Thanks Dennis! Really appreciate your thoughts on the game. You recommended some tactics training to me and I think it paid off.

Actually it's quite amazing. A couple of weeks before playing this game I'd spent just a few hours looking at various tactical motifs, one of which was a knight sac on e6, which is how I discovered the gambit actually. When you see results like that after just one training session, it really makes you wonder what you could achieve if you study tactics regularly.

And thumbsup for the intro of the the rook ending vid. "If I hang my rook, don't take it! You'll have better winning chances!" Really made me laugh!

Edit: And I just looked at the Bb5+ line again and I have absolutely no idea why a) I thought the game would turn sharp and b) why he couldn't just play Kf8! I guess it was late when I played and analysed the game

Thanks Dennis,

A good though not easy answer to a not easy question .

Shorter Dennis: pick something mainline, and don't move on until you know it well.

I have laid out a plan in a blog post for someone younger, but I don't want to take that long tour (I am getting old), and I think that plan is better for a class D player advancing through B. OTOH, retracting a bit to class B results, might be good for me.

Not suprisingly, more thought is required.