Did i play well?

i played this game with chessmater rating around 1554 and myself around 1197. Game ended in draw bcoz time was soon getting over for me and decided to end the match. Though i was winning this match but want to know how i played this match

hmm..any one ? plz let me know mistakes i made

I try to be as helpful as possible by giving more word explanation than variations.  This way you can use any idea I talk about in future games to find better moves.  I used Rybka to check if my suggestions were bad (but not to find any moves in the first place).  This way what I suggest is easy to understand (it came from a human with logical ideas to back it up) and at the same time none of what I suggest are poor moves.

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Bc5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nxe5 Nc6 5. Nc4

Instead of 5. Nc4 I would play 5.Nf3 when you can play d4 with a gain of tempo and a good center.  My question to you would be what did you have in mind with 5. Nc4.  Usually c4 is a good square for your knight and it's true that he can't immediatly kick it off, but it's not doing anything for your positoin there so black can ignore it.  A general principal that backs up 5.Nf3 instead is how the center is the most important during openings.

5...d6 6. d3 Ng4 7. Be3

After black's 6...Ng4 you have a choice between moving either the bishop or knight to e3.  In such a case you should ask yourself which piece is more valuable.  Yes all minor pieces are given a relative value of 3 -- but it's called the relative value for a reason.  Your decision of moving the bishop wasn't all bad because you're moving a piece off the back rank, following a good opening principal of fast development -- but the truth is the c4 knight is an ineffective piece for you in this position so it looses a little value.  In addition because your pawns are on light squares your dark square bishop has a little extra value.  Also consider black's dark square bishop is a good piece -- you'll want your dark square bishop to stick around to challenge his black counterpart later.  All this is to say that Ne3 would have been a better strategic choice.

7...Nxe3 8. fxe3

Good move :) you gain control of d4 and have a strong center, certainly better than Nxe3.

8...Kf8 9. d4 Bb4 10. Qd2

Qd2 gives your opponent too much credit for the pin.  Black has no pressure on d5 or e4 (the primary point of your c3 knight right now) and doubling your c pawns shouldn't worry you.  The idea present right now is black's misplaced king and his king's rook which will take many tempo to get into the game.  This combined with your far superior center signals white to play with activity and attacking ideas.  I would have considered 10. Qf3 with a future 0-0 taking advantage of the open f-fileand poorly placed king.

10...Qe7 11. Bd3 Bg4 12. a3

You'll probably play a3 sooner or later and this move doesn't hurt your position, but again I think it's giving the pin too much credit, why not 0-0.

12...Bxc3 13. Qxc3 Rg8 14. d5

Ah, the wrong pawn :).  White has e5 not d5 in mind here.  By playing d5 you've given yourself doubled backward e pawns, on top of which the e4 pawn is blocking the activity of your bishop.  Besides keeping the center pawns abreast (in which they're strong) when white does move them he wants to put them on dark squares.  I think 0-0 and then e5 is strong.  After black playes dxe5 then play d5 and black's c6 knight has nowhere good to go. 

Instead if black responds to e5 with d5 this is bad for him.  Black's position can't tolerate white's extra space, activity, and center.  Note how if black responded d5 his locked center pawn on a light square gives black's bishop no good prospects.  It can't get to the otherside of the d5 pawn and will end up very passive on d7 or e6 while white's bishop has great mobility and works well with it's pawns to cover light and dark squares.

14...b5 15. Nxd6 cxd6 16. Qxc6 Rb8 17. O-O f6

Ok.  The dust has settled and now it's time to come up with a plan.  First off, which side of the board will white choose to play on?  A good way to figure this out is to look at the pawns.  Silman suggests seeing which way your pawns "point" or which side you have more space on.  The answer to both of these is the queenside.  Also look at the pawn majorities.  White has good chances of converting his 4 vs 3 pawn majority on the queenside into a passed pawn while his 4 vs 3 majority on the kingside has no real prospects because of the doubled backward e pawns (also it's too soon to uncover the king).

You decided to double your rooks on the f file, but note that white has no real way of using the f-file after black's move f6.  The correct idea was to play on the queenside.  My CPU says the pawn sacrifice e5 is on the cards, but that's too tactically messy for class players -- a GM wouldn't hesitate but white has an easy positoinal idea to win with by using the queenside.  I suggest manuvering the queen to d4 (getting it off the c file) and pushing the Q-side pawns -- which, looking at the game, you actually do eventually :) good job.

18. Rf4 Bh5 19. Raf1 Be8 20. Qc3 Bf7 21. Qd4 a6 22. b4 h6 23. a4 bxa4 24. Bxa6 a3 25. Ra1 Bh5 26. Rxa3 Ra8 27. Qc3 Kf7 28. Bd3 Rgc8 29. Qb2 Rxa3 30. Qxa3 Kg8 31. Qa6

Hmm, what was your idea here?  White's trump is the nasty passed pawn on b4, black is going to have fits trying to deal with it.  Also note your rook on f4 is currently inactive.  A good plan presents itself, manuver the rook to b1 and cram the b pawn down black's throat.  This is a sure way to win.

31...Re8 32. c4 Qe5 33. c5

Very good idea but wrong timing.  Notice that black has no threats -- whenever you find yourself in such a wonderful position (your opponent has no threats) take the time to shore up any weaknesses and activate any idle pieces.  GMs can get away with a direct kill but they have super-human calculation to back them up.  As a class player a good idea here is to consolidate your positoin with moves like Qa3, Rf1, Rc1 and pushing the pawns will get you a queen in no time.

33...Qc3 34. cxd6 Rd8 35. d7 Rxd7 36. Qe6+ Rf7 37. Qe8+ Rf8 38. Qxh5 Qxd3 39. Qf3 Ra8 40. h4 Re8 41. Kh2 Qc3

You accepted a draw here because you were low on time, no problem.

Hope that helps.

1.If i remember correctly main reason was my belief that 2 knight together act as deathly combination. They cover wide range together and in the start i got such a good option.

2. Same reason i think. Dont want to lose knight

3. I think you are right on that..Qf3 would have been better

Wow that was great analysis, really really thanks. I mostly agree with your analysis.