TL Chess match II - Page 23

Hmm, 17. Rac1 with the idea of blocking Rb4 with Rc4? I dont have an actual board with me right now, so can someone check this for me? If white blocks Rb4 with either Rc4 or Bc4, how does black do with Be6? If Be6 works for black, then Rac1 wouldn't do much to stop Rb4. Unless you had a different intention for 17. Rac1.

Anyway, if 13. ... Qc7 makes c5 inferior, how does playing c5 first make it not inferior? And how is c5 after Qc7 inferior? I guess I don't understand the idea. If it is inferior because Qe5 controls c5, Qe7 could do the same thing. The queen and the knight can't both be on e5, so if Qe5 the knight would probably have to come to e6 via g5. If 14. Rac1 Qe5 15. Na4 Ng5 16. Qd3 (guarding f3) Ne6 17. Rfd1 Nd4 locking us out of the d file again. I guess I'm lost on how Qe5 makes c5 inferior. I think the knight would be better on e5 with the Queen on e7 for black. Although you could make an argument for the queen on e5. But, if black ever wants to shut white out of the d file with a knight on d4, it would be better for black to have a pawn on e5.

Let me go back for a second to a line without black playing Ne5. My new Idea for black is that he should not allow white's queen into the d4 square, and should try to claim that square to lock white out of the d-file with moves like e5, Nf7-g5-e6, and Rb4. What about 13. c5 Qa5 14. Na4 Rb8 15. b3 Rb4! denying white's queen the d4 square. If instead of b3, Qd4+, e5 and white has lost tempo. So after 15. ... Rb4, white will probably play the moves Bc4, Rac1, and f3 while black plays e5, Rf6 (to keep the queen out of d6) and Ng5-e6. If black decides to trade off his bishop at any point with Ba6, he should have a good game with all the resources he has piled up on the d4 point.

Again I don't have a board so if you might have to check my variations.

What I was trying to say is that c5 is valid now because white is still one step ahead of black at the moment. White will have a hard time getting c5 off if the moment is not seized.

Qe5 attacks e4 and c5. Knight can't move the only good defense is b4 and black's a5 comes quickly after.

Now guarding against black's c5 is top priority.

I'm starting to think black is slightly ahead.

Firstly, white is much better now. We can play for a win without risk once the Queen's come off, and with the queen going to c7 (e7 was more accurate as mentioned by an earlier poster), that will soon be the case. Why? Because Nd5 hits the queen, undermining the f4 pawn, which is attacked by our queen - thus, if c5 is played in the near future, we play Nd5, black has to move his queen, and we take the pawn and exchange queens - black has to exchange queens or he loses two tempi back to back moving his queen to avoid exchanges.

So, we can say with complete knowledge that c5 is unplayable for some time.

Looking at Black's position, lets start with the structural considerations. He has an a-file isolani, that may be weak in the endgame. While he has an open b-file, that is irrelevant once we play b3, and the a-file push is not scary because Nc3 covers the threat. The knight is only moving if d5 becomes available, and if it does, the initiative that will grant us will prevent queenside counterplay indefinitely. So we are strong on the queenside.

Black currently has a stong centre, but it isnt advanced into the "Sicilian small centre" as Karpov referred to it in his book, by the same name (highly reccomended read for any player who uses structures with pawns on d6 and e6, so nimzo/QID players as well!). Black probably wants to play for a centre with c5, d6 and e6. This nabs the d4 square which is significant in an endgame, but also covers the d5 weakness. However, it also makes a big weakness on an open file, that our major pieces can exploit, so while it is nice for an endgame, it may never happen. More likely may be c5, d6,e7, but then he has significant lightsquare weaknesses, including d5 and maybe even e6 (wouldnt that be nasty!). The key to prompting that sort of structure, which is at least rook and knight resistant, is d-file pressure, so that the e-pawn is locked to defending the d-pawn.

The kingside is sorta irrelevant at this point. Black's king is a little airy, but there is little we can do to attack without advancncing our own kinside pawns, which we do not want to do - it gives too much counterplay. We just need to play f3 or pehaps Bf3 (I prefer f3 to bring the bishop to the queenside at some point). With our light square strategy, it is not a great piece, and I would like to exchange it off at some point. It will be a little passive in an endgame, and the weaknesses in blacks poisition may knight play more enticing.

So what are our plans?
1)shore up the kingside play, to promote queenside play where black has more difficulties
2)to tie black down to d-file defence, to limit his central pawn formation to an ineffective, but easily defended one.
3)try to trade our lightsquare bishop for his knight. In an endgame, even though our pawns will be on lightsquares, his bishop will be very inneffective, give the base of our chains are a2 and g2, and thus only vulnerable on the backrank - so covered by rooks.

I would like to start with the d-file pressure, as c5 isnt a necessary move for us JUST yet (it will be), due to the aforementioned knight fork. Thus, Rad1 (we might double on the f-file, but we may also need a rook on the e-file, for when we intend th eother central advance to really squish black. If he plays for e5 in lieu of c5, his knight will be stuck defending the e5 pawn, so after c5, Bc4 is menaced, and we can trade the piece by force. Nasty!

So its simlple really. Rad1 to tie down the black pieces a little, then respond to black as necessary. Plaay b3 to meet Rb8, f3 to meet any kingside advance, c5 to meet e5 and Nd5 to meet c5. This is strong positional play, not passive play, because we are not reacting to threats you see. Whenever blac tries to go active, we will be taking positional advantages. Eventually, black will be optimized in a compromised fashion, and we can move by move force him backwards.

We really have a great position.

14. c5 is met by 14... Qe5, with bad things on the horizon.

I don't like the look of Rb8, so let's get that b pawn out of danger. I feel we've lost the initiative.

If we play 14.b4 we are going into "reaction mode" which we shouldn't right now. We still have a chance to get a better position before we start fending off black's attacks.I honestly feel that our last move wasn't very strong and playing 14.b4 would be our first mistake this game.