this?
e5 is ambitious but fine - justified by White not occupying the centre
If you play Bg4 I think you need to be prepared to take the knight - else your bishop gets stuck on g6 after h3/g4 (though Nh4 by your opponent doesn't look like the best plan)
Bxe4 isn't even tactics really - it's just a case of counting how many times a piece is attacked / defended.
f6 is about king safety - even if you don't see a mate, Bg6+ and Nf5+ are just crying out to be played. But the game's lost anyway at this point.
Hard otherwise to say where to improve - the game was spoiled very early on by the first blunder.
Just to add to the general thoughts here:
It is obvious that f6 is bad, although there is no "good" move here, because the game is already lost from the first blunder.
But let's assume you had an extra minor piece on the Q-side, doing nothing to affect the position (so it wasn't lost). How do you see it's a bad move?
1) Opponent only has light-squared bishop, and the move critically weakens the light-squares.
2) Opponent has a Knight, that will make that square its home in one move (although technically that wasn't the best move, but the mate is not an obvious one)
So, to answer the question "Was it easy to notice?", yes.
That pawn structure in front of the King (the V) is a bad structure in most situations. But ESPECIALLY bad if opponent still has the right bishop. Happily, fixing this mistake is easy: unless there is an excellent reason, don't ever accept that pawn structure. And be realistic with what an "excellent reason" is.
You've asked a great question if you ask me, because by avoiding that structure 99% of the time in future, you've definitely strengthened your play. :)
You should concentrate on activity and coordination of your pieces to obtain control of, or deny access to important lines, files, diagonals, and weak squares, while you maintain your king safety.
Pawn structures and king safety issues make lines, files, diagonals and squares important or weak, and the position dynamic or more strategic.
In order to make progress in these matters though, you must develop your mental imaging (clarity and depth of your calculations) through tactics puzzles. Or, the above subject will not land on target.
Fortunately, as you study the game more you will develop a "gut feeling" (scientifically, basal ganglia in your brain will scream he has seen this "pattern" before) and it will lighten your calculation work. (calculation also gets better by practice) Basal ganglia can't express itself in words though, so you must figure out why a particular position on the board gives you the creeps.
Last but not least, you may be alone in the tactics improvement department (as in no one can learn to bike for you), but you can accelerate your positional understanding's (gut feeling + logical evaluation) improvement, by watching the best and their commentary as in PowerPlayChess and St.Louis Chess Club from youtube. (Many videos are also available here on lichess sorted via tags)
Leaving aside the first blunder, I think the best way you can improve the opening and early middle-game to get a playable position against most anybody is by following these three basic principles:
1) Develop all pieces as soon as you can - in your case, although not a mistake, I thought the early h6 wasted time; developing a minor piece may have been better
2) Castle asap; it helps link your rooks, helps with removing some basic tactics at opponent's disposal. Also prevents your king from sitting lamely in the middle of the board crying out to be attacked.
3) Try to attack the center; build up pressure, centralize your pieces; get your knights to outposts ... then when you're ready bash through with everything you've got.
The above is by no means foolproof, but it can get anyone to a solid-ish middle game (obviously it's situation dependent). Hope it helps :)