How could I have played better?

This is a Live Chess match I won recently. I thought I played fairly well in this game but I am sure there are ways in which I could have improved. I would appreciate some input into this game, which has plenty of annotation.

I would have played 18. c4 instead of sacrificing the bishop.  This would allow my knight to get in on the strong queenside attack, provided black trades. 

Additionally, instead of 24. h3, I would have played 24. Ra1, threatening mate on a8.

White should have also played 26. Nxe6 instead of 26. Rxe6.

Your knight sacrifice was well thought out.  Though, perhaps 16...Nb8 is better?  It defends the pawn and saves the knight.  The attack on your king is halted, for the time being at least.

Great use of chess tactics and exploitation of white's bad moves.  Good finish, as well.  Your kingside attack was frightening. :)

Hope I helped.

Thanks for the comments/compliments. I agree, Nb8 is probably better now that you've pointed it out; I'm surprised I didn't see it though.

b3 is not a bad move, just notice that Qxb7 was a blunder imagine Bd7 Qxb Rb8 Qxa Rxb that would be a great position for black! and white is too far in development for a very weak a pawn.

Bd6 seems perfectly ok for me more active then Be7

mmm QxB I would go cxB always like to have extra pawns in the center but thats a mater of taste QxB is fine

0-0-0 Is too optimistic you are ahead in development I would keep it safe 0-0 but thjen again nothing wrong with 0-0-0

a4 is a great move and a6 is really weak on opposite castle you want to attack as fast as you can material is not on the essence here and black as weackned is kingside were white is completely safe yet.

Nd7 as to be bad, altough the fact you wanted to start an attack made it less bad lol

b4 good move

Nf6 is ok but black had several moves there I like much more h5 then g5 btw

Bd3 I don't like that retreat would go BxN a5 unclear but I would choose white there

Qc2 can have the idea of playing b4 and start an attack by white.

g5 is winning white can not afford an half open file agains't the K the question is would you play it if you noticed the hanging pawn? :)

Rd8 not sure about this one, sure it prevents the double attack but you are going in for the mate who cares about a trade N for a R...

h5 blunder...

Bb5 bad because the b7B prevents any mates

Nxe3 is really good

on 28 you can go QxN the pawn is pinned to the K, you followed with a nice mate, the idea you should keep from this game is on opposite sides castle simply attack as fast as you can material is not that important! Hope it helps. Its a very superficial analysys but Im working right now so no board to play it and had to be fast :)

Thanks for the analysis, but one thing - why is h5 a blunder?

It hangs a N and will have to move your well centralised Q to take the pawn loosing  tempo, on the even of h4 and h3 white can always go Nh3 defending the treath right the h4 move in itself is not an attack and a very weak threat at all, white just paniked after with Bb5

Here's one place where you should have played differently:

Cerdog

White missed 16. Nxe6 Rg8 (16... Qxe6  17. Bxf5)  17. Bxf5 winning.  Your 16 ... h5 is also not good since it drops the knight on c6. Dmasta's Nb8 is better, or even Na5. White should have won if he had played more carefully. I know you gave reasons why you thought it was O.K. to sac the piece, but a piece in this position is still a piece. Even after sacing the knight (that is, Qxc6) white still has the above tactic. Best of luck in your future games.

White still as an interesting tactic not exploited and not working just yet Rxb7B+ KxR Qa6+ followed by moving the other R on the a file, dangerous attack but black is faster

tkdcaptainhair - I guess I'll need to work on the whole 'mate in X awareness' tactical idea. Thanks.

mnag - Yes, h5 was a mistake, I think I need to look out for more situations where moving a piece backwards can help or something.

1 d4 Nf6

2 c3?!        Not a very aggressive move, and allows black like you said to get a pawn to d5 without facing much pressure. It also allowed you yourself to play with ...c5.

2... d5 very logical considering white's move

3 Bf4 is kind of like a colle system developing. White will play e3 but first gets the bishop out.

3... Nc6?! It's actually not too bad but you said it didn't restrict your possibilities. better was to delay this so you could play ...c5, keeping pressure on the center with possible play in the center or on the c file. It would make white think twice before playing e4.

4 Qb3!? an interesting idea. Normally you can punish this type of idea but since you played ...Nc6 it's pretty decent for white. White now has an advantage simply because he can get his bishop out while you can't and you don't have compensation for that. Once again, ...c5 would have given you more play.

