Fire in Parsippany

This game occurred in the first round in the first round of the US Amateur Team tournament in Parsippany, NJ in February of this year.

As I've said many times, chess games are often decided by continuations foreseen by neither player.  That could be said of this game at many points, but especially at move 50, where we traded errors, that finally left me with a decisive advantage.

What started out as a Routine game for me, featuring the English Opening, Reversed Sicilian sailed on in quiet waters until move 40. Thus, as the game headed into the fifth hour, I sacrificed a piece, and then later an Exchange, betting that my passed Pawns were worth a Rook.

I don't usually play like this, but this was a team event, and I felt that the risk was one worth taking for our team to score a first round upset.

This was one of the last games to finish in Round One, and there was quite a crowd present to watch the last several moves.   One Russian speaking fellow was watching came up to me and shook my hand.  "Nice Endgame", he said with quite a heavy accent. 

"Thanks", was all I could tell him.  I was hungry, and there was only 30 minutes before the next round.