By move 24 or thereabouts, the extra black piece looks thoroughly tamed, the question being does white have more than that. For some reason looking at the position around that part of the game, one gets the feeling that black has the wrong bishop...

Gad impresses me with his choice for move 21, as it is tempting to exchange on g6 and then sacrifice further on e6. I didn't calculate it, and I'm sure Gad did. The plan to attack the a-pawn, as a last barrier to Q-side expansion, is a logical conclusion to his prior play, where he engages black on the Q-side, only to expose his centralized king to hints of attack by means of that piece sac. The return to the Q-side after all is charming.

Did he have enough for the piece? The point is, also, that after black plays ...Qa5, if white doesn't sacrifice I feel that he's going to be in a bad way, with these central black pawns, the weak c-pawn... it's probably create something (even if compensation isn't 100% full) or start down the curve of deterioration.. which is cheerless at such as early stage while playing white. Maybe this was his whole idea, maybe he was just improvising...

So you sac a piece on d5 for two pawns, suddenly c5 is protected and there's nothing to fear right away - whatever initiative there is in the position belongs to white... I felt that it was riskier not to sacrifice than to sacrifice...

And looking again, it does seem that the idea is pretty brilliant, as winning the a-pawn seems to be part of the package right from the start - at least I don't see quickly a way to defend it... and with THAT in mind, it seems to me that white was risking nothing.

- - - - - - - - - - - -