Beautiful tactics in an ordinary looking position.

The position below has a symmetrical pawn structure, each side has their pieces somewhat developed normally.

White has just played Nh4 trying to acquire the bishop pair in a static looking position like this. Is this attempt justified?

No, it is not! I decided not to make it a puzzle, and just make it a game diagram.

And in the following position, black has 3 somewhat reasonable moves in my opinion as stated below. 

1. Qg4+ taking the immediate draw by perpetual check, perhaps even taking some risks here.

2. Ng4!? and this leads to some interesting complications

3. Nxd4! is one of the most beautiful moves I have ever seen!

4. Rxe3 is very interesting as well, but it's a forced draw as well. I will not discuss it. Look for yourself. Long forcing lines.

Let's go through them, one by one.

Qg4+

Ng4+

Nxd4! 

It's always pleasing to see such beauty in chess.

Bump.

I believe it's a glitch that when i submit an edited post, it doesn't appear on the right side of the page.

Uh, for the last part, it's an error on my side, Rxe3 comes first not Nxe3. Just switch those up. 

Thanks for understanding. 

the measure of chess skill is always to see beyond the obvious.

great post!

Wow, chess is so hard.

Attack out of a symmetric pawn structure in a quiet looking position reminds me of Rotlewi - Rubinstein

Those quiet moves like f6 in the middle of a crazy attack can sometimes be seen in Kasparov games (and other GMs too).  They always amaze me too... e.g. sac a rook and... oh I think I'll follow it up with h3 lol.

Another in depth post in an interesting position, thanks.  I'll go over it more closely later.

Brilliancy indeed..

That sac is also effective for black in blitz game.

Very nice. Would have missed that.

Thats what i like about chess, it may be easy for comps, but to me i misevaluate positions a lot and mess up ---> fun . I think I'll post an example of such later this week.

I enjoy saccing a minor piece for their pawn cover, great in-depth lines.

It should be noted that the final position should be drawn likely, but black is better. It's not winning or anything, but it's an advantage for black.

great stuff

In your last diagram, why not 19. Qxh2

19.Qxh2+ Nxh2 20.Bxf3 Nxf3+ 21.Kg2 Nxe1 22.Rxe1, black has a Rook and 3 pawns for two minors, and seemingly has no positional disadvantage. This should be winning for black.

you are probably coorect, byt there is work to do.  For example an exchange for rooks, and white pieces start to look like they migh hold (although I would rather be black).