TL Chess Match - Page 16

Your analysis is ever so slightly flawed. You are completely correct about the open b-file not been a threat to us, and that he has little recourse for disabling our development - the thing is, after castling, our development is more or less done anyway - only one knight remains unmoved, and we really want to wait before choosing its intended future (its difficult to say whether to go to a6, c6 or d7 - we really need to know more about his intentions - is he playing for an early e4-e5, a d5 break? more info required imo). There are a few tidbits I need to explain about the doubled pawns in this structure:
1) with our pawn on c5 (eventually), the doubled c-pawns arent weak - they are not on an open file, so any weakness they have comes only in the late middle game via knight play, or in an endgame where our king can invade via the weakned squares on the queenside.
2) the second c-pawn actually protects the d-pawn, removing white's dark square weaknesses in the position. To make comparison, thing of the sicilian dragon structure when white has pawns on e4 and d4 - there is lingering darksquare pressure on d4 that really slows white down (especially in the yugoslav line) - we are getting the same thing here currently. The pawns undouble when we exchange ...cxd4; so any problems he has are at best illusionary. Karpov seemed to love having his pawns doubled (he would annotate the unforced exchange of bishop for knight as ?? - blunder), so the issue, as always with the unforced exhchange is not that it loses, just that more can be done with the move.

the c6+c5 line does assume we will retreat the bishop if white never plays a3 - in which case, we sort of want the bishop because its super excellent in that pawn structure (it retreats to f8, getting out of the way and helping guard the kingside - in may lines we play ...g6 and ...Bg7 to further pressure the d4 square, making it the Schlecter Variation of the Slav)

I agree with your analysis, but just wanted to mention that c5 is playable before Bxc3 if he doesnt castle on the next move. The alternative I was pushing for earlier was to play c5 before we castle ourselves, so that its never a problem, and we never have to make an unforced exchange You are fully correct on your d6-line analysis

im thinking along the lines of a) 7...Bb4xNc3 then following it up with d5
b) 7...Nb8-a6 then following it up with c5
c) 7...d5 then following it up with Nb8-d7 and then c5.

perhaps the best move, if black wants to push for a win

8. bxc3 d6 9. white has a myriad of options:
a) 9. a4 Nc6 10. Ba3 Na5 (i should mention that Nd2 Na5 is also possible, leading to Bxb7 Nxb7 and on our next move...Qd7 with equality) - a really good line for black
b) 9. Re1 Nbd7 10. a4 a5 11. Ba3 c5 with equality
c) 9. Bg5 Nd7 I believe this position favors black, simply because he can now get rid of white's dark square bishop without any difficulty via ...h6, and remaining knight move leads to the exchange of the light square bishops, removing any opprotunity of a bishop pair advantage, and black is freeing up his position by exchanging pieces
d) 9. Qc2 is answered comfortably by d5
e) 9. Nd2 transposes to where it is mentioned above

Overall, this line actually seems really good for black, mostly due to white not really having many options for play involving his own dark square bishop (if he wants to use it early, we can force a trade off, with development for our queen), and because he has some difficulty getting the pawns rolling in the centre.

8. d5 Bxc3 9. bxc3 d6 10. Re1 (not dxe6 which i believe would lead to equality) ...Qc7 where I believe white has some edge, as he can now play e4 and has an easy game, lining up his queen and bishops in batteries against the kingside which has only limited defenses. I dont like this line at all

white has soo many good options!
a) 8. Ne5 c6 (I think Nbd7 is slightly inferior, after Bg5 Be7, and now either cxd5 or Qa4) and white's options are actually a little limited now, after the strengthening move, probably best is Qa4 Be7, Rd1 Nbd7 with near equality IMO.
b) 8. cxd5 Bxc3 9. bxc3 Bxd5 10. either Bg5 or Ba3, and the position is playable
Other moves are playable, but they tend to merge into one of the above lines (eg: Qa4, Bg5) while Bf4 is independant, but only because its not very good. 7...d5 looks like a solid move

a) 8. Bd2 Nbd7 9. Qc2 Qe7 10. Rfd1 Bxc3 11. Bxc3 Ne4 and now either Be1? or Ng5, with a really good game for black regardless
b) 8. Qc2 Nbd7 9. I dont really see any amazing moves for white, probably Rfd1 or Bd2 with a game similar to above. 9. a3 Bxc3 10. Qxc3 Ne4 11. Qc2 f5 looks interesting I suppose
c) 8. Bg5 Nbd7 9. Qd3 Bxc3 10. bxc3 Re8 looks fine for us.
no issue with this move either!

a) Qc2 d5! (preferred to Bxc3, try it out!) 10. Ne5 Nbd7 11. Rfd1 Bxc3 12. Qxc3 Rab8 and black is fine.
b) Qb3 a5! (here i reference my coach, GM Christiansen) 10. Bf4 or Ne5 i suppose, as a3 sucks to Bxc3 Qxc3, ...d6 followed by Qe7 and ...e5 and black has the initiative.
this is a surprisingly good line for black, that I must say I like a lot. Its hard for white to get much going.

a) Qc2 d5! (preferred to f5 as it frees our centre) 9. Nd2 f5! and black is solid with good play
b) Nxe4 and we just exchange off some pieces...boring
Fairly interesting line, has some good opprotunity for initiative, or at least piece trading.

Yeah I read your analysis jfazz, and I agree that we are handing white a possibility to gain some, but I find the c5 line more interesting to think about . If we really want to win ...d5 or ...d6 is probably superior though.

I find no fault with jfazz's analysis, and gut feeling supports it. Yet something just doesn't sit right with h7-h6, and when I play moves with that feeling I usually end up getting stomped. I thing that with Qc2 as a reply he's solid, so we should strike the iron while hot.

Hey, I'm playing to win. Don't you be ruining it... but yeah, it is interesting. I'd think it would be stronger with Bxc3 though. Then again, so would d6.

I don't like Bxc3 yet because that bishop is still serving a purpose. I also don't like d5 because we lose a central pawn and he doesn't. I'm still trying to decide what I like the best among the remaining choices.

Follow up of 8. bxc3 d6 looks perfect. The Bishop on b7 is really good and the Knight going to d7 will allow either c5 or d5 depending on which weakness white decides to expose and where black chooses to double up the rooks. The light bishops should eventually be exchanged leaving white with Kingside weaknesses that the black queen is in better position to exploit.

h6 looks a little too passive and preventive if and when bishop pins the knight we can always kick it away with h6. The exchange on f6 would give the black queen a very nice active square. It looks like after d6 black has all the active play.

I love being up a central pawn even though I think Bishop takes knight has some positional advantages