Losing the Thread

In Spokane Chess Club's Ajeeb Quads, I was matched with Michael Cambareri, our city champion, in the first round. He played the Bird and I found myself in a position where my pieces were poorly coordinated. Move by move, I improved the coordination but remained in an unpleasant position. Then, an opportunity presented itself to sacrifice a piece for the attack. The game became fun to play, but my position was still clearly worse until Michael made a small error.

Cambareri,Michael (2040) -- Stripes,James (1835) [A02]
Ajeeb Quads Spokane (1), 05.08.2021

White to move

27.Qxc6?=

I anticipated this move and saw the reply.

27.Qf3+/-

27...Rxe3 28.Qxd6

28.Rxe3 Qg5+ 29.Ng4 Qxg4+ 30.Kf1 Bf4-/+

28...Qg5+

28...Rxe1+ 29.Rxe1 Qg5+ 30.Kf1 Qxd2=

29.Kf1
 

Black to move

29...Rg3??

29...Rxe1+ was the only move leading to equality. Michael suggested this move during our brief postgame analysis. 30.Rxe1

(30.Kxe1?? Qg1+ 31.Ke2 [31.Nf1 is the position that I somehow misevaluated 31...Re8+] 31...Qxa1-+)

30...Qxd2=

30.Nde4+- Rg1+ 31.Ke2 Qh5+ 32.Kd2 1-0

I played on to move 46, although my position was hopeless. Michael was short of time and I still had threats.