Once in a while, I share a crucial moment in my games such as the position on the left which occurred at the Continental Open 07. This game started out as a Sicilian Alapin ( c3) with an early queen exchange on d4. My opponent had just played 31...h6. I considered 32.Nf3 and 32.Nf6 but I immediately felt that they were pretty tame responses, good but tame. I wanted something that would significantly change the landscape of this game. After a 5-min think, I was very pleased to play 32. Nc7. Black had several ways to proceed, and I calculated them to be unsatisfactory if not outright losing. Unfortunately for my opponent, he chose the line that loses immediately. Ok, let's go down this line quickly: 32...Bc7 33. bc Rc1 and then the winning move 34. Rd8 ( diagram 2).

Black cannot take on c7 because of 35.Ne6+, forks the rook and the king. Score one for White. But, there was also a pretty nifty way to win if Black chose to capture the knight with 32...hg5 ( instead of 32...Bc7), thinking that he could get two pieces for his rook. Here's the line: 32...hg5 33. Ne8+ Ne8 34. Rd8 and White gets his minor piece back with a winning ending.

We're not finish yet. What if my opponent saw all these lines and tried to avoid them? Play would have gone 32...Rc8 33. Nge6+ and I would be happy with my position. Checking with Fritz9, I got the line 33...Kf7 34. c6 bc 35. Nd8 Ke7 36. Nc6+ and it looks good for White.