Cris Angel CLAWS -- an exercise

Here's the deal.  I hate the Sicilian with a passion.  Pretty much all my opponents know that and they're using it against me.  I'm going to HAVE to learn a bit about it, like it or not.  And if I can get used to it, I can stop being afraid when people play it.  Soooo....

I asked Dexter (Dacster13) if he would be so kind to practice it with me.  Dacster13 is quite a strong player (go look at his tactics rating!!) and actually LIKES the Sicilian.    So, spur of the moment, I asked "Dex" if he'd mind practicing it with me.   He generously agreed.  

We started out.  I got a little bit of guidance in the beginning and we discussed the meaning behind some of the moves.   I'll explain some of the things that happened in the game in the annotation.

Dex has been a terrific friend.  He's very smart and has shared a lot of knowledge and tips with me and he did something here.  I wasn't aware of it, however.   

Let's back up a bit.   About eight months or so prior to this game, Dex did a game with me in live where he made some mistakes on purpose to see if I could take advantage of them.  It didn't work out very well that time, I'm sorry to say.   I don't know what made him try it again but he did it again here.  I never suspected anything though.  AFTER THE GAME, he told me that he tried to make some errors that would not be too easy to spot so I wouldn't recognize them as errors right away.    They were apparently rather subtle mistakes and he wanted to see if I would spot them and take advantage.   He said his dad used to do that with him and I need to learn to do that!!

I passed with flying colors apparently!  He said I pounced on every mistake!  Admittedly, more than a few times, I expressed a bit of doubt in my moves, I was not sure I calculated things correctly.  I'll mention these as they occur. 

At the end, I was shaking and breathing fast and nervous!  I am not used to winning so I saw that I actually had a chance to win and I got VERY nervous and shaky!   I did it though!!  I was shocked!!!  Dex says I pinned the knight to a backrank mate threat and it was an awesome move!  :)

So, this wound up being a learning exercise but it was a good one.  I learned a lot!