Good defense or bungled attack?

This was a recent online game of mine, where I allowed my opponent (white) good attacking chances for the price of two pawns.  The game isn't clean (mine rarely are) and I won on time, but I'm curious as to whether I handled the defense well, or if white gave the game away.  Thanks in advance for your time and thoughts.

rf1

I thought your annotations were pretty good, and i only have a few thoughts, mind you, i'm not really strong in QP positions.  It does look like, on move 8, white could have begun opening the center with gain of time like you say.  On 9 Qd8, i didn't see what threat was coming to your queen.  I can see how you may have felt the queen was exposed, but i noticed nothing immediate, at least within a few moves.  10 b6 looked fine to me, like you said, you needed to get the bishop out, and ironically, given the position, i think a6 was the best spot for a few moves.  Then, on 13 you start swinging your knight around to f5, which i thought looked like a good post to, but the knight never gets there, and i wonder why.  14 Rc8 looks ok.  On 16 i thought f5 looked strong, or, like you said, Ng6.  I'm not sure if any of this helps.  As far as the opening goes, my database, which is ok, has black winning after white's Bg5.  Just a grain of salt from me though.

Gimly, thanks for the response.  I hadn't thought about 16. . .f5.  that may be worth a look.  On 9. . .Qd8, I finally saw cxd, exd 11. Nxd with a gain of tempo and winning a pawn for white, so I retreated my queen to protect material.  Not the strongest move, but I'm still at a loss for how to proceed from that position.  That's odd that your database has black winning after 6. Bg5.  It's not a particularly strong move for white, but it seems so natural, that I wouldn't think it would fall so heavily in black's favor.

Thanks again for the response and for taking the time to take a look at the game. 

Tony, I think you're right.  I don't see a way to deal with that pin that is particularly favorable for black.

Overall, what do you folks think white should have done to capitalize on his attacking potential in the middle game?

Your immediate c5 was positionally unsound. Heres the book moves

For awhile I think I was losing the game.  The above diagram more closely resembles the types of positions I feel comfortable in, but that early a3 on white's part made me a little squirrely about where I should put my dark-squared bishop and all sorts of craziness ensued as a result.  Funny, I don't particularly think 3.a3 is particularly strong for white as it kind of hands the initiative over to black -- not that I capitalized on it.

move 8 e3 by white to me was a bad move ,he could have broken the center wide open with cxd , this would set up really nice out post for white knight and to me the only reason for the exchange of bishop and knight move earlier. white would have strong control of center , especially with d4 lurking in the background thats the type of weakness i look for in a game very subtle with long term implications . peace and love.