First crack at analysis on my own

i am trying to do the analysis too, but only for daily games. i wonder if you considered 13..nxc3. it doesn't win as far as i can calculate, but i also can't see how it loses. the point is if bc, black can go qd5, while if qxc3 then there's no mate so fxg5 is possible. even here it's not so clear but you have a piece.

i don't know how relevant this is but i just found it interesting to calculate.

earlier you could have captured on f3 after h3. the point is to play c6, e6 develop the minors, get the queen somewhere and not castle too soon. you are waiting for white to commit on one part of the board so that you can go the other way to avoid most of the danger.

there is a game lauridsen-sergey kasparov demonstrating the ideas i am talking about. it is sort of a model game of how to play this line. forget about the specific move order or the opening theory for the moment and focus on how black played all throughout. i'm sure you can learn a thing or two about how he played it.

https://www.chess.com/games/view/13237660

Thanks for the feedback. Honestly I didn't even consider 13... nxc3 during the game, which is telling me that I still suffer from significant tunnel vision in situations where my opponent plays with a threat. 

Thanks also for sharing the game. As you can see from my analysis I ruled out the capture as I thought it would just allow him to develop a queen for no advantage, will study the game you shared in more detail.

Thanks again

in my eyes, bg5 is actually just a cheeky way to mobilize everything. the bishop is not really threatening to take on f6. white could play ne4 and c4 to make sense of it but then he could have played bd2 and ne4 and c4 anyway. the problem is that if mate on f7 is covered then white might have to waste time moving the bishop. maybe even ne4 and c4 without playing bg5 is better as then if your nd5 moves bf4 becomes possible. and there is this nxc3 which is only possible because the bishop hangs on g5.

it is true that bxf3 allows the queen to come to a better square, but the knight on f3 has far more potential to cause damage if it reaches e5 for example, that it's imperative to eliminate it. and besides it helps you to trade pieces as you have less space and also you have an extra pawn, both good preconditions for trading pieces. but the most important thing is that it helps you defend against the incoming attack by eliminating one of white's most potent attacking piece.

looks like a solid game in general tbh

Thanks... your 2nd paragraph makes sense, but has not been something that I have considered in these type of positions previously. When I have less space, up material (a pawn in this instance) it is worth strongly considering a trade, I'll remember this for future.

Good game, well played! I agree with your logic esp. about working on not leaving too long for developing your pieces. I can also get tunnel vision and getting used to more counter-play instead of playing prophylactic moves. Thanks for sharing your game and insight!

over power broken