Ok, this is the 2nd and final tribute to the Ninja (fianchettoed bishop) in our chess army. The following game is from the same tournament, the North American Open 2007, won by chess.com staff member dpruess and Hikaru Nakamura (smallville to online players). I'm playing white against my fellow NCC member Zaki Tanas, a good friend who came from Egypt to Nashville. Our friend and manager Todd lamented this pairing when he saw it, saying "You two had to come from Nashville to Vegas to play eachother?" Zaki and I were both 3 for 3, and we both agreed that drawing intentionally would be unethical. Like my last post (meniscus vs Robert Fritz), mistakes let my 'ninja' have maximum impact on the queenside. Unlike the last game, which ended with blow after blow of tactics, Zaki makes me bind the position and use endgame technique to finish it off. Enjoy!

I will post a loss or 2 now. :) The idea of these was to glorify the Bishop, not myself. I made a few errors in both...at least (Ne1?! instead of d3 and bxc4?! instead of Nbd7). Thanks for letting me show a few wins, chess.com readers....

Okay, this comment, "the correct path for the knight when the pawn structure is e2-d3-c4 (e7-d6-c5), is e1-c2-e3-d5 (e8-c7-e6-d4) while the QN holds down d5 and b5 breaks. Zaki's manuever would be good if the chain were c7-d6-e5 (c2-d3-e4), as c7(c2) would then be occupied and c5 (c4) free, as in Nd7-c5-e6-d4 and Nd2-c4-e3-d5, respectively." epitomises my absolute ignorance of the nuances in this game. I have always felt that I play more by intuition and less by a true understanding and this just proved it. Kudos to you! Excellent game, I just loved 20. Rxb7, sharp very sharp.

Thanks man. It's never too late to start learning these things... READ VINAY BHAT's NEW ARTICLE. I picked up important knowledge having to do with the 'undeclared center' as he called it. I didn't become "a student of the game" until I was 26--two years ago. It's all being in the right place (learning the right pattern) at the right time, reading the right books, and hearing the right thing.

I think chess is just a combination of pattern recognition and self mutilation!