What is your opinion of me? :)

Hello RHP! First-time poster. (Be kind to me.)

I'm 20 years old now, and only started playing chess when I was about 16. All this time, I have just been playing very casually, and have never studied it. I just like playing chess!

Well, it's been a while since I've played chess now, but I've just finished a game. I just wanted to ask how you people think I did in the game.
Also, just merely out of curiosity, I wondered if maybe anybody could guestimate what kind of ELO rating I'd have, though I do understand this is hard to judge from just one game. I hear 1200 is a good number to start with, so I'm hoping for at least that!

The game: Game 1945889

Thank you!

EDIT: [gid] tag working. Thanks Freddie.

EDIT2: Oh, I forgot to say that I resigned at the end because I knew that things were in favour of my opponent at the time, and that, knowing myself, I'd be likely to make more mistakes.

You are already at 1600+, why do you want to be back at 1200?

Originally posted by Tepesco
Hello RHP! First-time poster. (Be kind to me.)

I'm 20 years old now, and only started playing chess when I was about 16. All this time, I have just been playing very casually, and have never studied it. I just like playing chess!

Well, it's been a while since I've played chess now, but I've just finished a game. I just wanted to ask how you people thin my opponent at the time, and that, knowing myself, I'd be likely to make more mistakes.

gid works like so: [gid]insert only the number here e.g.1945889 [/gid]

Game 1945889

Wow, fast replies. ^_^

@Prosoccer: Well, having never studied chess, I certainly don't expect to be above 1200. I generally know nothing about openings, or anything like that. I just play what seems most sensible to me. Also, even just looking at recent forum threads, some people are only aiming for 1200 or 1400 so I assumed they were already high targets!
To be honest, I don't really know anything about the chess world other than how to play the game!

1200 is not a good number to start with.

Originally posted by General Putzer
1200 is not a good number to start with.

Sure it is. Maybe not on this site, but in over the board tournaments, 1200 would be an excellent rating for a beginner.

I think you'll be about 1400 on this site. Your over the board rating is hard to determine because many people play very differently in the different environments. I'd have to say that you wouldn't be over 1200 OTB though. But that's just fine for someone who hasn't done any study or serious playing. You certainly look like you have potential.

You needed to be castled much earlier (I'd have played 9 or 12. Be2 to allow this) and don't really want to be thinking in terms of attacking until you are. When you attacked, you gave up the bishop for 2 pawns on move 12 which isn't really enough compensation, especially as you were lagging in developement once that bishop was gone. 27. g3 is not going to increase the safety of your king. On the other hand you avoided getting your queen pinned to your king with 11. a3 which is the kind of thing that's easy to miss.

....12. Bxa7??

its almost always a mistake to make a move like that...EVEN IF the knight wasn't just sitting there you still would have lost the bishop.....(b6 traps it, Kb7 Bxb6 cxb6 --- gives you 2 pawns for a bishop)

Before you did that i'd say Black was better, but your position was ok (if you played the next few moves well)


.........Its hard to make any judgement about your strength in this game - simply because of that blunder.....

Originally posted by Shinidoki
....12. Bxa7??

its almost always a mistake to make a move like that...EVEN IF the knight wasn't just sitting there you still would have lost the bishop.....(b6 traps it, Kb7 Bxb6 cxb6 --- gives you 2 pawns for a bishop)

Before you did that i'd say Black was better, but your position was ok (if you played the next few moves well)


.........Its h ...[text shortened]... d to make any judgement about your strength in this game - simply because of that blunder.....

It wasn't a blunder, either the knight is trapped with your b6 move in which case white gets his 2 pawns and black's king protection is a mess, or black takes with the knight and white grabs the central pawn as in the game continuation. I think that tactically it was ok, it was a strategic misjudgement - the idea may have worked had white had better developement and could have exerted some control, but without the white squared bishop in the game that was going to be difficult.

Just want to clear up my intentions on 12. Bxa7. 🙂

I've seen games where the winner runs all the pawns up towards the king, and I ultimately wanted to do that in this game too. However, it seems I was thinking too far ahead as Deep Thought has kindly pointed out. At least I've learnt something. ^_^

I've just had a look back at the game, and have been wondering whether 19. c5 would have been a better move. Any thoughts as to how stupid a move this would be would be greatly appreciated. 😀

Thanks again for all the comments so far. Maybe I can win a game some day now.