Annotated chess game

The bishop recapture looks counter-intuitive to me, too.

I might have been inclined to shove in ...h5, here - put the frighteners on.

It's when this move calls loudly to be played, and yet you see serious downsides (in respect of the d-pawn in particular) you start to realise maybe Black has a decent sized edge, here. But what else is there? If Black tries, say, 17.Rad1, Black has a promising attack by 17...g4 18.Nd2 Bxg2 19.Kxg2 Qd5ch 20.Kg1 h4 OR just go for the simple tactic 17...Qf7! 18.b5 Bb3 19.Qe4 ... and Black can choose between ...Bxd1, winning the exchange, or, more promising, 19...Na5 20.Rc1 Bd5 21.Qb4 h4 and a strong attack.

Not only does this leave a backwards d pawn, but it also gives up long term control over the d4 square once g4 happens. At the very best white can hope to trade a reasonably good dark squared bishop for a knight coming into d4 and at the worst black is just winning if they get their knight in. If white is trying to avoid light squared bishop exchange this doesn't even really work, as Bh3 at some point is just begging to be played anyway.

It might not have been such a bad idea to play 18.d4 at once, though after 18...Nxd4!, White does lose the pawn. The upside is that White can exchange queens, defuse the immediate attack, and try to hold the endgame. The downside is that the endgame doesn't look so easy to hold!

A very reasonable alternative was 18...Qf7, threatening 19...Bb3. That can be met by 19.Nd2, but then comes 19...Rxd3. Given that the text move is at least as strong as the alternative, that must point to a big advantage for Black right now.

Nf4. would be my best guess

Horrors! White has obviously planned this when he moved the King's rook earlier. But suddenly the move is fatally wrong. Black's next move is a killer that wins the White queen at the cost of a knight on account of the threat of a mate in one. A refinement of the 'masked battery' motif. Given that 19.Bxh3 Qxh3 looks fatally dangerous, the only other worthwhile try was 19.Ne1, though Black will be left with the initiative firmly in his grasp after 19...Bxg2 20.Nxg2 h4.

Sweet tactic. I won't give it away.

Despite the fact white basically handed this to you, still nicely done.

Will you be revealing the answer Charles, many thanks for the annotation. Happy new year. Willy....

Many thanks guys! Message me if you want the answer!