(1) Adams,N (2239) - Yanayt,E (2239) [E76]
US Amateur Team Playoff (1), 20.03.2004

[Annotations by Eugene Yanayt]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f4 0-0 6.Nf3 c5 7.d5 e6 8.dxe6?!
This move is not considered to be white's best, becuase it gives up some of white's control of the center. Typically the idea of playing the sharp 5. f4 attack is to sacrifice a pawn in the center for a fearsome attack. I recently got killed in that variation by an international master: [ 8.Be2 exd5 9.cxd5 Re8 10.e5 dxe5 11.fxe5 Ng4 12.Bg5 Qb6 13.0-0 Nxe5 14.Nxe5 Bxe5 15.Bc4 Nd7?? terrible blunder 16.d6 Bd4+ 17.Kh1 Ne5 18.Nd5 Qxd6 19.Nf6+ Kf8 20.Bh6+ Ke7 21.Nd5+ Kd7 22.Bb5+ Nc6 23.Rxf7+ Ke6 24.Qf1! Taylor - Yanayt 1-0, 2004]

8...fxe6 9.Bd3 Nc6 10.0-0 Nd4 11.Ng5 e5 12.f5 gxf5 13.exf5 h6 14.Nh3 b5 15.b3
This move may be too passive, but white's other options are not too exciting either. [ 15.Be3 bxc4 16.Bxc4+ Kh8 17.Nd5 Ba6 18.Nxf6 Bxc4 19.Nh5 Bxf1 20.Bxd4 cxd4 21.Qg4 Qd7 22.Rxf1 d3-/+ Christiansen - Kasparov 0-1, 1982; 15.Nxb5 Nxb5 16.cxb5 d5© black has good play for the pawn]

15...b4N
A move of this sort is typically iladvised since it takes the pressure off c4, but in this case it may be good because it gives black a decent advantage by force. [ 15...Bb7 16.Nf2 e4 17.Ncxe4 Nxe4 18.Bxe4 Bxe4 19.Nxe4 Nxf5 20.Rb1 Nd4 21.Bf4 d5 22.cxd5 Qxd5 23.Ng3 Rae8=/+ Marjanovic - Kovacevic 0-1, 1994]

16.Ne2
[ 16.Ne4 Bxf5 17.Nxf6+ Qxf6-/+ Black has a clear edge since white cannot take advantage of the pin. This is probably why my opponent chose the 16. Ne2 line instead.]

16...e4 17.Nxd4 cxd4 18.Be2?
[ 18.Bb1 d5=/+ Black has a nice position here, but I didn't have much confidence in it looking ahead during the game, because I thought my e4 and d4 pawns might become easy targets for white's bishops. So I was relieved when my opponent played the inferior 18. Be2.]

18...d3 19.Bg4 Qb6+ 20.Kh1 e3 21.Qf3 e2 22.Be3 exf1R+ 23.Rxf1 Qb7 24.Qg3 Nxg4 25.Qxg4 Kh8 0-1