I wish I never learned how many "points" each piece was worth.

I just lost a game because I couldn't recognize that I still had a clearly winning position if I was willing to give up my queen. I feel like if I hadn't learned the material value of each piece, it would have been a lot clearer that trading the queen for a bishop pair and a rook was winning. End rant.

hhh

yup....... i no da feeling... i recently started playing a very up-tempo, attacking, sack-ridden style of play. my rating went down appropriately! whatever........ i wanted to get away from counting, ok, who's ahead... counting pieces. i really didn't used to 'get' who might have a better position. now, i rarely look at pieces on the board, more who has better attacking chances, more mobility, and, hopefully, good defense. that's called position.

to change the way you play you probably have to sacrifice the style of play you're used to. like, i sacrificed a couple hundred ratings points. oh well.

You could have still defended with Kf8 on the next move; moving the knight backwards all but forfeited your right to castle anyway.

But whenever your opponent sacrifices material for an attack you have to consider if you can halt the attack by giving some or all of the material back. Don't judge by the "value" of the trade, just consider the material (and positional) balance at the end.

The best defense was to take rook with queen, I get what you mean but I did end up able to castle queenside.

Edit: Kf8 is actually almost 7 points worse than Ng8.....

Material count didn't fail you, what probably failed you was your limited tactical ability:
I'm guessing your calculation only went so far as "queen takes rook" Queen is more valuable than Rook therefore no!

Material count could've helped you a lot had you seen to the end of that combination: queen takes rook followed by bishop takes bishop check! and later saving the knight under attack. So is this exchange good or bad for black? Material count can help instantly: You'd have : 3+3+5 > 9.

@Sir_Yusley

You will need to pay attention to...
"How many pieces do I have in play" vs "his pieces in play"
This is the more accurate count than just counting what's lying on the back rank.

I would suggest you to look through miniatures where time mattered more than material
www.goodreads.com/book/show/1128520.1000_Best_Short_Games_of_Chess
http://billwall.phpwebhosting.com/collections/Chernev%20-%20The%201000%20Best%20Short%20Games%20of%20Chess.pgn

@CrazyHome

Wow I never expected some actual chess resources! Posted this more as an outlet for my frustration than anything. Thanks so much!