proud to have won (...survived ;-) this game!

I was in trouble from almost the start even though I was up in material. I was able to turn things around and slowly get things under control. Not great play by me - but I was happy to be able to hang in and pull off a nice win.

(don't know the etiquette of posting games w/o consent of opponent so I changed the name)

Black showed how not to play when up in material here. He goes for a complicated combination and miscalculates. Simply exchange off pieces until you are in a winning endgame! Why not:

29. ... Bxc7

Then Black is up a whole rook. Then start exchanging pieces off one by one.

If you want to get "fancy", then the White queen must move to avoid being taken on move 30, then Be2+, White king moves, and Qa5+ winning White's light squared bishop!

Black had quite the crushing advantage at move 29. Not sure what his plan was with the sacrifice of both of his bishops.

Why did you play 4.Na3??, it violates all opening principles. But apart from that, you played fairly well sidestepping all his traps.

Some analysis I made:

8. Re1+ Be6 9. Ng5 was better.

10. Nxc6 won you a pawn

17. Qc7 Qh4 18. Bf4 was better

18. Bf4 was better

22. Qxe5 would have won you the knight.

26. What about Nxe8 taking his rook?

Black missed 12.. Ng4 13. Qe2 Nxh2 14. Kxh2 Qh4+ 15. Kg1 Qxa4 winning a pawn, which would not have worked if knight were on c3.

hey thanks for taking the time to comment! Some of my choices were made with some thought- others were more ...ah, sense memory or something ;-)

Actually the position by move 29 is not as simple as you make it out to be.  If BxN, white should respond with BxR, after which white is a pawn ahead.  This by itself looks to be playable for black (considering white's disorganized army), but when you factor in the position of the black bishop, I think the best thing that black can hope for by this point is a draw, which can actually be forced.  This is the line:  29 ...BxN. 30: BxR BF5! 31: G4 QxH3 32: PxB (otherwise the Bishop can retreat to a safe square and black's more active pieces should decide things) QxP+ 33: QD2 and the queens must dance.  Simply black cannot allow white to consolidate, a piece down in material, and white has to guard against king hunts).  Of course, a draw is a much better result than a loss but it's not the straightforward easy win you were making it out to be.

hey - thanks for the feedback - I am looking through the moves suggested in various comments. I certainly could have played better but I was on the rebound early on and just trying to survive (which is why I am proud I did !! ;-).

Haven't been in a game like this recently: where almost every move from early mid-game was "sudden death."

A game is not lost until it is lost.... (all you early resigners take note ;-)

Don't bash early resignations.  It's not like you were down a rook with no compensation.

Why not 23. ...Bxc7 ?

If 24. Bxe8, ...Bb6 forces the queen to protect f2 because of the mate threat. Blac will still be a bishop up and have a heap of pressure around the king.

Bxe8 loses my Q.

I think

33... Rxd2+ 34. Kxd2 Qd3+ 35. Kc1 Re2

mmm... I was playing white (and wanting to win)

i was entertained

well played tom. it was fun to watch the game progress and both of you jostling for position and advantage. i think you did well.

hey thanks! skin of my teeth (and my bad for getting into such a predicament - don't think I "deserved" that win or anything - made me pay attention though!)