Black immediately exploits the departure of the white knight in order to get a grip on the centre.

Clearing the c-file for the rook and preparing ...Bb5.

Stepping up the pressure on the weak c2-pawn. The game continued

And Black soon returned the knight to e4 with a pleasant advantage.

Initiating a minority attack to weaken Black's queenside pawns.

After 5...Bxc3?! 6.cxb7 Rad8 7.Rac1 , the passed pawn outweighs the slight material deficit.

After 7...Nd5 8.Bd4 Black is worse due to his queenside weaknesses, but now he loses a pawn.

White later realized his extra pawn.

Preparing ...f4-f3 to damage the enemy pawn structure.

White is also under strong pressure after 2.Nxf4 Nxd4 with the double threat of 3...Rxf4 and 3...Nef5.