I think I'm improving but still keep losing.

[J T Melsom]

How about starting a distinct thread on opening advice to low level players for these latest posts? I understand that topics do go off track, but ...

[Matt Mackenzie]

Not sure that 2...d6 against the Kings Gambit is actually "popular with GMs" though.

[Tim Spanton]

Not sure that 2...d6 against the Kings Gambit is actually "popular with GMs" though.

I'm not sure why not as the list of people who have played it includes Jobava (2582), Aagaard (2542), Areschchenko (2690), Popovic (2550), Jakubowski (2557), Vajda (2579) and Schlosser (2560), as well as famous names from the past including Winawer, Loewenthal and Hanham.
I realise they might not all be technically GMS, but that is a fair selection of strong players.

[Tim Spanton]

Not sure that 2...d6 against the Kings Gambit is actually "popular with GMs" though.

I'm not sure why not as the list of people who have played it includes Jobava (2582), Aagaard (2542), Areschchenko (2690), Popovic (2550), Jakubowski (2557), Vajda (2579) and Schlosser (2560), as well as famous names from the past including Winawer, Loewenthal and Hanham.
I realise they might not all be technically GMS, but that is a fair selection of strong players.

Addendum: not every game played by those cited above began 1.e4 e5 2.f4 d6; I've just spotted one that reached the position via 1.e4 d6 2.f4 e5.

[J T Melsom]

Good to see my polite request at midday has been received constructively. Why does this matter? Well because the original poster was motivated by a desire to give feed-back and encouragement to a new player to aid that player's enjoyment of the game. Most posters have understood that premise and offered good advice in this thread and by private message. A minority have not instead participating in digressions that render the thread less readable and less useful as a result. it just seems terribly self indulgent and with a bit of self control easily avoided.

[Owen Phillips]

You probably are still improving, and it is good that you are questioning why you are losing. If you are playing better players you could well lose a lot but will improve your chess knowledge and ability and in due course will get better results. To try and stop losing from better positions analyse whether you are simply making blunders and thereby losing to tactics, or whether you are coming up with the wrong plans -deciding this will help you rectify the situation. Sounds like you would benefit as we all do from practising tactical themes everyday-ECF used to have a very good set of such themed problems-try and ask them for a copy -and go through them a lot and then it will start to become second nature for u to look for such tactics. Good luck anyhow -I am sure you will improve as you sound very keen!

[Geoff Chandler]

A minority have not instead participating in digressions that render the thread less readable and less useful as a result. it just seems terribly self indulgent and with a bit of self control easily avoided.

That is often happens but without seeing the game all the lads can suggest is surface
advice and these will drift the thread as the advice piles up and up till someone disagrees.

How was it lost?

A simple blunder (leaving a piece en prise) when cruising to a win.
A blunder due to the opponent, as is their right, complicating things and the clear win became murky.
A blunder going for a quick wrap up when the correct path was go slowly.
We need to see the game.

Some very good players with many years of experience frequent here.

No matter how the game was lost they will have lost in the same way and can give advice on what they did about it.

Also you can often the spot the seeds that planted the blunder long before it was played.

Without the game it is just standard advice you can pick up at a bus stop.
Study tactics and keep working and enjoy yourself.
Once that has been offered the thread will drift, what more can they say?

Without seeing the game I'll just add Chess is swings and roundabouts. You will win games you should (in theory) have lost.
That will be of little comfort at the moment but you will have that joy coming (it's brilliant!)
Just remember every now and then you have give back a won game and lose. (Caissa rules not mine.)