My blog piece yesterday went up just an hour before I discovered that Manuel Bosboom is currently playing in the international open event in Amsterdam, being held alongside the Dutch Championships and the ACP "Golden Classic" event. As readers will already have gathered, "The Boz" (not to be confused with failed American footballer,
Brian Bosworth, whose over-hyped professional career once resulted in his being voted one of the top 10 all-time sporting flops!), is one of my favourite players - always creative, full of imagination, and a fabulous attacking player. He is also a big time-trouble addict, which makes his games great to watch in the flesh.
Don't mess with The Boz! (photo: chessbase.com)
In yesterday's opening round, he won a typically fabulous attacking game. His piece sacrifice at move 12 is remarkably imaginative - rather than move his attacked knight, he just plays 12.a3, taking away the move Nb4! A queen sacrifice follows, both sacrifices being of the "passive" variety, ie. with the piece just being left on an attacked square, rather than moved there. Your computer will tell you how Black could have defended better, but over the board, such an attack is always liable to succeed, especially in the hands of a player with The Boz's attacking flair.
