Thank you for your comments Charles,
- on 8...Ne4, I was planning 9.Bf4 g5 10.Bg3 Nxg3 11.hxg3, though it's objectively probably no advantage to white, but black's king is a bit exposed and I liked the position ; probably I'll play Qc2 in a similar position next time : I prefer a quiet game...
- I played a3 early because I like to get the a3-b4 pawn chain as soon as possible, when I don't have to worry anymore about annoying c5 pawns breaks
- It' true that I could have skipped f3, but it has the advantage of covering e4, which is convenient for black pieces when white plays the minority attack (especially his Knights). The only drawback of f3 I can see is that it weakens h2
- I think your comment on playing b5 'too early' is very interesting ; it may be a case of a pawn push with almost no drawback - I just have to take care that the open files are mine... food for thought
- As for being mad with myself, it's not exactly what happened : of course I kicked me first for having missed Nf8, but having a long history of "consecutive blunders", I decided to spend time and assess objectively the position. It appears that black can create some problems if he has time to play Qd6, so looking for a quick reaction was attractive. I spend much time calculating the variations (10-15 mins, I'm not sure) and saw lots of things, except Qxd4!! What a...
Here is a game I played in the French league at regular time-controls.
I didn't have enough patience, but luck was on my side...