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21. Nxc6
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In this position I liked the way the bishops are positioned in pairs and in direct confrontation with the opposing bishops.
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21... Bxc3+
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Stonger that allowing me to take on f6 I suspect.
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22. Qxc3
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Didn't even consider bxc3.
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22... Qxc6
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Ok. Only one move here.
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23. O-O
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I get to finally castle! I will now play Rfe1 and once again try to build an advantage. I stopped again here for a while trying to find a way onto the light squares around blacks king, but I just kept reaching the conclusion that the bishop on e6 was an extremely rigid defender, priceless to blacks position. I had long term goals of my queen sitting mighty on e5, bishop on d5, and rooks firing down the centre. I think it is excellent practice to always try to imagine your dream position and make plans towards it instead of just making moves in the position.
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23... b6
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At first this looks like a terrible mistake. Surely now I can get my bishop to its dream destination much quicker than anticipated?
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24. Be2
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Bf3 threatened, but now once again the computer throws a spanner in the works and I miss the key to winning by one move.
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24... Rfd8
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?! I admit I did not understand at first. Just allowing the fork? Chess titans level 10?
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25. Bf3
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Thank you very much!!
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25... Qa4
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AH. If I was to take the rook on a8 I expected curtains to close somewhere and to do so very soon. My c4 pawn is once again under pressure. It seems I have been outsmarted, and my first instinct was to just play Rc1. But looking at this position now the winning move is obvious to me. Can you see it? I didn't until one move too late.
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1 comment
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26. Rxd8+
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Throwing away a win. My worst move (bar blunders) for a significant amount of time. I am going to be a liar and blame it on time pressure.. It was time pressure that forced my hand.
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26... Rxd8
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The problem now is my extremely weak pawn. If I play Rc1 there is Rd4 and I am going very passive. And now I saw it; the winning move missed on move 26, and I kicked myself. I even thought my instinct of Rc1 would have been OK.
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27. b3
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This was the winning move, a simple interference. I thought this was very active in this position due to Qxa3 Ra1 Qb4 Qe3 (hitting the bishop AND still defending b3) Bf7 and Rxa7. In fact at the time I thought this my only move to stay in the game. My bishop on f3 is preventing a back rank embarrassment on d1 if my rook decided to flaunt itself on the 7th rank. In this ending, my king will definitely need some air...
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27... Qd7
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The computer decided not to enter those lines. Now I could see a nice way to get my long term dream position. If I could play Rd1 without being mated, and then take on d8, I could play Qe5 and Bd5 and be happy.
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28. h3
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This prepares Rd1 and stops any potentially annoying nonsense with f5 and Bg4.
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28... Qe7
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Sidestepping the planned route of attack. When playing 28. h3 I was slightly worried about losing possession if black went 28...Qd4. But now after Qe7 I started to see some tactics of my own starting with a nice pin.
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29. Re1
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Threatening Bd5, after which I would win immediately due to the party of pins. I didn't expect the computer to overlook this threat.
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29... Qd7
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I thought about forcing my plan now with Rd1 but that would not be taking advantage of the extra tempo I have gained. I think if it (the computer) had played Qd6 instead I would have gone with Rd1 for sure, but now my queen can jump into an undefended hole and generate some threats. It reminded me of those hidden Japanese gunmen on Iwo Jima. I was getting excited now, and I could feel my position getting more and more active.
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30. Qe5
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If it defends this bishop with Re8 then I go Bd5 again, and the black bishop is pinned both diagonally and laterally. If it moves the bishop to f7 my plan at this stage was Rd1 and I thought I could win the f5 pawn.
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30... Kf7
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So this was an only move. Now, for the third time in the game, I took a break. I was pleased that I had got the black king to weaken itself and I spent a relatively long time thinking how to exploit it. I thought that what I did next was a nice try for a win.
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