This game is from a torunament which was played a few months ago, but I didn't have the time to look at the games until now. It was an interesting game where I misplayed the opening but my opponent didn't exploit my inaccuracies and afterwards I managed to win a pawn. However, I missed some important things during the game and only managed to draw.
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.c4 g6
5...Nc6 (Not allowing d4-d5 was best for black, but during the game I didn't think much about d4-d5) 6.Nc3 g6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bg7 9.Be3 Nf6
6.d4 Bg7
6...Qg4 7.O-O Qxe4 8.Re1 Qf5 (I saw this during the game, but didn't like the lack of development)
7.Nc3
7.d5 (As mentioned above, this would have been best for white but both players didn't think so during the game) 7...b5 8.O-O bxc4 9.Nc3 ± (Black is a pawn up but has a cramped position and white will win the pawn back)
7...Nf6 8.O-O O-O (8...cxd4 9.Nxd4 O-O) 9.Bg5 (9.d5) 9...cxd4 10.Nxd4 Nc6 11.Nde2?!
I had expected either 11.Nf3 or 11.Ncx6 during the game
11...Rac8 12.Qd2
Black to play
This was the first moment where I didn't know immediately what to
play. During the game, I didn't want to play the following line:
12...Rfe8 13.Bh6 Bh8 14.f3 since black's position is passive.
12...Ng4?! is bad because of 13.h3 and now the knight has to go back
to f6 since it is very short on squares after 13...Nge5?!
So I played the text move in order to prevent 13.Bh6. The move looks
clumbsy but Stockfish thinks, that it's the best move.
12...Qe6 13.Bxf6 (13.Bh6? Bxh6 14.Qxh6 Nxe4) 13...Qxf6 14.Rad1 Ne5 15.Nd5 Qh4 (15...Qe6 16.Nef4 Qd7 17.b3)
White to play
16.Qf4
During the game I looked at 16.g3?? which would have lost:
16.g3?? Nf3+ 17.Kg2 Qxe4! -+ (During the game I had only looked at 17...Nxd2?
) 18.Nxe7+ Kh8 19.Qd5 Nh4+ 20.Kg1 Qxe7 and black is a piece up
16...Qxf4 17.Nexf4 Rfe8
I discarded 17...Rxc4 because of 18.Nxe7+ Kh8 19.f3 and I was worried about the weak d6-pawn.
18.b3 a6 19.a4?!
White could have just improved their pieces in this position since black doesn't have any direct threats. Now white has weekend their queen side pawn formation and will have to defend the backward b3-pawn.
19...Nd7
Heading for c5
White to play
20.b4?
20.f3 e6 This should be played before Nc5 so that the white knight cannot go to b6. After 21.Nb4 Nc5 22.Rb1 White is slightly passive so black has a small advantage, but it's not clear how it can be converted since black also has to take care off the weak d6-pawn
20...Rxc4
Here I felt that I was much better, but I missed some key resources for white. These don't change the objective evaluation but I couldn't find the correct moves during the game.
21.Rc1 Rc6
I didn't take on e4 since I wanted to keep control of the c-file.
22.b5 axb5 23.axb5
Black to play
23...Rc5?!
23...Rxc1 24.Rxc1 Nc5! This was the key idea: black couldn't keep the rook on the c-file but managed to block the file with the knight. The white rook also cannot go to a1 to take control of the a-file
24.Nd3
From afar, I thought that I could take on b5, but this isn't possible due to 25.Nc7
24...Rxc1 25.Rxc1
White offered a draw at this point but I declined.
25...Nc5?!
Now the game is equal. I tried to push but my opponent didn't make any mistakes and the game ended in a draw.
26. Nxe5 Bxe5 27. Rc7 e6 28. Nb6 d5 29. Rxb7 d4 30. Kf1 Rd8 31. Rd7 Rb8 32. Nc4 Rxb5 33. Nxe5 Rxe5 1/2-1/2