ACC G&G Swiss - Round 3

After a(nother) rough bout with food poisoning, I took a bye last week to get well. This week I picked up in Round 3 with a tough matchup against one of the stronger players in the U1500 section, and I managed to grab a win!!! This was my most satisfying OTB game yet — even before the win emerged, I already felt very good about my position and satisfied with making it a long way without any major blunders. Here's the game:

Honestly, though 26.Qf2 was aiming at b6, I completely missed the knight fork. I was really quite lucky that Qxb6 and the continuation was so good for me, even having lost the exchange. Things looked really great once I was able to settle my rook on the open c-file. In our review, I wondered if George might have fared better if he'd starting putting pressure on my kingside sooner once the pawns were locked, but I didn't have any great strategic insight into the game - so if you have any, PLEASE leave a comment. This was really a 'stolen' win, but I feel like I can learn from it. Meanwhile I savour it!