[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2010.01.01"]
[White "Borisco"]
[Black "DrunkenChessPlayer"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1194"]
[BlackElo "868"]
[TimeControl "15|10"]
[Termination "Borisco won by resignation"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 bxc6 5.d4 d5 6.exd5 cxd5 7.Nxe5 Nf6 8.Bg5 Bg4 9.Nxg4 Qe7+ 10.Ne3 Qb4+
11.c3 Qd6 12.Bxf6 Qxf6 13.Nxd5 Qe6+ 14.Qe2 Qxe2+ 15.Kxe2 Be7 16.Nxc7+ Kf8 17.Nxa8 1-0

I feel like I make a lot of silly mistakes for some reason, but I don't know why.

I've got a few things to say about this game:

Castle early!

8.Bg4 was a terrible move for multiple reasons. Number one is that g4 was being attacked by white's knight. All you did was give away your piece. g4 isn't a protected square. If you are going to put a piece on an unprotected square, then make sure it isn't being attacked by your opponent!

Holding on to your pieces and not simply giving them away is the number 1 thing you can do to get better.

A much better move is Be7. It breaks the pin and clears the way for castling. Castle and protect your king!

9.Qe7+ was one option. 9.Be7 was another! Your queen just blocks in your bishop, which means your king is stuck in the middle of the board with your pawn structure in shambles. Sure, you've got a good structure to your kingside, but your bishop means you can't use it!

Not only that, putting your queen in front of your king is asking for a queen trade. All your opponent has to do is play Qe2 and the queens are off the board. You do not want to trade down material when your opponent is up. You've just given your opponent your bishop and now you offer to trade off queens. That's not good.

16.Nxc7+ Thats a killer. That paticular fork is great when you can do it. It sucks when it happens to you. Castle and that fork doesn't happen!

If you see that it's about to happen and you can support your c pawn with your rook, do it! But at this point the queens are off the board and you are down a piece, your chances of winning are not very good.

In short, two things you should learn from this game:

1->Hold on to your pieces. Make sure your opponent isn't attacking the square before you move your piece to it. This should be your main goal.

2-> clear your knight and bishop and castle early, castle often!

My thoughts on the game:

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 bxc6
{4. ...dxc6 is better for Black, as he avoids the isolated a-pawn, opens the d-file for the queen and the diagonal for the light-squared bishop.}
5. d4 d5
{Interesting reply by Black, but the e5 pawn is undefended.}
6. exd5 cxd5 7. Nxe5 Nf6
{Eh, doesn't do much other than developing a piece and defending the d5 pawn, which is already defended once and not attacked at all. I'd be interested in seeing how 7. ...c5 and 8. ...Bd6 would turn out for Black.}
8. Bg5 Bg4
{Hangs a piece.}
9. Nxg4 Qe7+ 10. Ne3 Qb4+ 11. c3 Qd6 12. Bxf6 Qxf6 13. Nxd5 Qe6+
{14. Nxc7+ is a King-Queen-Rook fork.}
14. Qe2 Qxe2+ 15. Kxe2 Be7
{Bd6 was needed.}
16. Nxc7+ Kf8 17. Nxa8 1-0

A little opening inaccuracy plus simply giving a piece for free was bad enough. Then letting White get his knight to the d5 square, and eventually a fork on c7 won it for White.

Eladar said it pretty well himself.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 bxc6
The normal move here is dxc6, to open up the center for your queen and bishop to get out.

5.d4 d5
That loses a pawn, but given his overwhelming center if you play 5. ... exd4 6. Qxd4, it actually seems relatively reasonable.

6.exd5 cxd5 7.Nxe5 Nf6 8.Bg5 Bg4
Umm... that just loses a piece. Make sure your pieces are defended. Comes with experience more than anything else. Was the fast time control a factor here? I'd say play slower games, just to be sure you have time to double check every move and avoid these kinds of blunders. That and do lots of tactics puzzles to get used to spotting stuff like this immediately.

9.Nxg4 Qe7+ 10.Ne3 Qb4+ 11.c3 Qd6
Why not take the free pawn on b2? After 11. ... Qxb2 12. Nd2 (to keep his a1 rook safe) Qxc3, at least you're getting some pawns back. Just watch for 13. Rc1, winning your pawn on c7 in return. Probably still worth it, though, as you can take on d4 at that point. In fact, if he takes with Rxc7, then you can play Bb4 and Ne4 to pile on his d2 knight. You might actually be able to make some worthwhile counterplay that way.

