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Usual here is 5...0-0 6.Nf3 c5, gatting in some central counteraction reasonably early. It seems that castling before this counteraction is a little sounder than the immediate 5...c5 (6.d5! 0-0 7.Bd3! when White can develop his K-side pieces more aggressively than the main lines allow). At any rate, Black must get some counteraction going fairly shortly if he don't want to get squashed.

The rook is certainly better placed on the f-file. Later, Black tries ...f6, and the rook would have been better placed at f8 to support this thrust. Maybe Black was thinking of redeploying the d7-Knight to f8 to support e6, as happened later in the game...?

11...f6 was very weakening. It's hard to see how Black can possibly withstand the attack that follows... 12.d5 looks pretty tempting, too, with this in mind: 12...exd5 13.e6 Nc5 14.cxd5 ... with a nasty bind; e.g. this possible sequel: 14...c6 15.Bxc5 dxc5 16.Bc4 cxd5 17.Bxd5 Nxd5 18.Qxd5 Qxd5 19.Nxd5 when the e6-pawn remains inviolable owing to the knight fork on c7. There are, of course, many ways for Black to diverge... 12...fxe5 or 12...dxe5 may be met by 13.e6. After the text move (12.f5) I wonder how White would have responded to 12...exf5!? 13.e6 doesn't look so effective, but things get fairly exciting after 13.exd6 cxd6 14.gxf5 Nxg5 15.Bxf5!? Rxe3!? 16.Be4!? f5!? 17.Bd5ch Kh8 ... when that e3-Rook might turn out to be a real nuisance. Not so good for Black is this continuation: 13.exd6 fxg4 14.dxe7 Rxe7 15.Nd5 Rxe3 16.Nxe3 gxf3 17.Qxf3 when White as Rook for Bishop and pawn.

The full horror of that 10...Re8 move is becoming apparent. Black might have tried 13...Nf6 here, hoping for 14.Nxe6 Bxe6 15.fxe6 exd5 and perhaps to salvage something from the wreckage. Instead comes 15.fxe6 at once. 15...h6 16.Nf7 is curtains, and if 15...Rf8, White has the pleasant choice of winning the Exchange with 16.Nf7 or establishing an excruciating bind with 16.d5. Hence Black's actual choice at move 13.

But 16.Rxf8ch must have been very tempting! 16...Rxf8 17.gxf5 exf5 and White active pieces ought to compensate for having only the small material advantage of 3 minor pieces for Rook and 3 Pawns..

It is the more obvious move to make, and I feel in retrospect sounder too. A good time to twist.

In the complex situation prevailing at the beginning of this sequence, it is worthwhile looking at the alternatives Black might have had to think about. E.g. what are the risks attending on 18...dxe3? Maybe 19.gxh7ch Nxh7 (he pretty much has to take on h7 on account of Knight forks and promotion threats) 20.Bxh7ch Kg7 21.Qh5 Qf6 22.Rf1, say. 18...Rxe3 meets the same sanction. The whole line of play is a rather neat forcing line in which Black has to dance to White's tune.

Ironic. The one chance he has had over the last 8 or 9 moves, and he lets it slip... It is easy to forget that White has given up two Exchanges to reach this position. One feels that maybe White ought to have got more out of the attack than this. Has he missed something along the way? But it occasionally happens like this: a really promising attack, a forcing line that yields ... not much in particular. After 26...Kd7! White's best is probably 27.Nxf7! threatening 28.Qxe8ch Kxe8 29.Nxc7ch. Black has 27...Qxf7 (28.Qxf7ch Nxf7 29.Bf5ch Ke8! 30.Nxc7ch Kd8 31.Nxa8 Bxf5) 32.Bxa7) or 27...Nf3ch (28.Kf2 Nxd4 29.Qxe8ch Kxe8 30.Nxc7ch Kxf7 31.Nxa8 and if 31...Ne6?! to stop White's Knight escaping, 32.Bf5. White has the winning chances with his remote passed pawn, but the ending "ain't no gimme".

I was also left with the same feeling, that maybe there was more to be had for White and that something had been missed -- it might well be the case that I did miss something. Maybe it is because of this, that 16. Rxf8 should also be considered. As ionadowman says, if Black had noticed the King's escape, White still has some play after some exchanging, with his h-pawn and bishop pair, but that is far less than he was angling for.