Not very common, but I didn't have a refutation right away. It seems to attack the center, but it also seems to allow my c4 bishop to become very strong.

?! Not sure how good this move is. Seems like it allows Black to ruin my pawn structure. Better should probably be to deal with the knight pin right away! No need to let those pins fester!

?! The knight isn't going anywhere? Why not castle right away? Probably better to keep the pin until White tries to extricate himself!

?! Shallow attacking idea...with the next move being Bh6. I should considered developing a more long term plan. Looking now it seems as though I could create some very good play in the center with pawns!

Now that Black deftly dealt with the Bh6 threat and created a nice threat of his own on the focal point f2! White is obliged to develop his dark squared Bishop and in the same swoop eliminate Black's most active piece!

? Rb8 was probably better, since the d8 square is already occupied with the other rook. This pawn move drastically weakens the light squares, making White's Bishop very strong!

?! Attempting to make the best of his pawn majority, but as Steinitz said: "An attack on the flank should only be initiated with a stable center" In this situation the center is not stable, since White has an attack on the e-pawn and has a pawn break with d4!

Making way for the c-pawn as well. Additionally, This also removes a key defender from the e-pawn! Had Black not chosen to move it I would have had a very difficult decision: Win the pawn or attempt to exploit the light squares further by maintaining my great Bishop! I had been trying to find a way to exploit the pin on the knight! Maybe I should have worked harder at trying to find a way to post my Bishop on d5.

? Not only removing the defender, but also putting it into harms way!! I think better was to try and trade the knight for the Bishop! It seems as though that White's ruined pawn structure could have been exploited that way. For Ex: 1...Rd5 and if 2. c5 Rd4 3. BxN then after QxN White has to be on the defense as well! Black is basically sacrificing his e-pawn, but becomes very active in the process. None of this is completely forced, but rather general ideas. It seems like had Black tried to force the trade them White would have done his best to keep the good Bishop on the board. Additionally, Why preserve the knight anyhow? It is clearly the weaker of the two minor pieces?

I could have chosen to take with the rook, but figured that if I can also trade queens then I will accentuate my minor piece advantage and also my material edge will become more pronounced as we get futher into the endgame.