Another loss to go over...

This was a tough game.  I wound up ahead by two pawns but, in time trouble, I just couldn't penetrate his king's corner.  

I'm going to be reviewing this game myself but I appreciate any/all feedback on this one.  I know I'm getting better and I want to just keep learning from each loss.  

For the record - I win games, too lol.  I just don't post the wins that are rather obvious.  If I have one that is especially interesting I'll post it but I tend to believe we need to focus on the losses more than the wins.  

edit: Once again...I had a look - Opponent has roughly ~10,000 games played on ICC going back to '03.  So I'm definitely starting to improve but I knew this was a weak player and felt like I should have turned the tide here.  It also took me a very long time to calculate on some of these moves where he was threatening to fork with his knight.

3. I don't think accepting is good. It just exchanges pawns. I prefer keeping the pawn on c4 because you can retain the space advantage, but it is OK.

10. Why a4? It doesn't improve your position and does nothing. You shouldn't play passive moves.

14. Bxh8 wins the exchange for you.

23. You should move your Rook on third rank to attack the a7-pawn or do a better move such as 23. Be5. and threaten the c6-pawn. (24.Rxc6+ Nxc6 25. Rxc6+ Kb7 26.Rd6+)

25. Rxd3?? was a blunder. Black should've taken the rook.

wait, were you white or black?

13. d3 was just a terrible blunder.  The only thing worse than my d3 was him not seeing the rook sitting along the diagonal.  

As for 0-0-0: 0-0 was out already and I just felt tremendous pressure to tuck him away somewhere.  In retrospect, he might have been safer where he was in the first place.  

I was black.  Time control: 30/5

Ah...Now I see.  This was the move that led to my collapse.  I gave up a pawn for nothing and left both queens on the board.  I should have taken the rook and swapped queens.

I saw the check you're referring to and have started understanding some of those diagonals you're talking about thanks to http://www.chesstactics.org/.  I've just been making it a point to be more disciplined with how I use my queen and I didn't want to lose time and tempo by having her bounced around that early in the game.  Not that this was a wise decision - but that was my reasoning.

As for move #9 and wasting the bishop: And the funny thing is that I don't like giving up the bishop pair.  I see what you mean though - it's an ineffective pin that just gets broken anyway or gives up the bishop pair. I'll look for better opportunities to establish a pin with my bishop in the future.

I hit you back with a message and thanks again for all of your input.  I'm learning a lot.

edit: Regarding the Slav - It's what I've been starting to learn and get comfortable with, yes.  I see what you're referring to is just the QGD. It does indeed look really naturally, as you put it.  I'll start looking into it a little bit.

After move 8, certainly the queen check is not playable yet (8...Qh4+ 9. g3.) But that idea is usable; imagine if you had a knight on e4. Then ...Qh4 g3 Nxg3 is the common sequence. All in all, good reason to prefer 8...Nf6 (preparing to hop to e4 which also happens to be an outpost.) It's natural to transfer pieces to where they want to be.

Did any one point out 22. Rxc6+ yet? 22...Nxc6 23. Rxc6+ Kb7 24. Rc7+ followed by Qb7+.