Chess openings

@TheRider
We all struggle when playing opponents 100+ higher-rated. It's why they're 100pts higher-rated.

I don't agree with Pressburg; always play against humans to improve. Machines don't replicate our styles.

To address the game itself, "building a blockade of pawns" as you did with g3 lost you the initiative and gave you a worse position! Simply developing with Nf3 or Qe2 would have been much better. I don't understand how this game illustrates your point.

@TheRider What has blundering your queen to do with the openings?
You won't find any openings or opening principles, that prevent your "stupid inaccuracies and blunders" (your words)

@Rrhyddhad

I hear what you are saying, but to bring it back to the 'way to open' for new players' players are often criticized for developing their Queen too early (GM Yasser Seirawan)
I guess this is my point, do I play the fast opening and development and get castled ASAP, or do I react to my opponents moves regardless and ignore the attack of the centre, develop my major pieces and get castled or try to build a pawn island?

@sheckley666
The blunder of my Queen was nothing to do with the opening as you say, but I was talking about the first 10+ moves, the blunder was just that, an embarrassing blunder.
That blunder had nothing to do with the opening

I agree with @Rrhyddhad. You should definitely not play against the engine as they play in an utterly different way than humans.

Here are some tips for the future:

1. Continue playing slow games as this will help your chess a lot (only if you use all your time though- so don't play to fast as this will defeat the purpose).
2. Like @tpr said : you shouldn't be making moves like Nh3 and g3 in the opening. They weaken your Kingsideand serve absolutely no purpose.
3. Think before you move any piece. Make sure that your move has a plan behind it- A bad plan is better than no plan. Someone suggested that you should enable move confirmation. Great idea! before your confirm your move think CCT (Are there any checks that your opponent can make? Can he capture any of your pieces? Does he have any threats?)
4.Try to get some basic beginner book (Logical chess move by move is a classic: www.amazon.com/Logical-Chess-Every-Explained-Algebraic/dp/0713484640). This will definitely halp your chess.
5. Always analyse your chess game. Try to analyse your chess games without the engine first before turning the engine on. See if you can try to find all your errors and give your alternative move. You can check with the engine afterwards.

To answer your question in the previous post: you should definitely get castled asap but don't do this blindly - take note of your opponents moves. Also fight for the center as well.

Hope this helps.

@MrGM
thank you for your suggestion. the book sounds good.

Ah was I ever that young... Castling early is often a waste of time. I like to get my minor pieces out on both sides and leave castling as an ace in the hole. This helps in protecting against your opponent stacking his pieces against one side, and castling long can often gain a tempo in the center. Also, tactics puzzles over and again. At your level you'll learn about forks etc. Finally, basic endgame mating patterns including how to promote your last pawn. Your game will improve for free.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, I have no ambition to become a GM, I love Chess as a hobby and would like to improve, and have found I seem to play better when not adhering to the 'basics' of a Ruy Lopez opening or a Sicilian defense.
I guess I just need to keep playing and I will eventually improve

Mate, if you love the game, then put an effort in for your own games. It doesn't just mean playing better. You can't just be better if you want to or not. It takes practice.

I'm not saying play for 8 hours every day, or buy expensive books. Just look at where you're going wrong in your previous games (Like you were with that game - good stuff), and make a conscious effort to not do that in your next games.

Improving is all about failing, and learning from them.

Also, don't sell yourself short. Chess is a hard game to master, but if you just have fun, you can go a long way :-)

Also, watching grandmaster games is really good. There are some really good games that have been analysed on YouTube