A game that I truly believe I should have won. Help Please?
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At the beginning of the game, I felt that I was truly playing a good positional game. I was gaining space and tightening the noose. Please explain to me if there was an obvious tactical or positional shot that I missed and didn't play. I already know that I fell apart mentally after ...Qxd5. But I tend to believe that things started going bad before that. I'm a bit discouraged anyways. I think it was within my power to win here. Nothing left but to learn from the loss. Thank you.
P.S. My own annotation to come soon. Don't have time at the moment.
You know what? You learn how to put the game in I'll tell you what happened.
Haha oh dear !thank you streetfighter. How did you do that may I ask?
39.dxe6 (threatening exf7#) looks crushing. 38.c6+! was all about setting up dxe6 I thought... still scratching my head as to what Re5 was about.
Andonovich, you had several very strong moves that were missed.
8.Qxe5! to win the hanging knight
22.exc5 is much better than bxc5 because it sets up Ba6! winning black's bishop (due to the discovered check on black's queen)
39.dxe6!! totally destroys black. If black takes your pawn, your rook takes back the pawn with a powerful check. If black does not take the pawn, then you take another pawn with check.
Any of these moves should have been more than enough to win the game....and you did have the better game throughout the game.
Andonovich
There are some principles you can apply to this game. Namely if your opponent is attacking on the wings, counter attack in the center, and crack open the center if your opponent's king has failed to castle and is caught there. That's what JonLKatz's suggestions 22.exc5 and 39.dxe6 are about. 39.dxe6 fxe6 40. Rxe6+ would mark the successful completion of the plan to open the center and expose the stranded Black king.
Your decision to attack on the opposite wing was weaker than working down the central files.
Just in general, keep in mind that the center is a very important concept in chess. Think about all the principles that involve the idea of central control: control the center in the opening; bishops knights and queens are stronger in the center; in the endgame get your king to the center, etc. The center figures prominent at all stages of a chess game.
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Note that your central d4-pawn could have been taken on turn 13., and on turn 14. it could have been taken with an attack on your queen; but then again, opening a central file at that point in the game is probably not optimal for Black.
At move 43. there is no reason to exchange down, possibly 43. Qxd5 is just a blunder (is this time pressure or am I missing something?). Reasons not to exchange: you have the passed pawn which requires support in order to queen; Black is cramped and exchanging free's up his position; material loss, of course; potential for bishop vs knight endgame with pawns far-flung.
Edit: Okay, I can see why someone might want to exchange down on turn 43. because the knight looks strong, but I think it's illusory. The knight cannot make forward progress and the Black queen cannot move otherwise the knight falls; in other words, Black's position is static and this needs to be maintained by White. So 43.Ba3 looks okay to me, or maybe 43.Bd2 is better because of the threat of the position-freeing move 43...Rg5. Interesting ending...