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13... Nxf2
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There's no going back now. I don't have a sequence really planned after Kxf2 Qh4 , but I can only hope my lead in development will see me through to the end. |
4 comments
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14. Kxf2 Qh4+ 15. Kf1 O-O-O
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(!) A consolidation move-- I guess I deserve a ! for this. It should prevent any disrupting attacks on my king, and it's got the added bonus of bringing my queen's rook directly to a VERY useful open file. |
4 comments
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16. Nd2
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White's best course of action is to try and catch up in development as quickly as possible, and/or exchange as many pieces as possible. d2 is a decent outpost for the knight, as it locks down e4 and controls c4 as well. |
2 comments
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16... Qf6+
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In any case, I've got to keep attacking and hope I hit on something before White consolidates himself. I was hoping that White would respond with 17. Nf3?? (which allows for a beautiful Queen trap after Bf5!), 17. Bf3?? (same thing), or 17. Nf4 (Bxf4 exf4 Qxf4 , with a bunch of open files and a completely exposed king. |
2 comments
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17. Kg1
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Wisely for him (and sadly for me), instead of blocking, White sidesteps. |

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17... Bf5
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A sidestep here (to d1, the only choice) is not so appealing, however, as it concedes the outpost of d3 to my knight. A piece block at e4 falls to Qg3. No, there's really only one choice. |

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18. e4
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There it is. The upside is that it blocks and attacks my bishop. The downside is that it deprives White of the opportunity to post a piece on e4. |
2 comments
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18... Bg6
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I wanted to keep the pressure on the diagonal, but keep my kingside rook active. In hindsight, this turned out to be a very important move. |

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19. Nc4
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And there's the break, the butterfly that flaps its wings and causes the storm! On the surface, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with White's move, but I was playing around with the chess analyzer, and I found a line that seemed almost too good to be true, but I couldn't find a refutation. Can you spot it? |

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19... Nxe4
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(!!) |

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20. Bxe4
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As White played this move, I realized, to my horror, that there WAS a refutation to the line I had thought of! It involved a zwischenzug ("in-between" move) that was fairly tricky to spot (a queen check at g4), but it was still there, and it could still be played! I had to avoid it. |

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20... Rxh3
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(!!) A third, irresistible sacrifice! |
2 comments
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21. Rxh3
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Accepted. How could he not? |

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21... Bxe4
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Come on, you know you want it... |

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22. Qxe4
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Is it dirty to say that White has choked on my bishop? Probably. |
3 comments
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22... Rd1+
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Three pieces down... and yet, I've got a forced mate on the next move! I would have loved to see it played out, but I couldn't contain my enthusiasm, and announced the mate. (Isn't there a way to add moves to an annotation?) Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this annotation; please feel free to offer your feedback. And finally, thanks so much to pliko for being my opponent. I know it's tough to be on the wrong end of games like these, but let me tell you-- I'd trade a couple wins to get a chance to play in a game like this, regardless of the outcome. |
5 comments
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