TL Chess match II - Page 15

the f4 jab. Then Bxf4, BxN, Bxh6, Qb6, Be3, Qxb2, Bxd4, Qxd4, Nc3, Qxd2, Kxd2, d6 and position looks approximately equal. White has a potentially weak c pawn but a space advantage and a slight initiative.

Instead of Bxh6, Bxd4. Nxd4 Qxd4 and white is fine.

Oh hmm I see. I think its ok for white then instead of playing Be3 to play Nc3 and return the extra the f2 pawn. After Bxf2+ Kd1, White can make use of the open f file and I feel that black is too underdeveloped to do anything about white's central king. White's development should put some pressure on black's central king, which cannot castle due to the h6 bishop. Black will be forced to move his bishop off of f2. If not immediately, then Nd5 and the black queen must go back to d8 (has to cover c7 from Nc7+, forking the king and rook. White will have a safe king, active pieces, and a strong initiative with equal material on the board.

This move makes castling possible on either side for us, and pressures the night at h6. White could answer with 9...Nf7, but then 10.exf5 looks very strong. So 9...Ng4 looks most likely, but there too I think we are in good shape.

For me, it was between this and f3. For a while I thought that black moving the f pawn forward would be winning him a piece, however after we exchange of our knights off and move the bishop back, we should be in a decent position.

a)9...d6 10.Bxh6!? Bxh6

Alright, slightly weird idea I know. We give up the bishop pair and allow him some dark square initiative, notably along the a1-h8 diagonal or the c1-h6 diagonal:

11.exf5 Nxd4 12.Qxd4 Bxf5 13.Bf3

so what do we achieve?
1) pawn structure advantage. once we consolidate our position, we can pressure the d and e pawns, and in any endgame we have a very slight edge due to fewer pawn islands.
2)many weak squares in black's camp due to his haphazard pawn structure. we only have a weak d3 square, we have d5, e6, and altough he has a dark square bishop, his overall structure does create some dark square weaknesses. depending on how the d and e pawns move, we can get an outpost invinvible knight vs. wrong colour bishop in an endgame which would be a huge edge.
3)we would have a powerful f3 bishop hitting his queenside, where he has some difficutly offsetting its power.
4)we can quickly bring our rooks to the central files, pressurring the backwards e7 pawn.

if anyone is wondering, on Bg7, we play Qe3, which covers the knight, and starts our e-file buildup.

b)9...fxe4 10.Nxe4 Nf5 11.Nxf5 Rxf5 12.c5 (opening the diagonal against the black king) 12...Qc7 with some edge for white, owing to the space advantage and pressure against the d-pawn. The black king can quickly became a little exposed after we centralize our pieces to hit on the d and e pawns, who knows how we might wander over to the kingside

On 12...Bxb2 13.Qb3+ obviously. I think this line offers good squeezing opportunities.

c)9...Ng4 this move was actually a little confronting, and im not completely sold on my analysis. but i think that

10.exf5 Nxe3 11.fxe3 Nxd4 12.exd4 Rxf5 13.Rxf5 gxf5 14.Qd2 d6 gives us a very slightly better position with no losing chances. Its boring I know, but its super easy to play, and we get the usual space advantage and weak squares to exploit.

If we 9. Qd2

I'm thinking...

9...f4 10. Bxf4 Bxd4 11. Bxh6 Bxf2+

Defeats the purpose of trying to castle queenside.

It just brings the rook out and keeps the king safe, so why not?

pawn gained