After mishandling a combinational idea (see move 15), which resulted in what I thought was a rather stale-looking position, I decided to undertake a speculative "sacrifice" on move 18. Black nets three pawns for the knight, so it's not technically a material deficit, but Black still feels the loss of the piece before the pawns can mobilize effectively. Despite some additional pressure that I also obtained from placing a rook on the second rank, my opponent defended well and I decided to try and head for the endgame, where I felt with my extra pawns I would have an edge and all the real winning chances.
Unfortunately there was still enough material on the board for White to be able to gain the initiative and pose some threats - to which I reacted poorly, making what should have been a losing blunder on move 27. The seesaw battle after that was not well played by either of us, but as Tartakower said, the winner of the game is the player who makes the next-to-last mistake. I felt a little personally redeemed at the end of the game, since I correctly calculated a sequence involving a pawn sacrifice that ensured White could not prevent one of my central pawns from queening.
I learned a good deal from this game and did some rare things for me as a player (the knight "sacrifice" and finding an endgame combination), so despite the panic and poor play for a series of moves I'll chalk it up as a positive experience in general for my chess.
[Event "DHLC Slow Swiss #11"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2014.01.26"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Okieman888"]
[Black "ChessAdmin_01"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "1365"]
[BlackElo "1470"]
[Annotator "ChessAdmin/Houdini"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2014.??.??"]
[TimeControl "45"]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 Nf6 6. Nf3 {normal is Bf4 or
Bg5 as an alternative.} Bg4 {I thought for a little while here and decided
that this made the most sense as a reaction to White's move-order. It is a
standard move anyway in the variation.} 7. O-O e6 {by this point Black already
has comfortable equality.} 8. Bg5 h6 {provoking the exchange. I thought that
the dark-square bishop would be better placed on d6 than it would after Be7,
which the database shows is the standard move in the position.} 9. Bxf6 Qxf6 {
with the queen in place, now Black can think about exchanging off the Bd3
without ruining his pawn structure.} 10. Nbd2 (10. Qb3 {might challenge Black
a little more, at least removing the queen from the kingside.} Qe7 11. Nbd2 g6
$11) 10... Bd6 11. Re1 O-O 12. Qb3 Rab8 {I didn't see anything better here.
Although the rook is tied to the defense of the b-pawn, White's queen isn't
doing a whole lot more. Houdini agrees.} 13. h3 Bf5 14. Bf1 {this was a bit of
a surprise, although the bishop does play a defensive role here. Rarely does
White let Black get dominance of the h7-b1 diagonal and it gets used in this
game to good effect later.} Rfc8 {this is intended to activate the rook and
shore up Black's queenside against potential breaks on the c-file.} 15. Nh2 $6
{seemingly intending Ng4 or Nbf3, but neither seem to be particularly
effective maneuvers for White. However, with my next move I turn it into a
smart idea for White.} Bxh2+ $6 {dubious for both the reason played
(calculation of a flawed combination) and for the positional blunder of
exchanging a beatiful, unopposed dark-square bishop for a knight on the rim.} (
15... Bxh3 $1 {is the correct version of the combination, taking advantage of
the weakness of f2 and the hanging Nd2.} 16. Ndf3 (16. gxh3 $2 Bxh2+ 17. Kxh2
Qxf2+) 16... Bf5) 16. Kxh2 Qh4 (16... Bxh3 $2 {was what I had originally
calculated, only considering the pawn recapture, which would then allow for ...
Qxf2+ and then taking the unprotected Nd2. Luckily I actually rechecked the
move and falsified it, as} 17. Kxh3 {refutes the idea.} Qf5+ 18. g4 Qxf2 19.
Qd1 $16) 17. g3 {After Black's last move, White apparently saw the renewed
threat of ...Bxh3.} Qf6 18. Qd1 {now the Nd2 is no longer hanging.} Nxd4 $5 {
I thought for a while here and calculated that I could get three pawns and
some pressure for the piece, along with a dominant center. In part I simply
wanted to see if the idea would work for my own edification, while also not
seeing any other useful alternate plans for Black.} (18... b5 {followed by ...
b4 is Houdini's preferred plan, the idea being to undermine support for the d4
pawn.}) 19. cxd4 Qxd4 20. Kg2 {White thought a while over this, choosing to
save the f-pawn.} Rc2 {I thought for a little while here, considering the rook
move would cause much more difficulty for White than simply snatching the b2
pawn.} 21. Re2 {White thought for a good length of time here and defends
correctly with the only move.} Qxb2 (21... Bd3 {I calculated would not work
because of} 22. Nf3 {and now the Bd3 is pinned while White attacks both the
Qd4 and the Re2.} (22. Nb3 {is even much better for White.})) 22. Nf3 {White
has avoided the major threats and I felt it was best to start exchanging
material and heading for an endgame, where Black's extra pawns (especially the
protected passed d-pawn) should give him a significant edge.} Rxe2 23. Bxe2 Be4
{I thought at the time that it was best to immobilize the Nf3, at least
temporarily, but ...Rc8 in hindsight looks much better (Houdini agrees), as
the Rb8 contributes little to the fight, a crucial deficit at a time when
Black is trying to contain White's pieces.} 24. Rc1 a6 {with the idea of
cramping White's bishop and making the pawns less vulnerable to a White rook
on the 7th rank.} 25. Rc7 Qxa2 {I felt afterwards that this was greedy and it
nearly cost me the game, as White now gets a strong initiative. Houdini
considers it objectively best, however.} 26. Bd3 {a strong move, as it
eliminates a key Black piece and will open up lines in a dangerous way for
White's queen.} Qa5 {I rush to bring my queen back into the defense.
Unfortunately, the queen is still not well placed.} 27. Rd7 f5 $2 {at the time
this idea seemed like the only way to hold the positon together and I was
feeling some time pressure so went ahead and played it without sufficient
calculation. In fact it should lose, as it fatally undermines Black's center
and exposes the king.} (27... Qc3 {there was no need to get panicky and play
the text move, as something relatively simple like this will keep Black equal.}
28. Bxe4 dxe4 29. Nd4 Qc8 $11) 28. Bxe4 fxe4 29. Ne5 $2 (29. Qd4 {and now
White has a mate in 6, as g7 cannot be defended.}) 29... Rd8 $2 {this
superficially looks helpful but in fact simply weakens Black's position.} (
29... Qc3 $16) 30. Rxb7 $18 (30. Nc4 $1 {is even better.} dxc4 31. Rxd8+) 30...
d4 $2 {the point of the rook being on d8, to allow the advance of the pawn
with a discovered attack on the Ne5. However, I completely missed the
possibility of a fork with Nc6, probably because I had not properly considered
(visualized) the position of the Qa5 in relation to the rook; I very rarely
have a queen in that spot in my games. My opponent mentioned afterwards that
he saw the fork, but thought that the text move would be more effective.} 31.
Qg4 $2 (31. Nc6 $18) 31... Qxe5 $19 {the only move, covering g7 (and winning
for Black). I had a bad moment here during the game, as the text move seemed
crushing, but then I perceived that the queen would in fact protect against
the mate. I attribute the difficulty to the well-known problem of sometimes
missing "backwards" moves by pieces.} 32. Rb6 e3 {I spent a fair amount of
time here to calculate the forced continuation into a winning endgame. Finally
the pawns that Black sacrificed for come into their own!} 33. Qxe6+ Qxe6 34.
Rxe6 d3 {now White cannot stop one of the pawns from queening.} 0-1
