I lost this game

Hi RHP mates,
I lost the linked Game 437740.
I was doing well till the move 10 with good center and developed pieces, then a sac to create a passed pawn went bad.
After that everything went down hill.
Requesting you to view and comment on this game, so I understand where I went wrong.
Thanks in advance.
Prashant

hmm... although I'm a bit of a patzer, my first thoughts are that the culprit was all that pawn pushing in the center. Allowed that knight to get the f4 post. You really should have dislodged it.

Also, why sac to create a passed pawn in the middlegame? It was so far from support...

Concur with Paultopia here.... generally a passed pawn isn't very useful until the endgame. What it does is give you "endgame odds" meaning that the prospect of an endgame will make your opponenet uncomfortable because of your passed pawn. However, you shouldn't sac material to get a passer unless you can clearly see that it'll lead to more material for you.

However, I do think your resignation was a bit premature. His knights are in your camp and tough to dislodge, true, but they're also barely defended. In fact, you should have played 25.Bxf4. In order to maintain his advantage he would have to play 25.....Nxf4, because after 25....Nxe1 26. Rxe1, you've won two knights for your rook, which means you're only down an Exchange. Plus, you have two extra pawns, both passed. I hope I have helped.

Originally posted by Natural Science
Concur with Paultopia here.... generally a passed pawn isn't very useful until the endgame. What it does is give you "endgame odds" meaning that the prospect of an endgame will make your opponenet uncomfortable because of your passed pawn. However, you shouldn't sac material to get a passer unless you can clearly see that it'll lead to more ma ...[text shortened]... 're only down an Exchange. Plus, you have two extra pawns, both passed. I hope I have helped.

You're right...I missed that. Well, I can see a last-gasp chance with d7. He would absolutely have to play Rd8, anything else and you'll either get the advantage or, at the very least, get some material back.

I'm probably going to reveal my ignorance here, but your position looked defensible to me until the exchange on F7. I've looked at it several times and still don't get it.

Why not advance e5 instead of d5 and provoke a more favorable exchange? If you can play it right, you may even get away with a rook steal on A8.

Originally posted by Natural Science
You're right...I missed that. Well, I can see a last-gasp chance with d7. He would absolutely have to play Rd8, anything else and you'll either get the advantage or, at the very least, get some material back.

Thanks all for your views