Ed. Lasker-Thomas redux

The king hunt and conclusion of the game below are a bit reminiscent of the famous game Ed. Lasker-Thomas, London 1912. Had my opponent and I played 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.h5 d6, we might have repeated Mora-Suttles, Tel Aviv (ol) 1964, another spectacular game that ended with a queen sacrifice and a draw by perpetual check.

...Nxc4??

How many people do you suppose have blundered with ...Nxc4??, dropping a piece to Qa4+? I'm thinking that the number is literally in the billions. Note, incidentally, that Black's 1.d4 d6, an opening without a name, can already be considered a little bit of a trap. The best responses are 2.e4 (with a possible transposition to a Pirc after 2...Nf6 3.Nc3 g6, although 2...e5!? and 2...Nf6 3.Nc3 e5!? are also reasonable) or 2.Nf3, as in this game. If White plays the natural 2.c4?!, 2...e5! already gives Black a plus score, especially if White trades queens with 3.dxe5?! dxe5 4.Qxd8+. Instead, 3.Nc3 is still OK for White, transposing to a line of the English that arises after 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 d6 3.d4!? - as long as he doesn't follow Hübner-Kasparov, Hamburg 1985, a crushing win for Black.

YouTube Video on Modern/Robatsch Defense trap

I uploaded a second video to YouTube, this one about a trap in the Modern/Robatsch Defense. Check it out!

Here you go, Sevan

Sevan Muradian is very proud of having ground out a draw against Matt Pullin, GreenCastleBlock of YouTube fame.  Good play, but you might need some caffeine to avoid falling asleep: