D15 Slav Defence: 4.Nc3 a6 and gambit lines after 4.Nc3 dxc4 (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.e3 h6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Nc3)

Yesterday I became quite depressed as I saw what awful moves I managed to play in my correspondence games. There was one game in particular where I was up a piece and just merrily had traded my opponents last rook off the board only to see that was actually the losing move as it enabled my opponent to get his only last hope of counterplay done without me noticing before it was too late. Now my opponent gets his pawn promoted and I can't do anything about it. This will be most likely the second loss for me this month after being in a clearly better position if not winning. I can only blame my arrogance or the ever evident stupidity I am capable of. It did make me wonder why I even try to play this game anymore as with every loss little part of me dies... Oh well, hoping that I get the tide turned a bit today. I should maybe start exercising my brain more, maybe even go to wwww.lumosity.com to do some brain training. Should be worth a try at least.

[Event "Let's Play!"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2014.05.18"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "segk"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D15"] [WhiteElo "1922"] [BlackElo "1567"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (5s), TV"] [PlyCount "25"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 (1... c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 Nf6 {1-0 (53) Diehl,S-Knopp,I (2130) Giessen 1996}) 2. c4 (2. Nf3 h6 3. c4 c6 {0-1 (41) Leuschner,G (1796)-Schuster,H (1682) Schloss Schney 2007}) 2... c6 {D10 Slav Defense} 3. e3 (3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 h6 { 1/2-1/2 (65) Santos,J (1754)-Fernandes,A (1849) Lisboa 2006}) 3... h6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Nc3 {D15 Slav Defence: 4.Nc3 a6 and gambit lines after 4.Nc3 dxc4} Bg4 { 0.97/20} (5... e6 $11 {0.24/22 remains equal.}) 6. h3 {0.22/21} (6. Qb3 $16 { 0.97/20}) (6. Be2 e6 7. O-O Bd6 8. c5 Bc7 9. b4 Nbd7 10. h3 Bh5 11. a4 e5 12. Nxe5 Bxe2 13. Qxe2 Bxe5 14. dxe5 Nxe5 15. Rd1 O-O 16. Bb2 Re8 17. Ra2 Qc8 18. Ba1 Nc4 19. Qf3 Qe6 20. Ne2 Qe4 {Diehl,S-Knopp,I (2130) Giessen 1996 1-0 (53)}) (6. cxd5 cxd5 7. Qb3 b6 8. Ne5 Bc8 9. Bb5+ Bd7 10. Nxd5 e6 11. Nxf6+ gxf6 12. Nxd7 Nxd7 13. Bd2 Bd6 14. Qa4 a5 15. Rc1 Rc8 16. Bxd7+ Qxd7 17. Rxc8+ {1-0 (17) Tomik,L (1991)-Mandic,I (1511) Subotica 2017}) 6... Be6 $146 {1.42/19} (6... Bxf3 $1 $11 {0.22/21 keeps the balance.} 7. Qxf3 e6 8. Bd3 Nbd7 9. O-O Be7 10. Qe2 dxc4 11. Bxc4 Nd5 12. e4 N5f6 13. e5 Nd5 14. a3 Nxc3 15. bxc3 Nb6 16. Bd3 Nd5 17. Bd2 a6 18. Qg4 g6 19. Rfb1 b5 20. Rc1 h5 21. Qe4 Rc8 22. c4 bxc4 { Leuschner,G (1796)-Schuster,H (1682) Schloss Schney 2007 0-1 (41)}) (6... Bh5 7. Be2 (7. Bd3 Nbd7 8. g4 Bg6 9. Bxg6 fxg6 10. Qc2 Qc7 11. Qxg6+ Kd8 12. c5 b6 13. cxb6 axb6 14. O-O Kc8 15. Bd2 Kb7 16. Rfc1 Qd6 17. Qc2 e6 18. e4 dxe4 19. Nxe4 Nxe4 20. Qxe4 Qd5 21. Re1 Re8 {Romeo Ros,J (1736)-Martinez Navarro,M Barcelona 2009 1/2-1/2 (46)}) 7... Nbd7 8. O-O e6 9. b3 g5 10. Nh2 Bg6 11. Bd3 Rg8 12. Bxg6 Rxg6 13. Re1 Qc7 14. e4 dxe4 15. Nxe4 Nxe4 16. Rxe4 Nf6 17. Re1 O-O-O 18. Nf3 Nd7 19. Be3 Bd6 20. Qc1 Rdg8 21. Kh1 {Santos,J (1754)-Fernandes, A (1849) Lisboa 2006 1/2-1/2 (65)}) 7. Qb3 {0.62/22} ({White should play} 7. Be2 $16 {1.42/19}) 7... b6 $2 {2.17/16 [#]} (7... Qc7 $14 {0.62/22}) 8. Ne5 { 1.10/22} (8. cxd5 $18 {2.17/16} Nxd5 9. e4 Nxc3 10. Qxc3) 8... Qd6 {2.12/20} ( 8... dxc4 $16 {1.10/22} 9. Bxc4 Bxc4 10. Qxc4 e6) 9. c5 $2 {-0.27/19} (9. cxd5 $18 {2.12/20} Nxd5 10. e4) 9... bxc5 $2 {6.46/17} (9... Qc7 $11 {-0.27/19}) 10. Qb7 $18 {White is clearly winning.} cxd4 11. exd4 (11. Qxa8 Qxe5 12. Ne2 (12. f4 Qc7 $11) 12... Qc7 $11) 11... c5 12. Bb5+ Kd8 13. Qxa8 {Accuracy: White = 14%, Black = 2%.} 1-0