12.Bxf6 Qxf6 13.Nxd5 Qe6+ 14.Qe2 Qxe2+ 15.Kxe2 Be7 16.Nxc7+ Kf8 17.Nxa8 1-0

You've got to practice spotting knight forks. Get a book of EASY tactics puzzles and just go through it over and over until you can spot stuff like this instantly.

--Fromper

I threw in a few annotations to your game. I agree with Fromper, get a tactics book and work out the solutions. I have a book called 200 Perplexing Chess Puzzles by Marting Greif that I like a lot. The puzzles are very difficult, I could not even solve the first one after staring at it forever and had to look it up, but I began solving more and more on my own and have gotten a lot of good tactical vision from this book. Another thing I did was write my games down in a notebook, then I analyzed every move, writing down better moves, looking for tactics and alternate lines. I use computer analysis only after I have done my own to compare notes. This has helped a lot.

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2010.01.01"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Borisco"]
[Black "DrunkenChessPlayer"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C68"]
[WhiteElo "1194"]
[BlackElo "868"]
[Opening "Ruy Lopez: exchange variation"]
[TimeControl "15|10"]
[Termination "Borisco won by resignation"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 {The Spanish Opening, this move was introduced by
Morpy I believe and is one of the strongest replies.} 4. Bxc6 {The exchange
version removes the defender of the e5 pawn as compensation for the bishop.}
4... bxc6 {The correct capture, even though it may not look correct, is
4...dxc6, for this reason that if 5.Nxe5 then black can respond ...Qd4 to
threaten both knight and pawn, and when white retreats the knight, then black
can take the e4 pawn with check then force a trade of queens that eliminates
whites ability to castle.} (4... dxc6 5. Nxe5 Qd4 6. Nf3 Qxe4+ 7. Qe2 Qxe2+ 8.
Kxe2) 5. d4 {An alternative of 5.Nxe5 does not provide an advantage.} (5. Nxe5
Qe7 6. d4 d6 7. Nc4 Qxe4+ 8. Ne3 Nf6 9. O-O Be7 10. Re1 Qg6 11. Qf3 Bd7) 5... d5
6. exd5 {The pawn break combined with castling to activate the rook can provide
some pressure on the e file.} 6... cxd5 {Best move. An alternative of 6...e4
also loses a pawn and leaves black with an uncomfortable position having 2
isolanis.} (6... e4 7. Ne5 cxd5 8. c4 Bb7 (8... c6 9. Nxc6) 9. cxd5 Bxd5 10. Nc3
Bb7 11. O-O Nf6 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bh4 Be7 14. Re1 O-O 15. Bxf6 Bxf6 16. Nxe4 Be7)
7. Nxe5 Nf6 {The move 7...Bb7 covers c6 to prevent ...Nc6.} 8. Bg5 {With
expectations of 8...Be7 9.Nc6! forking queen and bishop.} 8... Bg4 {??
Overlooking the pin loses the bishop.} (8... Be7 9. Nc6) 9. Nxg4 Qe7+ 10. Ne3
{Maintains the pin and threatens Nxd5.} 10... Qb4+ {A double attack, check and
...Qxb2 threatened, if 11.c3 Qxb2} 11. c3 Qd6 {11...Qxb2 does not help and leads
to mate in 22 for black or forking tactics by white.} (11... Qxb2 12. Nd2 Qxc3
13. Bxf6 gxf6 14. Nxd5 Qc6 (14... Qxd4 15. Nxc7+) 15. Qf3 Bg7 16. O-O Kf8 (16...
O-O-O 17. Ne7+) (16... O-O 17. Ne7+) 17. Rac1 Qa4 18. Rxc7 Qxa2 19. Ne4 f5 20.
Ng5 f6 21. Ne6+ Kg8 22. Rxg7#) 12. Bxf6 {! Diversion gains white another pawn.}
12... Qxf6 13. Nxd5 Qe6+ {Just escaping a ripping fork by Nxc7 by countering
with check, but this leads to a queens trade which favors white, the alternative
13...Qd6 14.Qe1+ Be7 15.Nxe7 Qxe7 16.Qxe7 leads to the same, but the text move
keeps the bishop and so is better.} (13... Qc6) (13... Qd6 14. Qe2+ Be7 15. Nxe7
Qxe7 16. Qxe7+ Kxe7) 14. Qe2 {Forcing a trade of queens, white has a material
advantage and this strategy gains more advantage.} 14... Qxe2+ 15. Kxe2 Be7 {??
Missing the tactical threat, ...Bd6 was essential.} 16. Nxc7+ Kf8 17. Nxa8 1-0