?! Positional Sacrifice in Ruy Lopez

I have the awful habit of playing positional pawn sacrifices either when I have the Bishop pair to take aim with or when it will allow me a nice central pawn lead. So what happens when I can get both?

So what do you guys think?  I felt it was an exciting game.

Position after 20. Qd5 is pretty interesting - and black can attempt to trap the queen with:

20. ... Qxd6 21. Qxa8 c6 22. Rad1 Qc7 23. Nd5! cxd5 24. Qxd5, and the queen is free.

Just thought this was interesting. Have i made a mistake?

After 20. Qd5 maybe black should try 20. ... Rb8 21. Qxc5 cxd6 and Nxf4 coming so that black has 4 pawns for the bishop.

Rad1 is worse than 22. fxe6 Qc7 23. Ne4!! fxe4 24. Rxf8+ Bxf8 25. Bc2 where Black's Queen and Bishop pair are passive, the Knight isn't particularly strong, White has 2 active Bishops and a useful Rook. In your line, after 24. Qxd5, then ... Nxf4 25. Qxe5 Qxe5 26. Bxe5 Ng6 and the position looks even.

EDIT:  I agree with Loomis but I remember thinking that the position is still very active for White while I felt Black's needed very energetic play to hold it together.

I like your ideas, but I think they are a little too above my head to comment on them. What about the move 24. g3, threatening a knight fork on d5?

23. ... fxe4? seems worse than 23. ... Bb7 24. Qxf8+ Bxf8, or 24. Qxb7 Qxb7 25. Nxc5 .

I still prefer 23. Nd5 cxd5 24. Qxd5, giving white a clear material edge.

woah, woah, 23 ... fxe4 is infinitely better than 23 ... Bb7 24. Qxb7 Qxb7 25. Nxc5 where White's advantage is much more pronounced. Check your analysis. Black is handidly down in your line, whereas merely passive in mine. White has the Bishop pair, 2 strong Rooks, and a great Knight where Black has a decent Knight and two misplaced pieces in its Queen and Rook, the 2 pawns it has are useless and will fall shortly.

On 22. fxe6 Qc7 23. Nd5?? cxd5 24. Qxd5?? (24 Rac1! Bb7 25. Qa7 with clear White advantage) Bb7 25. Qe6 and White is even at best with accurate play.  Check the lines again, 23. Ne4! is the critical line.

gg