Losing the won game

Throwing away winning positions is a common problem for most chess players. Of course the winning games we lose tend to stick in our memory far more than the losing positions we win, possibly because out losses are tragedies, but our wins are deserved.
Looking back at some of my old games to find such an example, I came across this significant game (which I hope I haven't posted before). It was played in the 1983 ACT Junior Championship and was the game that decided the title. I'd only been playing tournament chess for  around 12 months, so to win the ACT Junior was going to be quite an achievement. In fact I was quite nervous the night before the game, and had a lot of trouble sleeping.
When you look at the game from distance of 30+ years, you realise that both of us had chances to in the game. My style at the time was threat based, so I most of my moves were lining up one or two move cheapo's. My opponent handled most of them easily, but then missed some good moves of his own. At one point I missed a very strong move (20.Qc2) while my opponent missed a win of material with 27. ... Bxd2. Eventually I played the last big blunder (on move 32) and after that my opponent was able to win a piece ahead.
For years I grumbled over playing 32.Nd4 (rather than say 32.Nc3) but on reflection I should take two things away. Firstly, my loss was due to my inexperience as a tournament player, and overcoming this only comes with practice. And secondly, given my choice of moves in the game, I cannot honestly say I was 'winning' in the objective sense, as at no stage did I try and consolidate whatever advantage I my have thought I had.  So it would be unfair to my opponent to say I runied a good position, as I didn't play like I had such a position at all.


Press,Shaun - Marshall,Justin [B86]
ACT Junior Championship, 27.11.1983

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bc4 e6 7. Bg5 Be7 8. Bxf6 Bxf6 9. Bb3 Qb6 10. Nde2 Nd7 11. Qd2 Nc5 12. Rd1 Nxb3 13. cxb3 Be7 14. O-O Bd7 15. Rc1 Rc8 16. Na4 Qa7 17. Rxc8+ Bxc8 18. Rc1 O-O 19. Rc7 Re8 20. Qb4 Qb8 21. Rc6 Bd7 22. Rb6 d5 23. Nc5 Bxc5 24. Qxc5 dxe4 25. Qb4 Bb5 26. Qxe4 Rd8 27. f3 Rd1+ 28. Kf2 Qc7 29. Rxb7 Qc5+ 30. Qe3 Qxe3+ 31. Kxe3 f5 32. Nd4 Rd3+ 33. Kf4 Rxd4+ 34. Ke5 Rd7 35. Rb6 Rd2 36. Kxe6 g6 37. Kf6 Rd8 38. Rb7 Rf8+ 39. Kg5 f4 40. Kh6 Rf7 41. Rb8+ Rf8 42. Rb7 Rf6 43. Rg7+ Kf8 44. Rxh7 Bd3 45. h4 Rf5 46. Rh8+ Kf7 47. Rh7+ Kf6 0-1