Problem with conversions

I have a significant problem with converting winning positions, I naturally noticed myself that I often lose games that I had a winning position in, and Chess Tutor (which is an awesome feature imo) confirms it. So in this game I had a significant advantage and then lost because I missed mate in one. But I also lost my advantage way before that. So from a human perspective, what kind of moves should I have considered on the moves 20 through 32? I know already what the engine marks as inaccuracies and mistakes. For me, engine moves are not always helpful, e.g. 32. the engines wants to push the pawn with b5, but I didnt want to put it on an unprotected square.

33 Qb4? was your decisive mistake as your queen leaves Rd1 unprotected and ...Qg4 attacks it. You should have simplified with 33 b6 Qxb6 34 Qb5, completely equal. You spent 22 seconds and you had 2.43 minutes available.
Did you consider 33 b6? If no, why not? If yes, then why did you select 33 Qb4? over it?

27 Rc2? was where you lost your advantage to conserve with 27 Bc2.
You spent 5.9 seconds and you had 3.37 minutes available.
Did you consider 27 Bc2? If no, why not? If yes, then why did you select 27 Rc2? over it?

Your fastest conversion was 20 Bc4. You still has 10.25 minutes. You spent 33.7 seconds. That should be OK.
Did you consider 20 Bc4? If no, why not? If yes, then why did you select 20 bxc6 over it?

The choice of 29 b4 (instead of 29 Rb1) apparently made it pretty close to level.

Thanks a lot for taking your time @tpr and @kindaspongey to look through the game and pointing out certain alternatives. Most of them I didnt even consider, partly because my limit of calculation skills and more significantly because my lack of danger (I didnt realize that 33. Qb4 leaving my rook undefended will turn the events, I thought I can just defend it or perhaps even move it when its attacked (than I didnt see the attack coming :( )
On move 33 I did not consider b6 because it meant saccing both my extra pawns, I didnt see that this was neccessary to keep equality. With two pawns up, I thought Im playing for a win.
On move 27 I did not consider Bc2. There I should have definitly spent more time. In my view (Im really not a strong player) I thought I was simplifying the easiest with an exchange of rooks.
Also on move 20, to me it seemed safest just to grab the hanging pawn. Im always afraid in such series of exchanges that my oppenent has a move to save themself that i dont see, happenend to me before.
I see in retrospect that 29 Rb1 was the better move. But for the future, in a similar situation, Ill probably still play b4, because it to obviously does two things: defend the pawn and push the passer. This is what frustrates me, I feel like I did play solid, reasonable moves and still gave my whole advantage away. Of course, 33 Qb4 lost the game (but at this point the advantage was already gone), and not realizing my rook is hanging are obvious, "fixable" mistakes, but for the 12 moves before, I dont think i will be able in the future to do better.

"at this point the advantage was already gone"

• It often happens. You have a winning advantage, throw it away, and then keep playing for a win that is no longer available, while you should switch to find a way to save the game.
  One grandmaster said: first look if you can draw, only then look if you can win.

Yeah, youre right. I just didnt realize I threw it away, usually I throw away my advantage by blundering material, then i SEE that my advantage is gone. This time i managed to keep my extra pawns while throwing it away.

@woodfantasy said ^

We have all been the author of a legendary blunder. Don't sweat the rating points, they come back!

It's not exactly the blunder that frustrates me, but the 12 moves before. I felt I was doing well with the advantage. I am below 1500, I have plenty of legendary blunders ( I def need to work on my sense of danger).

@tinaseiskaffee said in #4:

... certain alternatives. Most of them I didnt even consider, partly because my limit of calculation skills and more significantly because my lack of danger (I didnt realize that 33. Qb4 leaving my rook undefended will turn the events, I thought I can just defend it or perhaps even move it when its attacked (than I didnt see the attack coming :( ) ...

GM John Nunn once mentioned an acronym, LPDO ("Loose Pieces Drop Off"), that was called to his attention by Mike Cook.
"Tactics very rarely strike out of a blue sky. There is normally some underlying weakness, visible beforehand, which the tactic seeks to exploit. When you see such a potential vulnerability, it pays to look very carefully for a possible tactic by the opponent exploiting this weakness." - Secrets of Practical Chess (2007)
In the case of the position after 32...Be5, your undefended h4-pawn was a vulnerability and 33 Qb4 created a second vulnerability on d1, inviting PetaNocona to attack with 33...Qg4.
Was this a 15+10 game? It appears that, from move 15 to 32, you averaged ~50 seconds per move, draining away almost 12 minutes of your time reserve. Maybe, 22 seconds per move would be an average to aim for so that you could comfortably play 75 moves.
By move 33, you were down to 164 seconds while PetaNocona still had 374, and you would have been understandably nervous about time.
What are you thinking about during these long periods of thinking? You are perhaps putting too much effort into attempted complicated calculations while overlooking simple ideas. It appears that you spent ~46 seconds choosing 34 Kf1 and allowing 34...Qxd1#.

@tinaseiskaffee said in #4:

... On move 27 I did not consider Bc2. There I should have definitly spent more time. In my view (Im really not a strong player) I thought I was simplifying the easiest with an exchange of rooks.

It seems that, for moves 15 to 26, you had averaged ~65 seconds per move, and then, on move 27 - an ~6-second decision! You might have felt more comfortable putting time into move 27 (and less of an urge to simplify) if you had used less time on your previous 12 moves.

@tinaseiskaffee said in #4:

Also on move 20, to me it seemed safest just to grab the hanging pawn. Im always afraid in such series of exchanges that my oppenent has a move to save themself that i dont see, happenend to me before.

20 Bc4 would have been better, but 20 bxc6 was apparently good enough to preserve a winning advantage.

@tinaseiskaffee said in #4:

I see in retrospect that 29 Rb1 was the better move. But for the future, in a similar situation, Ill probably still play b4, because it to obviously does two things: defend the pawn and push the passer.

During the ~53 seconds that you apparently spent thinking about your 29th move, did you consider the possibility of 29 b4 Ne2+ 30 Kf1 Nc3 ? With a knight in your territory, you need to put a high priority on using some of your time checking for nasty possibilities. The discovery of such possibilities might eliminate any reason to dwell on a move like 29 b4.

@tinaseiskaffee said in #4:

This is what frustrates me, I feel like I did play solid, reasonable moves and still gave my whole advantage away. Of course, 33 Qb4 lost the game (but at this point the advantage was already gone), and not realizing my rook is hanging are obvious, "fixable" mistakes, but for the 12 moves before, I dont think i will be able in the future to do better.

It seems that the underlying cause of the 29 b4 mistake was (like the cause of 33 Qb4) a failure to give attention to possible enemy exploitation of your vulnerabilities. 27 Rc2 was apparently a rushed decision to try to simplify (perhaps resulting from your previous extravagant use of time).

Moves 17-28 all seem to have been good enough to preserve some degree of advantage. Moves 29-32 appear to have been good enough to preserve the opportunity for a draw.

Take heart...as Emanual Lasker said, "The Hardest Game to Win is a Won Game" It happens to us all, for a number of different reasons. It is truly maddening!
If a man, who was world champion for 27 years noted it, at least we are in good company ! -:] - @tinaseiskaffee -

@kindaspongey Thanks, I appreciate the response. Time management is tricky for me, as I find myself often blundering after moving too fast. Or I take my time and then still have trouble to convert.
I dont know how much Ill be able to improve, feels like my skills hit a ceiling. But I like the game, its fun.