The dynamic(?) Slav defense

Hi. I have been playing in a tournament on Facebook where the theme was games in the Slav defense, specifically the line in the Semi-Slav 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 e6 5. Nf3 dxc5 (not sure if that is the correct move order, but the games begin from the position that these moves create. This system is called the anti-Meran gambit, and it is very complicated. Anyway, I was inspired by this tournament, in which I am doing quite well, to play 1...d5 in some online blitz. Here we have an interesting game which reached some of the same positions as in some of my games in the tournament. katiebloo_waparker_2009_2_24_01_15.pgn
The game started out in a simple semi-slav style opening until white made some dubious decisions that made the game much wilder, but ultimately much better for black. So I had to play with a great deal of care, but a few moves after the initial creation of imbalances, I had complete control over the initiative plus a considerable material advantage, and some latent potential energy generated by tactics along the open g-file toward white's king. I think in the opening instead of going for these imbalances, white should have played it slow and tried to take advantage of his advantage in space. Through move 10 white had a pretty solid advantage (I would say +/=, as a new shorthand that I learned today). However 11. a3? just gives away at least a pawn for little compensation. 13. e5? still doesn't solve the problem of losing the pawn, as Bxb2 is a nice zwischenzug as the threatened rook is a more immediate threat than my threatened knight. However, my opponent made the dubious choice after 13 ... Bxb2 of sacrificing the exchange in order to really mess up my pawn structure. 17... Kf8 guards the hanging rook on g7 and is probably a better move. 19. Qe5 I suppose the entire point of those crazy exchanges was to try to put pressure on my very weak pawn structure. However, white missed the opportunity to gain a tempo with 19. Rd1 Qe7 20. Qe5, which also traps black's king in the center. 20... O-O-O Maybe it took some guts to castle here with such sparse cover, but Rybka agrees. It connects my rook and I can use the rook on the open d-file to do some damage. 21. Nd4 I took a brief look at sacking the exchange back with 21 ... Rxd4 but I couldn't come up with a convincing way of keeping the advantage. Rybka showed me a very neat line which has been included as a variation in the flash applet. 22. Nxe6? The beginning of white's demise. White didn't want to trade queens with Qxe6 because he is material down, but this move pins his knight and gives me the initiative to do something nasty. Also notice how the g-pawn is attacked twice throughout (which is why 21 ... c5! is a good move). 23 ... Rxg2+! A great tactic. I will exchange two rooks for the Queen, and after the dust settles will have a queen and bishop vs. rook, knight and bishop. After the trade of bishops, my queen proved much more powerful and manouverable than the rook and knight. 35. ... Qf5 I missed the neat trick 35... c1=Q! 36. Rxc1 Qa3+ 37. Ke4 Qxc1. I think Qf5 is pretty good anyway because I can just advance the b-pawn at will, but above is much better. 36. Ke3?? Do you see how I win immediately? Stare at it until you do. I missed 45 ... Qe4#. I was looking for a while to find it and my opponent was frustrated and started insulting me. I didn't see it so I decided to do some moves that I knew would checkmate in a short while. Next time I will share some of my games from this Slavic tournament on facebook.