LICC Winter Open, Round 3

Another week, another loss.

Hopes for a 3 win comeback have been dashed now. In my first game of the tournament as Black, I reached a decent position out of the opening, and decided to concede a space advantage to White on the kingside for play on the Queenside. At a critical moment, I came up with an interesting exchange sacrifice idea, netting two pawns and a bishop for a rook. That is, if I followed up the sac correctly. Instead, much like my opponent in the first round, I miscalculated the timing of a series of captures and found myself down a rook.

I take a few lessons from this game.

1) I should be less generous when conceding space to my opponent. 11..e5 left me with a decent position and plenty more space.

2) I should manage my time more effectively. Thinking that I was better after taking on c3 and d4, I figured the rest of the game was a slam dunk and didn't spend the time to calculate the correct play on moves 20-22, blundering with 21..Bxe5. Double checking all responses would have lead me to realize how bad this move was. (The time format is G90, and I finished with 40 minutes to spare, which could have been used on move 21).

3) Even without calculation, I should have realized on move 21 that the E-pawn was weak and not going anywhere, and thus should have taken the Bishop (21..Qxf2 then eventually Kxf8) on principle.

I have not analyzed this game with Scidlet, but provided some annotations. I welcome any comments, especially if anybody can shed light as to wheter white wins the endgame if I played 21..Qxf2 or if I did indeed had a draw.