At the end is the bishop and rook sacrifice. He shouldv'e known better than to take the pieces, but aside from that, I don't think I played this game too well either. What do you think?

Interesting checkmate.

20.... Be4 would have held, and possibly even won for Black.

Yes, 20...Be4 wins.  If 21.Qxh6 Bh7 threatening 22...Rf6 23.Bxf6 Qxe6+ and 24...Qxf6.

 

Black wins quicker with 19...Nxe5 and 20...Bxh1.

 

 14...h6?   Best is 14...Nxe5

 

16...a6 is not as good as 16...Bg5, followed by Bxe5 and Qxb5. 

 

18.Nf3 was bad.  White can play 18.Nxd5 and if 18...Qxd5, then 19.Qxg4. 

Why 2. e4?

 

BasicLvrCH8r wrote:

Why 2. e4?

 

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 Why not?

My main concern was that I had overlooked some horrible blunder of mine, that was missed by the opponent as well. That seems to happen to me a lot. Apart from Nf3, was my reasoning more or less sound?

I don't think 20...Be4 would've won.  After 21 Qxh6 Bh7 22 O-O-O Black still has problems--and 22...Nd8 appears to lose to 23 Rg1.