34...Rxh3 was a cool move, but black indeed had better by accepting the rook and taking white's h-pawn when the smoke clears.
Grueling game!
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When you castled on move 15 didn't you hang your bishop?
yah he did. and what the heck was Rxd3 hanging your queen
Yes, it seems I did hang a bishop... I very often don't consider how a position will be when I castle.
And I did not hang my queen, the rook captured with check.
4...d4 feels a little premature. It looks like a reversed Philidor's before that where the central tension either remains or is released by a capture, so why not develop before closing the centre? Even more so since white's wasted a move with 2. a3?! and shouldn't have any advantage from opening the centre.
5...Bd6 or 6...Nbd7 to defend the e-pawn perhaps? In this sort of situation you'd want to play ...c5 to defend d4 eventually, but your move 6...Nc6 blocked it. Now white had f4 and c3 options in the centre, while you had no good pawn breaks, making it harder to claim equality.
7...h6 was unnecessary, yes, and potentially weakening, enabling white to sac in some lines after ...0-0 (if you dared to try.)
8...Be6? Well, you saw what happened there. Better was 8...Nd7, blocking your bishop but still holding the centre. Kick the knight, prepare ...f5, something like that. Even 8...Bd6 9. Nxd6 cxd6 leaves you looking to play ...d5 later, not too bad.
15...0-0-0? hangs the bishop as pointed out by others. 15...Qf6, holding the bishop and pawn allows you to castle next move while white disentangles his awkward kingside pieces.
17. Bd3. Why didn't he take either pawn? 17. Qxg7? Bg5 loses the exchange. 17. Rxd4 Rxd4 18. Qxd4 Bf6 does win the pawn for white, but I'm guessing he didn't like the resulting activity you could get while he was severely underdeveloped.
17...Rae8 would have been stronger, seizing the e-file first. The g-pawn is still safe because of ...Bg5 again.
Optically, I like 29...c5 to bolster the d-pawn. You didn't have to move the bishop immediately, but that was an OK move too.
34...Rxh3 is a neat tactic. However. Before playing it, you must calculate out the ending position of both variations (Qxh3 and Rxf4) and conclude that black still has a stronger position, keeping white in a bind. Especially important as the queens remain on the board, enabling irritating checks and attacks. 35. Qxh3 Bc1+ 36. Kb3 Qxf2 37. Qxh6 and it looks like white has a strong attack instead. Always make sure simplifications do not change the winner of the game!
The queen trade: Good that you saw the resulting pawn endgame was winning. A very safe way to take the full point home, good job.
Just wondering why you didn't do 45. .... h5?
45. ...h5 Does seem a better move, but once I was certain I could win I put little effort into winning the best way, any way seemed good to me.
This was an interesting 30 minute game I played some time ago, so some of my thoughts I have forgotten, but I have annotated what I can. It was my greatest win (rating wise) and longest game yet , over 50 minutes in total. Any thoughts would be apprecitated, thanks much!