Thank you for your response.
I've analyzed this position with h6-g5 idea, there are (prevailing I think) opinions that Bg5 in this opening (Giuoco Pianissimo) is weak before Black has castled because of strong kingside attack but I can't agree.
That is beyond some level perhaps that is the case but... while it is true that Black has kingside attack if White chooses to capitalize the pin I don't think that it is worth much. That is I have problems with finding the ways to finalizing / continuing this attack because:
1. White can just castle kingside. It seems like castling under attack, but while f2 pawn will be temporarily pinned it is easy to solve this problem by Kg1 - h1; f3 knight if attacked can go to h4 and there are also other options; h2-h3 prevents White's bishop from being taken after h6-h5-h4; Bf2 reduces the stress put to f2 by Bc5;
2. White can open the center with d3-d4;
3. Now, taking the above into account it is not good for Black to leave King in the center because it will be exposed to rooks attacks, ideas like Nxe5 and Qxh5+, weakness of e6 pawn etc.
Kingside castling is related to similar problems. Now, what is left is queenside castling. But unfortunately with Bc5 and Nc6 White can attack Black's castled King position with tempos and it might be necessary to play Kb8 to ensure that King is relatively safe, yet the column a might get open and it might be necessary for Black's King to escape towards the center, that is we return to the problems described earlier.
I've seen games where Black utilizes h6-g5 plan very effectively leaving King untouched and not even bringing a8 rook into the action. But they often involve positional queen sacrifice, I don't reject it per se, but I simply cannot find the moves in these positions over the board.

As to 12. ... Qc8 - I simply missed it, thank you for pointing this out, although having analyzed it I'm not sure if that is such a great idea (for me) for reasons similar to that described above.

As to Qb3 - I knew that it is a pretty standard move in Giuoco Piano (to capitalize stress on f7 pawn, defend Bc4 and perhaps put some stress to b7) although not in this specific position (I've seen it a lot but in open Giuoco Piano). Thank you for pointing this out.

For the reasons described above I think that meeting d3 with ... h6 is a very good option in Giuoco Pianissimo.

Hi, what do you think about the general plan I took in the below game? I mainly ask about if you think if h6-g5 was sufficiently justified. Then ... Be6, before making this move my view on this was that it was a good one and it is a pretty standard move played in this opening, but then I changed my mind seeing Qb3. Should I have precede it by Qe7?
Kd7 might seem as risky but in fact I think it was the best - there is immediate need to defend both Nc6 and Ra8 and in this way I consolidate rooks (threat of Kb8 seizing the black Queen into a trap although admittedly it was easy to defend which actually happened), also black King is relatively safe in the center thanks to pawn shield.
I'm not sure if it wasn't better to play ... Nxg2 instead of ... 14. ... Nxd3 as the latter gave black pieces the option to pin my pawn against the King.
I'm glad that I managed to win this game but I felt like White had advantage during most of it.
Thank you in advance for comments.

Paul Garcia wrote on 09/16/21 at 08:48:18:



game after 16.a5

Your idea ...f7-f6, ...e6-e5 looks like it would just lose the d5-pawn for not very much. The engine likes 16...Bb5, which is good but not yet connected with any plan. I would choose to maneuver the knight from e7 to d6, with the most likely followup ...f7-f5, ...Nd6-e4.

Hi.

Paul Garcia wrote on 09/13/21 at 08:39:37:

1.
Yes it was reasonable. Black has strategic problems if he doesn't manage to push some pawn to the fifth rank at some point and b5 around the time it was played seems about as good as any plan there. That being said, white being able to play a d5 or e5 thrust and in most realistic scenarios open up the game in process is a good thing for white. Sure.
2.
Black has less space and worse coordination so even if you technically open up slightly in front of your king by taking a h-pawn it is still going to be impossible for black to get a real initiative going (against decent play). Having the extra pawn is very nice as well.
3.
In a blitz game retreating loose pieces or just in general doing something that ups the safety of your position seems fine. In longer forms of chess just calculate and see if the situation with a threatened knight is indeed troublesome or not. Chess is absolutely full of situations where you can get away with having a seemingly loose piece or two. When a piece happens to drop off unexpectedly don't quote this

As for the other games. 
When black has a g4-h5 sort of weird construct of a pawn structure you can probably just go h3 at some point and try to open up the game.In general some pawn action seems advisable though since g4 is defended by its pawn friend and h5 hard to reach quickly.

In the game you went Nd7 it was indeed just a bad time for that move.

Have a nice day.

It's good you are analyzing your own games. I took a look at these three and your comments are relevant, so your analysis is on the right track. But these are only 3'+5" games, I'm reluctant to spend more time analyzing than you took playing.

Hi,



I lost the following game. I was surprised by the method by which my opponent managed to take advantage of his Knight on "a" file - attack on c7 is a standard trick, here we see attack on b6. This move in connection with the Black's unmoved b7 pawn allowed to severely restrict usability of the Black's "a" rook. 17. ... Nd7 was bad, I think - it allowed my opponent to pin my Knight against my Rook. I'd be much better with moves like ... Nc6, Be6.
Also, I think that I should have moved ... b5 or ... a6 much earlier.
Any comments are welcome.

The last 1 Posts were moved here from General Chess [move by] proustiskeen.

Thank you very much, I see that I'll have to do a lot of learning/analysis but these are some very good starting points, with reference to details!