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3...Bd6 I'm not fond of this move. The bishop is not doing anything much here and you are blocking your d-pawn. As you end up moving it again in just a few moves I'd say this is a slight mistake.

6...Nd4 You are violating the principle of moving each piece just once in the opening unless there's a tactic. Since white can easily meet the threat to c2 this is a bit of a wasted tempo.

7...Bc5 Now you have moved two pieces twice. You should focus more on developing your other pieces. Of course, white is also wasting some tempii so you're still okay.

10...Bg4 You are moving the bishop to a square where you know it will have to move again after f3. Why not play Be6 immediately and save a tempo? Tempii are important. Three of them are enough that you can sacriface a pawn and still be okay. You are wasting them left and right.

15...c5 Did you consider Nxf3+, gxf3, d4? I'm not sure it is better but it looks interesting. It seems to open up white's King somewhat.

17...d4 Looks like you might win a piece with Ba5 before d4. Move order is everything in chess.

23...Nxb5 Looks incredibly dangerous. What did you plan to do if white played Qb2 here for example? I don't offhand see a way to avoid losing a piece.

24...Qa6 Drops the pawn on c5 for no apparent reason. And with another loss of tempo at that.

34...Bd2 I don't like this move at all. You have two monster pawns in the center completely restricting white's pieces. Also, the d-pawn is very far advanced and is already threatning to advance to the seventh rank with the tempo on the knight. This is a HUGE advantage. To give this away allowing a weak isolated doubled pawn on the e-file is easily the biggest mistake of the game. I don't have access to a computer program at the moment but I would not be surprised if this is a bigger mistake than simply letting white take the bishop on a5.

If you have access to a chess program I would suggest you set this position up and play white from here a few times. I think you will start to appreciate exactly how difficult this position is for white and why you should not play Bd2-e3.

38. f4 If white just play Rxe3 the material is now equal and the position very drawish. As for your 38th move I'm not sure it would be on the list of your 10 worst moves so I'm not sure why you singled it out in your comment.

In the end white played very badly allowing you all sorts of things you should not have been able to do. You used his generosity to do a nice mate. Well done. If there is anything you should take from this game it is to try and develop all your pieces in the beginning and also to use all of your pieces in the middle game.

1. b4

Here I remembered why I like to play white. Less really odd openings to keep track of. I have faced this in a couple of blitz games but never in a 3-hour game. I had no clue what to do.

1...Nf6

Seemed as good as everything else.

2. Bb2 e6

It's been a while since I played black in this context. Being the team captain has some perks (not to mention some of the others on the team don't mind black). I usually go for a french or pirc but here the pirc seemed less logical to me with white's bishop on that diagonal. I had some Be7-f6 manouvre in mind for later.

3. b5

Had he been rated around 1300 I would have been sure this was a poor move. Not knowing the theory and him being over 1700 I assumed the point of this move would become clear to me at some later point.

3...d5

When you have no clue what to do, grab the center.

4. e3

A logical move on his part. As for me, I was trying to figure out where my pieces belonged. There is little worse in chess than discovering your piece is on the wrong square and if you had only made the correct move you would have a great game but now you have a bad game and then sitting there regretting your move for the next 5 hours.

4...c6

While he spent some time pushing the pawn it does restrict my natural development. So I decided to challenge the pawn.

5. c4

I was taking some time in these unfamiliar waters. He, on the other hand, was moving very quickly.

5...dxc4 6. Bxc4 cxb5 7. Bxb5+ Bd7

I thought this line was okay for me. I accept having a center pawn less for a 2on1 majority on the queenside. The plan is clear: trade down everything and win the endgame with an outside passed pawn.

8. Bxd7+

I was expecting something like Qb3 or Qa4 but I thought Bxb5 followed by Qd7 was okay for me.

8...Nbxd7 9. Nf3 Be7 10. O-O O-O 11. d4

Ne4 was possible I guess but I didn't think it was that hot and I had pieces to develop. I chose between Qb6 and Qa5 and I still don't know why if you have a 50-50 choice you always make the wrong one. The queen is better placed on a5 and the tempo on the bishop isn't of much use after all.

11...Qb6 12. Qe2 Rac8 13. Nc3

Here I was accutely aware that Qa5 would have been better. A rook is comming to b1 in the near future.

13... a6 14. Rab1

Told you. Nothing to do but admit my mistake and place the queen on the better square even if it took 2 moves.

14...Qa5 15. Rfc1 b5

This move seemed reasonable. It protects the b-pawn, blocks his semi-open file and pushes my pawn majority.

