Game fully annotated for beginners and intermediate to understand

10...Nf5 looks an improvement to me. 11.Na5 Qc7 12.Nc5 ? b6 is going nowhere, and g4 would weaken the kingside.

12.bxa5 Qxa4 13.Qxa4 Bxa4 14.Bd3 followed by Ke2 and Rhc1 and I prefer White in this endgame (space + b file), though Black should hold this.

The position at 18. is much better for Black in my view, not "completely equal". White has an awful c1 bishop, Black will soon play ...b5 locking the knight on the c file, and then can choose between play on the queenside by opening the a file after preparation, or on the kingside with moves such as ...h5 ...Nh6-g4 ...Qd8 ...Rg8 ...g5. Meanwhile, I do not see any plan for White.

I prefer 25...bxc4 without a "weakness" on b5, but that's wrong taste from me. 25...dxc4 (text) allows to put a piece on d5, it's valuable too.

Thanks for the comments, Tiger.  A few things on what you wrote.

10... Nf5 would be a mistake.  If you read the note to my ...Bd7 move, I plan on planting ...Nc4 as soon as possible taking advantage of the pin of b4 pawn.  Having said that, 10.... Nf5 ?  11.Na4 and Black can forget about that plan, and then White will play his own Nc5 with Bd3 with the better position.

12.bxa5?  Why would you, as White be willing to open the position up for Black?  White helping Black improve the position of the bad bishop, which was at d7, is now at a4 with a very much improved scope and more open lines, and that does not make sense. In fact, if you look at the position after ... Bxa4, Black has the better pair of bishops, more scope as a team, than White.  After 14.Bd3 Nf5 and Black's position is even better than White's since

a) the Knight is Better than White's Knight (a much more centralize position and more advanced position and attacking , NOT defending d4)  

b)the better bishop pair, and the only one with the rook on open file.  

After ...Be7, then castle and Black has a great game.  White has absolutely no advantage after 12.bxa5 ?

I still think it is equal at move 18.  I don't want to play ...b5 if I can avoid it.  I want to maintain the pawns fluid and keep the e8-a4 diagonal open.  I can still open lines with ...a5 if I need to, as I did in the game.  Also, the idea of ...Nh6?!  is something I don't like since White would be very happy to Bxh6 when he exchanges that bishop for that awesome Knight AND we then have the potential of making an opposite color bishop  ending.  If Black has to trade Knight for Bishop, I would like to trade White's light square bishop for the knight.

25... bxc4?! goes against what I planned.  What I planned was to have a protected passed pawn on c-file and then (I am adding this now since I left this out of the comment)  after the a3 pawn drops (and the b5 pawn is the aggressor here since it is helping to hold back the a3 pawn) so after the a3 pawn drops, Black will have two connected passed pawns.  If Black had recaptured bxc4 the only passed pawn would be the c pawn and AFTER it moves from c4, it would no longer be a protected passed pawn since Black's d pawn would be stuck at d5.

I hope I shed more light on this.

I did provide annotations and variations.   Yes, a lot more comment since there was a lot I wanted to explain.

Make sure you are seeing the variations and the annotations using the tool provided, if you don't use the tool, you won't see them.

I do not have that in my repertoire.  I don't think I will play it in the future.

1.e4 e6

2.d4 d5

3.Nd2 or

3.Nc3   and black plays 3... dxe4 is Runbinstein variation.   So it is Black's choice.

If you are thinking 3.exd5 then that is the Exchange variation, NOT Rubinstein.  I hope that clears up a bit.  Cheers.

Your analysis is really interesting and instructive.
Thank you very much for posting ! 

You are very welcome.  I am very glad you find it useful.

you deserve that blue pin there!

Ah... Thats exactly the types of comments that motivate me to do my videos and these analysis.

:D keep helping players like us get higher!

Thanks for thos!

Check out the videos as well and my other annotated games.

lol...Another big broadcast from Condescension Man.

Praise be.

Andy,

WOW, I can really see it being received or perceived that way. 

I was honestly trying to help him understand the position better, because it seemed to me he did not understand some of the points which I later presented.

Maybe I should edit that to be careful about coming across as condescending.  

Thank you, Andy.

I will use the French Defense soon.

Nice!

I recommend you use the quiet but strategically deep 3.Nc3, which has a lot less theory but it is filled with strategic pitfalls for Black and still provides a rich game.  But that is another subject and we can take that off to another thread, if you want.