Studying Pays Off

Although the opening played in this game is called the English Opening, the position reached after move nine or so resembles that of a King's Indian Defense, and I played this game very much how they say you should play King's Indian Defence positions. 

In the King's Indian, you should do whatever it takes to take control of the a1-h8 diagonal. And that's exactly what I did here. 

Up until move 27, the play had been very cat and mouse, with my opponent and me doing a lot of maneuvering and posturing. However, on move 26, I sacrificed a pawn to gain supremacy of the a1-h8 diagonal—just like how they tell you in the books—and after that, my opponent had big problems. His biggest problem: his rook on f2. My dark square bishop became poised to give that rook hell, and that’s exactly what I did. After move 30, cxb5, my rook got to the third file, and all my pieces came alive—and White found himself in serious trouble.

So I guess all the studying I did paid off.