4...e6 5 e3

5... b6? Honestly I don't like this move and here is why. the bishop will be blocked here unless white plays e4 or c4, which he doesn't have to. It ends up wasting quite alot of time while white's plan should be to control e5 and get a knight there with chances on the kingside while black's bishop is going nowhere.

6 Nd2 Bb7 your follow up, but if white keeps things closed this will be a waste of time

7 Bb5 I prefer Bd3 here, because that helps a kingside attack here but this is ok.

7... Bd6 controlling e5 but slightly risky because of a possible Bg5. however, I don't think white fears ...Bxf4 since then he has a huge grip on e5.

8 Bxd6? positionally incorrect. If you think about it white voluntarily trades his superior bishop and even helps black develop! He should of at least forced black to play ...Bxf4 so that white would have e5.

8... Qxd6 9 Ngf3

9... 0-0-0?! I definitley think ...0-0 was superior. I can see you had aggressive intentions, but this opposite castling situation clearly favors white because he has the superior bishop but can also easily open up the a file via a4 and a5 (it's very important for the rooks to get into the game). After ...0-0, your position is very solid and difficult to attack.

10 a4 Very logical. He plays this to open the a file which allows the rook to attack your king. Notice how your queenside weakness b6 is being used but there isn't one on white's kingside. This makes it harder for your rooks to attack his king.

10...a6 the real reason behind this move is to play ...b5 closing things up if white plays a5.

11 Bd3 Nd7 preparing ...f5

12 0-0 f5 I think black should follow up with ...Nf6-e4 if he has time.

13 Qc2 This was to prepare b4, not defend.

13...g5! This actually a good move! If Nxg5 then you have an open g file to attack white's king. White is probably better but this is your best chance for counterplay.

14 b4 white prefers to continue with his attack than give black open files.

14...Nf6 not bad at all, heading for e4. 15 Nxg5?! Now black has the g file against white's king and is actually ahead in the attack! The pieces are not coming off anytime soon, so I think it was much safer for white to continue his attack as it's coming faster with a weakness to work with.

15... Rdf8?? this is a blunder allowing Nxe6! where after Qxe6 Bxf5 the queen will be lost. You had to defend a different way, with your queen moving

16 b5 not playing it but he still may have another chance to do it. Otherwise it's a very logical idea since it gets the files open for attack.

16...h5?? This move is absolutely terrible! ...g5 was a good sacrifice but what does ...h5 even do for the attack let alone for a piece! ...axb5 would reduce the damage as much as possible but white still has Nxe6 anyway.

17 bxc6 Qxc6 even if white couldn't play Nxe6 he would be winning but that wins immediately so it's too bad he didn't see it.

18 Bb5?? what? What the hell does this sacrifice do? Absolutely nothing! He must have been pretty scared of your sacrifice.

18...axb5 19 axb5 Qd6 e6 needs to be defended.

20 Ra7 this move does nothing but he can't attack anymore anyway. I guess he should defend. If he didn't sac his bishop, black would  of course not have nearly enough compensation for a whole piece! So now the position is one where black has some initiative with his g file but many pieces have been exchanged.

20... Rhg8 good. Taking the g file to attack the kingside.

21 f4? This is bad because it gives black a permenant home on e4.

21... Ng4?! I disagree with this. It attacks e3 but what else once white defends it? 21...Ne4 had a future.

22 Re1 Kb8

23 Qa2 h4, trying to attack, but it should lead to a dead end

24 h3 nothing wrong with this, but it would be better to ignore the annoying knight because it doesn't actually do too much.

24...Nxe3! Nice move, the only way to really break in. White could have avoided this, but he didn't check the tactics.

25 Rxe3 Qxf4

26 Rxe6 Rxg5

27 Nf3 Rg3 Now black has dangerous possibilities, like ...Rxf3 followed by ...Rg8+.

28 Re2 Rfg8

29 Kh2?? Kh1 better after ...Rxf3 gxf3 Qxf3+ Kg1 with some chances to hold on

29...Rxg2+ this discovered double check is obviously winning here.

30 Kh1 Qxf3

31 Rxg2 Qxh3+ 0-1. I still can't understand why white played 18 Bb5.