Hi all, I got the following problem: I've got a rating of below 1400 and until now, I was incredibly bad. But this month, I reached a performance of about 1900, being second (without a loss) in a tournament with seven rounds, where most opponents were rated about 1600. Now I'm not quite sure what I should think: Is this only a normal oscillation or am I underestimated and finally, I'm improving?

The strangest thing about this month was the following:
Last saturday, our club had a team game against another club. I was "sacrificed" on the first board against someone with almost 2050 ELO. But it is clear, that everybody can defeat a guy with 2050 ELO, if he has a bad day and makes a blunder. Now my question is, if I can say in the following game, that this is my achievement and that I really played better than 1400 ELO, or if this was only a random win against a blundering very good player. (I was white)

1. e4 d5
2. exd5 Sf6
3. Bb5 Bd7
4. Bxd7 Nbxd7
Now I know, that Be2 or Bc4 would have been better.
5. c4 Nb6
Ne5 is probably very strong here.
6. d3 g6
7. b3? c6
8. Bb2 cxd5
9. Nd2 Bg7
10. Ngf3 O-O
10. ... dxc4 11. dxc4 Qd3 would have been frightening here.
11. O-O Rc8
12. Qe2 Re8
13. Rfd1 Nbd7
Probably the wrong rook, I know. The idea was, to use the lineup of the rook and the queen, maybe with Ne4 dxe4 dxe4 at some point. Of course, that doesn't work right now, because I don't have any compensation for the sacrifice at this point, but it is an option, which my opponent has to keep in his eye and maybe, I can use this for a combination at a later stage of the game.
14. Rac1 Nc5
Pretty senseless, but I had no good idea at this point.
15. Ne5 d4
16. Ndf3 Ne6
17. Re1 Qd6
18. g3 b6
g3 is not really necessary, I believe. I overestimated the threat Nf4. But luckily, I got one move more time.
19. Nxf7 Kxf7
20. Qxe6 Qxe6
The plan was 20. Ba3. I calculated most of the variants already on move 18, but I didn't dare to play Nxf7 because I was too much afraid of Nf4 in some variations. But of course, Nc5!! wins immediately against Ba3, so b6 was not absolutely senseless at the end. Without this pawn on b6 (which was not there on move 18, when I made this plan), it would have been completely lost, because the queen can't stay near e6 without being captured or forked with Ne5 and if she goes away or takes on a3, 21. Qxe6 Kf8 22. Ne5 and checkmate on f7 follows. But luckily, I saw Nc5 at the last moment.
21. Ng5+ Kg8
At this point, the opponent didn't seem to be very motivated any more, he mostly looked at the other games and only came now and then, to make a move and go again.
22. Nxd6 Bh6
23. Rcd1 Kf7
24. Nxd4 Rc5
25. f4 Nd7
26. Nf3 g5
27. fxg5 Bxg5
28. d4 Rf5
29. Nxg5+ Rxg5
30. Rf1+ Kg6
31. Rde1 h5
32. Re6+
with the idea of 32. ... Kg7 33. Ba3 and Rxe7, which wins another pawn and gets good chances of rook exchange.
32. ... Nf6
33. Rfxf6 1-0

So funnily, I was the only person of our team who won that day. And my friend with 1500 ELO, who was "sacrificed" on the second board got a remis against someone with 1979 ELO. So funnily at the end, we, the "sacrifices", made 75% of our points. Now I got a definite place in our team and I can play on the first board as much as I want.^^
cu

For future reference be sure to designate which of two similar pieces can make the same move. Hence black's 4th move should read 4...Nbxd7.

I'm assuming white's 9th move is Nd2. And white's 14th is Rac1. 24 is Nxd4 correct?

Your play was quite good. Keep it up In a sense you're fortunate black missed the 10...dxc4 line you proposed. But we can't see everything!

Thanks for the comment. It's true, I meant Nbxd7, Nd2, Rac1 and Nxd4. Sorry, I didn't copy it from what I wrote, I just wrote what I remembered and I forgot some of the ambiguities and changed some of the numbers. And normally I use the German notation with S instead of N and L instead of B etc, so I was a little bit confused anyway. But now I changed this and so it should be correct now.
cu