Return of the Titans, Round 1

I've been doing a bit more travelling, both for business and vacation over the last couple of weeks so I am just now getting around to posting the results of the first game OJ and I have played since he got back from the Philippines. I had white and opened 1.e4 and we went into the accelerated dragon variation of the Sicilian defense. I've never played against this opening before, so it was a lot of fun and great experience. I played quite aggressively, sacrificing a pawn for an attack and pushing my kingside pawns to open up the black king. Unfortunately I overlooked a tactic and lost the initiative (and another pawn). I immediately replied with an exchange sacrifice to open up the black king in a lost position. But then Caissa smiled upon my bold play earlier and I escaped with a perpetual check! Overall an exciting game. You can replay the game with my annotations. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

OJ and I will probably play this coming Thursday, so wish me luck. I can't wait to see what his new white opening is.

I confess I have been a bit lax in my chess study and in keeping up with everyone's blogs. Life has just been super-hectic lately, what can I say...?