Now i get the idea. He pins my c-pawn with tempo and wants to play b3 afterwards. I have different moves here, like Rb8 or Qb6. But the move i like most is Be7, immediately playcing the bishop on a route to an active diagonal and protecting the Rook in an economic way.
I also think that b3 doesn't work so well for white now, i simply play Rc8 and put pressure on his whole queenside configuration.

I like your ...Qb7 idea a lot. It steps out of the c-file pin, pressures the b2 pawn, and also the e4 pawn. At that point it looks like white would be forced to play something passive like Rab1 or Ra2 to defend.

Absolutely no hardcore analysis here, but I just like black. He's got space and positive pressure. It's going to be hard for white to mount a positive plan on the defensive.

At first sight it looked like Be7 was suicidal because the e5 pawn is soft and I can clearly get b3 in to win on c4. But I think 21...Rc8 looks quite good protecting the queen. Even if I had a pawn cemented on c4 black looks positionally okay dominating on dark squares and the c4 pawn would block my light-squared bishop. I still prefer to be the guy with the pawn.

but you're not going to be the guy with a pawn because black can just recapture. white being a bit too optimistic with being able to win the c4 pawn?

heh yea, his analysis does not make a lot of sense. Wonder what he is planning to play after Rc8 that he pointed out for Black

trying to inject some tactics into the position. On bxc4 the idea is Rfb8, threatening Bd4 and after white adresses this threat i can look to recover the pawn on c4. That said, bxc4 Nxc4 is probably also good enough for equality. The previously planned Rfc8 doesn't seem to lead to more than the previously mentioned very slightly worse R+opposite coulor bishop scenario. With Bc5 i might be first to activate the B and reach the better side of this myself. At the moment the game seems to be heading for a draw anyway, let's see what we can do about that.

After
22. bxc4 Rfb8

It looks to me like Rb1 solves all of white's problems. After Bd4, white could trade his queen for two rooks, but I don't know if that really gets him anywhere or not.

More realistically, he just plays Qd3 and black's going to have to do some work to get his pawn back. I think he will get it back, eventually, but maybe white grabs some sort of positional advantage while he's doing it.

I might be reading your analysis wrong, but in your first line I don't think white wins two rooks for the queen, it looks like white just loses a queen for a rook.

I agree completely with you about Rab1, the game looks very equal after that.

He meant 22.bxc4 Rfb8 23.Rab1 Bd4 and white can indeed win two rooks with 24.Qxb4? Rxb4 25.Rxb4 but then comes 25...Bxf2+!

Ah, makes much more sense now. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was going on.

I didn't see far enough ahead to see Bxf2+. Ouch.

Never mind, carry on.

I'll probably meet
Rfb8 with Rad1.
Nxc4 with Kh1 or maybe Nb3 (Nc2 followed by Bxf2 is a serious threat)
Qb6 with Rab1

I was secretly hoping for Nxc4 which is not very good for him after Nxc4 2. bxc4 Rxc4 with the idea of 3. Qxc4 Bxf2+ and Q somewhere else Bxf2+ followed by Rxc2. It follows that if i play Nxc4 here, he shouldn't exchange knights but honestly i expect him to see that. If he plays for example (Nxc4) 2. Nb3 instead i'll have to deal with my hanging or pinned pieces and this might come back to haunt me. Probably there's a way to equality but i think i have better options.
When i lazily posted my thoughts earlier i mentioned Rfb8. Now i realized, as you spectators probably already did in your spoilers, that i have a much better option in Qb6 which also protects the Rb4, thus enabling Bd4, and has the double advantage of stepping out of the potential c-file pin and threatening f2. Unfortunately, i don't think it leads to an advantage. Sample line:
...Qb6 2. Qf3 Nxc4 3. Nxc4 Rxc4 4. Bb3 Rd4.
Let's see if i can improve on that on the way by sacrificing the pawn and playing for the initiative instead (2. ...Nc6 for example), but now Qb6 looks by far the most logical move. And since i can probably not win the pawn back and generate a huge initiative at the same time, i don't see anything better here.

This looks about =/+ after 23. Qf3 Rb2 and I'm surpised Black doesn't think he has that much! White is up a pawn temporarily, but that Bc2 is awful and just about every Black piece is better than White's counterpart; the only bad news might be that Black may have to exchange bishops ( of opposite color! ) in the line 24. Rb1 Bxf2+ 25. Qxf2 Qxf2+ 26. Kxf2 Rxc2 to regain the pawn and the resulting endgame has the White King centralized with queens off the board, but Black should be looking for a clear advantage even here and the key question is how weak/strong is that White pawn on c4.

After 20...Be7, also possible for White was 21. Nf1 ( with the idea of Ne3-d5 ) although after 21...Nc6! 22. Ne3 Nd4 23. Kf1 Qb8 24. Nd5 Rb7, Black has some advantage; 20...Qb8!? may have been another try for an advantage; the idea is to keep e5 defended as well as the Rb4 so that on 21. Nf1, simply 21...Bg5 to chop off the N when it gets to e3; Black could get an easy game to play with ...Nc6-d4 and can claim an advantage. For some reason, my "weak engine" thinks that Black's only a tiny bit better after 22. Ne3 Bxe3 23. fe3 but I don't believe it although the imminent Rd5 is annoying.

