Your right; the consequences if i ever lost to another SC member would be huge, not just for rating, but for personal pride!

Correction: the Fried Liver Attack is (after 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Nxd5) 6. Nxf7!? -- Black can avoid the Fried Liver by playing 5...Na5, 5...Nd4 or my favourite, 5...b5.

Castling is a bit weak, even though it's 'book.' c3 or b4 will give black more headaches

Nf6 is recommended, is a developing move, and has the benefit of making ready to castle. The pin is 2 moves from this point and really does not offer as much as it seems. * With Bc8-g4 follows h2-h3 with a loss of tempo for black. You could try to get adventurous with Bg4xh3 where g2xh3 cracks open the castle a little, but the knight on f3 is a strong defender keeping the queen from g5, making this move less than ideal at this time. * The bishop sacrifice can be good when there are enough pieces clustered around the king to participate in an attack, but at this stage of development there is not enough support to achieve a mate. There is no supplemental pawn attack on the knight that would work with a pin. * If trying Bc8-g4 followed later by Bg4xf3 then Qd1xf3 maintains the pawn structure and black loses the strength of having 2 bishops. * Overall the pin costs time, 2 moves in the making, white can develop d2-d3 with Nb1-d2 and achieve good defense. * A good plan is to develop pieces positionally, castle, then begin looking for a strategy that fits the position (space, BB vs NN, pawns structure, weak squares, congested or badly placed pieces, Q or K side attack, minority pawn attack, and of course tactics whenever possible). (just to add my 2 cents)

Nf6 is okay, but standard, boring, and doesn't press for an advantage. d6 is a little more adventurous, and keeps black's options open more. I stand by this move and this annotation, although your other comments are informative as far as what are advantages one could possibly gain.

Your usually going to play them both anyway, so in theory it makes little difference. I would prefer d6 though, it's nice to give an early threat of Bg4. I don't understand how h3 loses tempo for black, the bishops just as strong when it moves to h5.

White loses central control with the loss of the pawn. White may have been thinking to open a line to the king to initiate an attack on an open file, but c2-c3 is needed first. Looks like a calculating error, miscount of captures vs recaptures. I find that practicing on a real board (as opposed to on a PC) really helps to learn calculating, for me anyway. I just play the both sides, running over variations, seeking the best choice, looking for counter replies to attacks.

it ain't worth it, the point of 4. c3 rather than 4. O-O is to support this move.

I like your thinking here for recaptures.

Nice!

Doubled pawns also stops the bishops threat to f7, which could come in handy later. Not complex stuff, but still important.

White appears to be experimenting with strategy, which is good, but sometimes what appears to be a good move is found to be not so good when there is a good counter move that refutes it. (part of the learning process, of which I am still experiencing) * White should develop pieces to useful squares while waiting to see which side black will castle. * Pushing pawns can start the process, they are good up front, backed up by pieces. A move like c2-c3 gains tempo for white, causing the bishop to retreat because it can not trade off with knight to try and regain tempo. * Thoughts of where and how to attack could be made now (strategy). Attack with queenside pawns if black castles long, or using pieces and the f2 pawn for an attack kingside. White may have better chances with a king attack because of the pawn shortage.

Pointless, as c6 will not only make the bishop move, but give a few more options with the d8-h5 diagonal for the queen and the possibility of d5.

Looks like the best place for the bishop, at c4 it can be chased, at e2 it is too passive, here it defends and has a potential future target at h7 where it looks like black may castle.

f5 is a move best used later after castling when it can be backed up by the rook. An early f5 will lose to e4xf5. Because there is equal coverage of f5 by both sides, B vs B, there is no ability to recapture by black. Nf6, the text move, is a great move because it both develops and makes ready to castle, which will help black catch up in development.

I like the option of Bg4 next for black, as it will force white to move the queen to either e1 or d2, both are which are trashy squares for it.

The text move is bad because the c1 bishop is now completely blocked. This move works against development which ultimately costs tempo to try and untangle pieces later. * Better is c2-c3 or f2-f4 to attack the defender of the d4 bishop, the attacking pawn is backed up by the c1 bishop and f1 rook. Nb1-d2 is also a candidate move.

The text move initiates an attack that has both positive and negatives. * Good is reducing the opponent control of the center. * Bad is that after d6-d5, e4xd5, Nxd5, there follows c2-c4 attacking the knight, driving it back with a loss of tempo. The remaining e5 pawn will be kind of like an isolated pawn due to the knight at f6 blocking the f2 pawn, and it can be attacked with force causing black to spend time on defense while having an uncastled king. It is true that the placement of the white pieces make an attack seem unlikely to succeed, but the potential for problems exist. * Better is 0-0 followed by developing pieces off the back rank until the rooks are tied.

Not true. If white responds e4xd5, black recaptures with the c-pawn, not the knight, owning the center.

If the bishop were free, Bc1-g5 is a good pin because some control of d4 has been taken away from black and the knight is kept out of play for now. The queen on d2 just does not help white.

Always good to get this move in before it becomes too late.