I hate queen endings!

This is a recent game where I think I really could have done better, especially in the transition to the endgame. It's my first long game using the Grunfeld, which I am trying to learn better. I am playing Black in this game.

I would appreciate any comments and suggestions for improvement. - Thanks!

For the Grunfeld you go immediately to 3.. d5, as white can play 4. e4 and now you are stuck in a theoretical KID which is not good for you (as you are not prepared).

You should have castled earlier. 8. Be3 0-0 9. Be2 then you can play Nc6 or Qa5, delaying whites castle while you are safe. After Qa5 Be2 you have cxd4! and you destroy whites center, so Bxd4 e5! then Be3, and black is better.

In my experience whenever white plays e5, black becomes better, and ur opponent played e5. You should take a more careful look at 11.. Qxc3, I think you get a free pawn and u ruin whites center, which is blacks plan in the Grunfeld.

12.. Bc8 pure blunder, positionally, tactically, anything and everything.

26. c4 or Qh8+ is winning for white, as you either pin the bishop or get a free pawn with danger around your king.

Those pawn endgames are usually draw, but I think what black must do is keep his king on the kingside, while pushing his a pawn then protecting it, so like a5 then Qb4 then push etc.

@Serbian,

Thank you very much for taking a look. I should have mentioned that I have played King's Indian quite a bit, and would have been fine. This was a 3 day/move game, and it was only after the first couple of moves that I decided I was ready to try a Grunfeld.

The castling issue didn't bother me. I didn't see a way for White to get at me, and I wanted to pile up on his center as quickly as I could. Castling was always only a move away if needed.

I was wary of 11.. Qxc3 because 12. Bd2 Qa3 13. d5 looked too strong. Then if 13... Nxe5 14. Nxe5 wins material. Unfortunately, I missed 13... Bxf3, which seems to work. 

12... Bc8 as a blunder? That seems a bit harsh to me. What do you suggest for protecting the b pawn?

I was of course in trouble by move 26, but I'm not sure 26. c4 works in light of Qxa2 threatening the bishop.

Thanks again for taking the time to analyze. 

@joey,

Thanks for taking a look. I will be feeding this into my computer tonight for its opinion. I wanted to take a stab at it beforehand so I could see where my analysis is bad. Maybe I could have tried h6 instead of h5.

I do too, was two pawns up, threw them away until I had a worse position, spotted a perpetual if he took my pawn, but he accepted the draw. http://www.chess.com/echess/game?id=55460994

12.. cxd4 13. cxd4 Bxf3 14. Bxf3 Nxd4 maybe? It looks a lot better.

Bc8 is horrible, he played Qb3 right? so Bc8 Ng5 0-0 Bc4! e6 and now your c8 bishop is crap and your position is cramped (unpleasent to me). So in my view it is horrible.

That's interesting, though I don't know if I could find that OTB. 12... cxd4 13. Qxb7 gets very complicated, and with my king still in the center, I wouldn't have tried it unless I could be absolutely sure I could get away with it. 

I don't know about that. After b6, the bishop will either get redeployed to b7, or I can play it to a6 some point, and change off the light squared bishops, no?

@Bonesy,

Thanks for your comments.

I remember considering 12..Qc7 and deciding against it, though I can't recall my reasoning at all. It looks good.

I do not believe that 25...Kf8 is a blunder, though I am curious to see what deep computer analysis might say of it.  My only other alternative seems to be Kg8 which seems to lose immediately to the pawn push. Honestly I am probably lost either way, but I am trying for my best chance. Note that 26. Qh8+ Ke7 may lose a pawn, but it saves the bishop. 

I avoided 41...Qc7 because 42. Qa6 and I'm no further along.

I feel like your wasting too much tempo, if you left your bishop to start with, you could have strengthen your position, but going to Bc8 is wasting like 5 tempos, whereas it was fine where it was before. Note that white strengthens his position considerably by getting Bc4 and Ng5 in.

After something like b6 and Bb7, white can go Bxe6! after fxe6 Qxe6+ Kh8 and Nf7+ and you have your typical philidors mate or 2 pawns and rook (plus a weak king) for bishop and knight. So you have to leave your bishop on c8 for atleast several more moves while white strengthens his position.

25.. Kf8 is a HUGE blunder.. white plays 26. c4! and you lose your bishop for a pawn?

25.. Kg8 26. c4! does the same, unfortunately. 

24.. Rxd1+ and black is obviously better, he has 4 pawns on the kingside vs's 3 pawns, and on the queenside 2 pawns each (with weak doubled pawns for white). Black is better at this point but it is still unclear whether you can win or not.

I did some heavy analysis with computer aid, and here are a couple of things to add.

12.. Bc8?! - was indeed considered dubious, though not exactly a blunder either. Here 12.. cxd4 13. cxd4 Bxf3 14. Bxf3 Nxd4 was suggested, so props to SerbianChessStar for that find. 

25.. Kf8 was also dubious, though not for any reasons so far mentioned here. It came down to some hard to see variations several moves in the future, and definitely not to any ideas of the White queen checking on h8. In fact, 26. Qh8 is a clear mistake, giving Black at least equalization! The computer favored either 25.. Kg8 or 25.. f6.

Once the game was down to the queen ending, the only real mistakes found were White's 52. g4?! and Black's 53.. h5?! (Critter suggests h6 as I later guessed). Overall the ending was judged as only slightly favoring Black, and there was not a clear suggested path to victory up to the 25-ply search I gave it.