As planned. Not very happy about my position because I don't think it will yield any advantage. I think if black exchanges pieces correctly he shouldn't be worse than equal. I plan on 23... Bxf2 24. Kh1 Rxb1 25. Rxb1 Qc5 26. Nf3 and try to take advantage of the fact that I have the b file. Black's back rank is still sort of weak, white does have a passed pawn (even though its crap) and maybe a6 can be a target if pieces get exchanged of in my favour.

If I were white, I'd find that move extremely annoying. It feels like white should be better because I'm not sure black has full compensation for a pawn. But in practical terms white is going to have to be on his heels for awhile until black's initiative fades.

You have to do something about Bxf2+ first. Considering that Bd4 is also a threat, you might as well solve both problems at once and move your queen to cover f2. Qf3 or Qg3.

I don't know. They both feel like terrible squares for your queen here.

If I'm black, I don't want to go through with the exchanges he talked about: Qf3 Nxc4/Nxc4 Rxc4/Bb3 just sucks all the life out of the position. There's might be a winner in that endgame, but I don't see who it is and I don't know if they've thought that far ahead either.

After Qg3 or especially Qf3, taking the pawn back just does white a huge favor. His pawns are in almost perfectly awful alignment. They are isolated, weak and blocking in both his knight and bishop. Black can afford to be patient and play Rb8 or Rd8 or something. Just ratchet up the pressure and let white sit there and stew. You'll get your pawn back eventually anyway, no hurry.

Quit moving faster than I can comment, guys! This is a Malkovich game. Just forget for like two weeks or something.

I think white has severely underestimated Bxf2+ here. In the line he gives, the final Nf3 doesn't do much because it just provokes black into improving his position by strengthening e5. f6, Bd4, Nc6 all do the trick.

The black goes Na5>c6>d4 and just enjoys the heck out of that d4 square for all eternity while white tries to figure out how to get his pieces out of his own way.

I think Nikachu is overestimating his position a bit. He says that after the Bxf2 line, black shouldn't be worse than equal. In my opinion, black is better and it will be white is the one fighting for equality. At that point, material will be equal but virtually every other position factor is in black's favor. Black will have the better pawn structure, better bishop, and white's knight on f3 doesn't have anywhere to go. White will have a hard time kicking the black queen out of c5 (beautiful square for her) over black has pretty easy piece coordination. White's pieces, on the other hand, seem pretty unharmonious. I think black might be able to grind out a win here. After something like 23..Bxf2+ 24. Kh1 Rxb1 25. Rxb1 Qc5 26. Nf3 Nc6 black looks great. Seems like about all white has is the b-file.

I'm surprised that he gives back the pawn on f2 instead of the one on c4. Losing f2 compromises his pawn structure and his K safety, especially the dark squares around his K become weak which will be a factor considering i have the dark squares firmly under control. Basically i have played on the dark squares only since giving up my light-squared bishop on move 10.
Giving up his c-pawn instead would have helped him to activate his pieces. As it is, my Q-side battery hides nicely behind the white pawns and fires in all directions. His bishop and knight are soryy sights in comparison.

Do the tactics work against me? I don't think so. After ...Bxf2+ 2. Kf1 with the idea to overwork my Q who has to defend pieces on b4, a5 and f2, i have the nice move Bg1! and the mate threat buys me time to sort everything out.
I expect him to go Kh1, after which i can play it safe with Rxb1 3. Rxb1 Qc7 or try to find out if for example Nc6 4. Rxb4 Nxb4 5. Rb1 a5 6. Qxe5 Qe3 supplies enough compensation. I'll think about that after his move because i'm lazy and i don't really think i have a good alternative to eating an important pawn with check.

Kf1 runs into too many mate threats after either Bg3 or even Bg1. I don't like Kh2 because I'm afraid that i'll never be able to take the e5 pawn without running into future pins. If the black bishop goes to g3 then it will keep my king out of the game but I feel like the bishop is out of play.

The main choice is between this and Nc6. Nc6 leads to a queen exchange or an unclear pawn sacrifice on e5, as outlined in a previous post. I also do think that the knight ultimately belongs on d4 and not on b4. So i'm exchanging rooks now, followed by Qc5. Then the pressure on c4 gives me enough time to reorganize my forces. For example, after 2. Rxb1 Qc5 3. Nb3 i can play Qxc4. Against other moves, the plan will be Nc6-d4 and bring the Rf8 into play. Ultimately, i might be able to exploit his weak dark squares on the K-side to generate an attack. Notice how his back rank can be terminally weak after Bg3 because he cannot create luft for his King. I think i have a significant edge here based on my active pieces and better structure but it's probably still way within the draw bounds.

I do have to move the Q and this does look like the best square. So not much to add here to what i wrote before. Real decision coming up after his next move. Not sure what i'm expecting, maybe Bd3 to free his knight.

It's just embarrassing how many good squares black's bishop has to choose from. d4, f4 and g3 all have wonderful long-term influence. Black just has to find the right plan to win one of the weak pawns and then convert to a win. Easier said than done, I guess.

I kind of like Qd3 for white here. It pre-empts Rd8. If you allow Rd8, the threat of the rook penetrating down to weak squares on the d-file could be the straw that breaks white's position eventually.