The Lost series, Number 1

This would be the first in this series. All of the games here are analyzed and opening books are consulted only after the games have ended. Although opening books are allowed to be used during games, I have limited myself to consulting them only after the end of a game for personal reasons, primarily that I retain more of the lessons learned that way. Your feedback and additional insights on the game are highly appreciated.

White resigned

1. ...Nf6 - a response to black that I just found out now to be King's Indian (I have a lot to learn indeed, as I hardly know the repercussions of this)

2. c4 - hardly any other move I can think of that time, but which, upon consulting an openings guide, turns out to be a proper and preferred move, and which will eventually lead anyway to my plan of doing Nc3 to contest for center pawn control, which I eventually did in move 3

2. ...g6 - still following the standard King's Indian line

3. Nc3 Bg7 - prepared by the previous moves and quite by the book so far

4. e4 - surprisingly, this is a book move, which I thought was one of my weaker responses

4...d6 5. Nf3 - surprisingly, still a book move and along the classical lines at that!

5...O-O

6. Be2 Bg4 - another surprise is that black's move is hardly a preferred move, not even considered a proper move by book openings. This is due to the theory that after Black's castling, he must move at once to dismantle the center formation of white. Eventually he will be doing it
in his next set of moves

7. O-O e5

8. dxe5 - not considered a good move, should have done d5. I guess I was too eager to clear up the center

8. ...dxe5 9. Qxd8 Rxd8 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Bxf3 Nc6 - QxQ should have been a second option

12...Rd7 - after the threat to R has gone, I should have considered his next move Nd4

15...Nxf3+ should have been considered earlier on as a real possibility and one where I am more likely to lose out on position

21...Bxa1 - I guess after this error, I don't have much choice but to resign. My N is trapped for quite some moves and black will be able to take on my pawns by the time I get myself untangled. It was proper to let go already.

Based on the above, I guess I can say I can trust my instincts for the opening moves, at least for this type of openings. Of course, that's not to say that I had not been doing some efforts to understand openings lately. It just feels good that it somehow pays off. Hopefully I can analyze games much deeper soon.