16. e4 Ba3

I liked this move during the game. It follows the logic of trading pieces to get to the endgame where my pawn majority might get strong and gets the bishop out of the way from a possible d5, exd5. Looking at it now, Nb6 looks kind of obvious.

17. e5 Bxb2

If exf6 I was planning Bxc3, fxg7, Rfe8 which I believe leaves me a piece up.

18. Qxb2

After Ne8 it would take a lot of moves to get it to a decent square so I took my chances that Nd5, Nxd5, exd5 would be playable. It's not a fun pawn structure but what can you do. At least I seem to have sufficient defensive resources to hold the pawn in the immediate future.

18...Nd5 19. Ne4

Heading for the nice looking d6 square but I was very happy that I did not have to defend after Nxd5.

19...Rxc1+ 20. Rxc1 N7b6 21. Nd6

It is true that the knight looks threatning on d6 but for the moment at least I didn't see anything too bad happening. My knights are keeping his major pieces in check even if he controls the c-file. After a lot of difficult decisions I had spent 1 hour 11 minutes on the clock while he had spent 28 minutes.

21...h6 22. Qc2 Qa4 23. Qe2 b4 24. Ne4 a5 25. Nc5 Qa3

The queen is short on safe squares but I did not see a way for him to trap the queen.

26. Qc2 Nc3 27. Ra1 Rd8

I've pretty much had my way the last few moves. He hasn't showed his center pawns or knight outposts to be productive while I have pushed my majority and gotten some squares for my knights as well. What I was worried about here was Qb3 where Qxb3, axb3 leaves my pawns weak rather than strong. I was planning Qb3, Ne2+ followed by Nxd4 and recapturing bxa3. For the doubled pawn I would at least have active pieces.

28. Nb7

I was weary of placing my rook off the first rank with something like Rd7. While nothing bad is imminent I would have to keep an eye on my vulnerable back rank.

28...Rb8 29. Nd6 Qa4 30. Qd2 Qc6 31. Qd3 Qd5

My queen is repositioned on a great central square and his pawn on a2 is again under attack. I was a little low on time with about 10 minutes left to get to move 40.

32. a3 Nba4 33. axb4 axb4

So the question becomes: can I queen the pawn? Every square in front of the pawn is covered. It is looking pretty good but I am also a bit low on time.

34. Nd2 b3 35. Rc1 b2 36. Rf1

His moves have been far from inspired but at least the queening square is covered for the moment and I must make 5 moves in less than 3 minutes to avoid losing on time. I take almost 2 of them and decide that I can probably meet his counterattack.

36...Qa2

The pawn will queen. Good news for me as long as nothing bad happens in the other direction.

37. Qf3 b1=Q 38. Qxf7+ Kh7

So he got a pawn and a check but now he must deal with my extra queen. If Ne8 I just take it and keep my extra queen.

39. Nxb1 Rxb1

The only dangerous counter-threat I could see was Ne8 but there is no time for it due to the threat of Ne2+ and Rxf1#.

40. h3

I was down to my last minute but he had at least 6 minutes left so I don't know why he played this horrible move. He had to try g3 where I had planned Rxf1+, Kxf1, Qd5 (threatning Qh1#), f3, Qxd4 where my extra piece will most likely decide.

40...Rxf1+ 41. Kh2 Rxf2

And he resigned.

1. b4 Nf6 2. Bb2 e6 3. b5 d5 4. e3 c6 5. c4 dxc4 6. Bxc4 cxb5 7. Bxb5+ Bd7
8. Bxd7+ Nbxd7 9. Nf3 Be7 10. O-O O-O 11. d4 Qb6 12. Qe2 Rac8 13. Nc3 a6
14. Rab1 Qa5 15. Rfc1 b5 16. e4 Ba3 17. e5 Bxb2 18. Qxb2 Nd5 19. Ne4 Rxc1+
20. Rxc1 N7b6 21. Nd6 h6 22. Qc2 Qa4 23. Qe2 b4 24. Ne4 a5 25. Nc5 Qa3 26.
Qc2 Nc3 27. Ra1 Rd8 28. Nb7 Rb8 29. Nd6 Qa4 30. Qd2 Qc6 31. Qd3 Qd5 32. a3
Nba4 33. axb4 axb4 34. Nd2 b3 35. Rc1 b2 36. Rf1 Qa2 37. Qf3 b1=Q 38. Qxf7+
Kh7 39. Nxb1 Rxb1 40. h3 Rxf1+ 41. Kh2 Rxf2 {white resigns} 0-1