on move 10, I prefer recapturing with the "b" pawn. In that structure, I don't like White's "a" pawn. you control the b4 square and in some lines, pushing to c4 will make his Q-side pawn structure shaky -- isolated "a" pawn and backward "b" pawn. If White pushes b4 then you capture it en passant and his "c" pawn is isolated.
20 Nd4 looks forced to avoid losing the "c" pawn. in actual game, how about 20 .....Bxc3 winning a pawn ?
24.......e5 is very sharp. hanging tight with 24 ......Rc8 and position looks very equal. Another try is 26......e4 ( 27 Bxe4 ?? Rxe4) 27 Rd1, Qe6 28 Nd4
After 35 moves, the position's dynamic is opposite colored Bishops, White has a passed "c" pawn, Black a passed "a" pawn. very equal. I like playing 35 ......Kg8 repeating the position ( same position as after White's 33rd move). Then if you repeat a 3rd time, claim Draw.
35.....Qd6 was a big mistake resulting in White winning a pawn -- though still drawish. Another method for Black, instead of repeating the position with 35.....Kg8 is shuffle the Bishop back and forth from d8 to c7. how does White make progress ? Black's B and Q stop the "c" pawn from getting to c2.
In this recent game that I played
I was Black. After my opponent captured my pawn (10. dxc5), I recaptured with the bishop. Should I have recaptured with my b-pawn instead? What is your reasoning?
I am not sure what to think about all the positions resulting from various e4 or c4 lines after whichever capture, and the newly opened file(s) can't be ignored, either.
Any comments are appreciated!