Positional Play - I still lost on time.

Wow, that was a beautifully played game, immortal! Such a shame that you lost on time. Thanks for sharing it!

funny to think that if 5...Nf6 was played instead, and then later cxd4 was played how differently the resulting game would have been.

Thanks...I thought so too.  So annoying when people don't resign games like that, but oh well.  Time is part of the game I guess.

What in the world was 5. ... c4 all about? Had I been playing White, it wouldn't even have occurred to me to analyze that possible reply. Ie: it would have been pruned out of my analysis-tree before I even started calculating.

''pruned out of my analysis-tree''  

I'm afraid I'm going to have to steal that expression.

One of the biggest steps in becoming a good tactical player... or for that matter, a good chess player... is to improve your ability to choose WHICH moves to calculate; in other words, to pick the RIGHT half-dozen (or so) possible moves to look at.

You won't be able to play the best move if you've spent your time looking at some other move instead, and you won't be able to avoid your opponent's threat if you were focused on some other possible reply instead.

I know as I'm getting better at chess, I've started to notice small advatages in games.  Although they might not be "winning instantly" type moves; enough of them added together over the course of a game, lead to overwelmingly positive positions in the end.