offramp: A Dragon. Black plays an unusual move:
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9...d5!
White could have snatched that pawn with 12.Nxd5, and a very different game would have resulted. Black in fact plays with a total lack of materialism; after offering that pawn he offers the exchange (after 13...Be6)
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and then, sort of, a knight (15...f5)
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Black's position begins to look threatening ...
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...So white plays the surprising 21.Nd4.
This move - one would think - assures the exchange of the dark-squared bishops. But NO! White, decides HE wants to play some chess as well today. He livens things up and should have played
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30.Bxg6. But he had a conniption when he noticed that dastardly black squared bishop still on the board, and he played the slime-ball move 30.Bb1?
He should now have lost:
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30...Rb4! 31.Re2 what else? Rxb2 and that is that!
Sadly, black missed it. But both players played well, really. |