Did I hear a horse in the background? Oh... you explained that later in the game... I'll need a recording of that to take to tournaments!

Early on you mentioned some confusion on what to do with the QB in different openings. It is also a problem piece in a lot of KP openings as well. I guess if I were to give odds to a newcomer, it's the QB I'd give up!

I think more important that the QB question is to mainly keep an eye out for the main squares in a particular opening. For example, in the King's Indian Defense, the d4 square is pretty important (after e4 and c4 there are no pawns to bolster the d4 sq). In the Nimzo/Bogo type defenses, the e4 square is usual square to keep an eye on. For example, after you traded your bishop for the knight on c3, you could play Ne4 followed by f7f5 - this is often in connection with developing your QB at b7. Another way to do it is, after trading on c3, is to slowly play your central pawns onto dark squares (a common ploy to bolster the color complex of the bishop you just traded). In turn this would give your QB more scope.

Another thought, when you played b7b5 you only worsened your QB scope. Also, when you played h6 your opponent could have played Bxf6 and in order to not lose the c7 pawn you would have to recapture with the g-pawn, an ugly structure for the king's lair.

I agree with you, when you played ...Na7 that tells you something went wrong.

If you have a used bookstore around, or a chess library you can use, look for Ruben Fine's book on Chess Openings Explained. It's a great book and highlights what the plans are in different openings. Your opponent did not play stellar in game one, but his better opening play gave him a decent advantage. You might want to cruise the Web and see if you can find a pdf file of the book somewhere.

With regard to the second game, the QGA, I didn't look at it real close, but c7c5 is your counter and it needs to be prepared and played quickly. I always look at the central structure, if there's a pawn on d4, you want to inhibit it moving forward and strike with another pawn, either a pawn on e6 (the right jab - to use boxing terminology) and then c7-c5 (the left hook). Conversely, sometimes you might want to play c6 (left jab) with an e6e5 or e7e5 (right hook).

The hanging of the rooks doesn't phase me in either game, you were obviously upset about the opening stage (well, game one, maybe you can survive), and after that your weren't psychologically well equipped to fight it out fully. Well, that's fast time controls, sigh.