I haven't looked in too great detail, but:
1. The Ne3 - g4 - h2 manouvre seems strange, to say the least. The h2 knight was out of play for a long time.
2. 27. c4 is a serious mistake, accepting an inferior pawn structure. 27. Rc1 should be preferred, e.g. 27 ... bxc3 28 Rxc3 Rb2+ 29 Kg3 Rxa2 30 Rxc5, where White should be able to hold a draw.
Those are good points. I can't belive that I didn't think of Rc1 as it is definetly much better than c4. Black still looks better in that position though.
Moves 9 through 13 were a very wimpy sequence. Black may even be a little better after it. Although I guess you can still go for d4. Which I think you should have done on move 16.
Good point, White should have full equality after 16. d4
Those are good points. I can't belive that I didn't think of Rc1 as it is definetly much better than c4. Black still looks better in that position though.
Yes, agreed.
The Ne3 - g4 - h2 manouvre seems strange, to say the least.
That's what I was thinking, too. Maybe instead of this, d4 right away would be ok. Exchanges some crucial pawns there.
What about 16.d4, check it with Stockfish, too. Looks ok to me.
Ya I played scared that game. 16.d4 looks good. Najdorfian that sideline is pretty cool!
instead of c4 d4 is an interesting try, if bc then d5 with p steam roller, at least lots of counter play. Never mind, d4 doesn't work if black plays right, i guess the postion is toast at that point.
My rating is crap compared to yours so feel free to laugh! If I may add, though it may be obvious already, from briefly looking I see that black made more pawn pushes than white. In the end, black has two passed pawns, which seems the reason that white resigned even though both sides have the same material.
The two passed pawns aren't just passed pawns they are extra passed pawns so he does have more material. And yes the problem was that I was too passive and let him push his pawns too much.
I see, did you get another chance to play with that same opponent? Was it tourney or casual?
It was a tourney but the same people show up to the tourneys near me. I played him once before that match and it was a draw.
The Ne3 - g4 - h2 manouvre seems strange, to say the least.
That's what I was thinking, too. Maybe instead of this, d4 right away would be ok. Exchanges some crucial pawns there.
White was playing the position like a Ruy Lopez, so it's not that strange.
True, but it was strange to play it with Black advancing in the centre in my opinion.
You can play d4 and I usually do later, but c3 has many benefits. First of all, it gets out of the sharp sicilian lines and the opening preperation of your oponent. It also forces your opponent to go for nf6 if he doesn't want you to go for an immediate d4 and it fights for the d4 square. It also provides a safe place foe your pieces on c2. Those are just a few benefits. I just had a bad game. I drew a fide master rated nearly 2300 using this line.
My opponent got a positional advantage against me and pulled off a win. I did not play my best this game, but find this game very interesting and would like to analyze what exactly went wrong. The time before this one when I played this opponent we were the same colors and the same oppening occured but he didn't go for a queenside attack and the result was a draw. I have had success playing this opening against the sicilian as white, but it appears that the best way to counter this opening is to go for a queenside attack(I could be wrong, just based on this game).