TL Chess match II - Page 35

After 22. exd5 our game is much more active. Black is forced to defend passively and his pieces are out of position. Rd4 allows black to blockade the center with a bishop move, followed by e6, or a trade on d5 followed by e6. White gets nowhere after Rd4.

Wait a second. What's the difference between 22. exd5 Bxd5 23. Nc3 Be6 and the previous line? There's essentially none except you chose to do Be6 instead of e6, which is clearly inferior. I fail to see why Black would not simply play e6 to guard the bishop.

By playing 22. Rd4, we're able to activate our rooks more and give them more coverage and maneuvering room. Black has multiple weaknesses that we can exploit, and if we can swing our rook over to the queen side, we can actively attack more pieces and apply more direct pressure on Black's position.

I still think of

22. Rd4 as a free move. What would black do? Seems totally tied down at this point, we're going to take on d5 next turn or something. What is the rush.

22. ... dxe4 23. Rxe4 should not happen. White's double rooks on the e file against black's backward pawn is a huge advantage.

22. ... Rd8 only gets his pawn pinned.

So it's something like 22. ... Bf7 which is really no move at all if while plays 23. dxe5

Not playing, but i think Nc3 is a good choice compared to exd5 as well. With Nc3 black will have to take dxe4 or lose a pawn in an exchange/outright. Then you can recapture with the knight and put him on e4 to attack the rook and give your knight a nice centralized spot on the board. I personally think exd5 right now doesn't accomplish as much as Nc3 since white doesn't have to take right away because his d5 pawn will be lost in the next move anyway.

In the end I don't see much of a difference between moving that rook to d4 before or after exd5. They both transpose to pretty much the same position. That said, why be in a rush to play Rd4?

I'd like to see 22. exd5, Nxd5 23. Nc3 e6. I think this is the most playable line for black... who must keep that c5 pawn blocked so will not jeopardize it/ move it on the d file. We can continue to add pressure with 23. b4, Rb8 24. a3 - leaving us with a strong looking pawn formation.

But why rush to trade down when we can gain a positional advantage then trade down? By placing the Rook on d4, we get a lot more coverage with it and can switch strategies much quicker than we can by letting Black solidify his center control with a Bishop on d5.

22. Rd4 Bf7 23. exd5 cxd5 24. Nc3 e6 25. Ra4 continuing with a queenside plan, 25. ... Be8 and white can't really seem to get anywhere. Black's center is holding, and he can't really find very good queenside compensation as you suggested.

Sorry for not posting my 23. ... e6 line. Black's bishop may look active on d5, but it really has nowhere to go, and it is necessary for the defense of his weak central pawns.

22. exd5 Bxd5 23. Nc3 e6 24. Ba6! The point of this move is that it stops black from playing a5, which is his key drawing weapon. If black can play a5, then it locks up the queenside and extinguishes white's advantage. White can no longer continue with his plan of b4-b5 because of the a-pawn, and if a3 to back it up, black simply exchanges and has open lines to defend.

For a sample variation of why black shouldn't be allowed to play a5, 22. exd5 Bxd5 23. Nc3 e6 24. Rd4? (allows black to play a5, but he doesnt need to yet) Nd7 25. Ne4 (defending the pawn. the next few moves is black preparing a5 while keeping white busy with the weak c5 pawn) Rf7 (threatening to remove the defender and take on c5. notice black could not have done this earlier because of the intermediate move Rxd7, winning a piece) 26. Nd6 Rff8 27. Rc1 a5 28. Ra4 g5. White really can't make any progress from here. The queenside is locked down, and black's f8 rook is free to come to b8-b4 to trade down white's active options. Black has the center, although he doesn't have any attacking options with it. Draw.

After 24. Ba6!, white is good. No worries about a5, so white can proceed with his queenside plan. Black can't really make progress on the kingside or the center, and cannot really stop white's plans. White should have a definite advantage here.

I'm sticking with 22. exd5.