TL Chess match II - Page 36

with the idea of Ne4 and a super knight

We control the file baby!

24. Ne4 would be a terrible move. Black just plays 24. ... Bxe4 and our initiative has disappeared. 25. fxe4, and we have a weak isolated pawn on e4. Our f3 pawn is nonexistent, and black can begin his kingside plan (finally). His knight cannot be displaced as no pawn can attack it, our bishop is the wrong color, and our rook can't get to d5 to attack the knight. 25. ... g5 or 25. ... a5 and it seems pretty clear we have no good plan.

If black manages to get in ... a5, we have troubles as we cannot easily activate our queenside pawn majority. So the simple answer here is 24. Ba6, stopping this threat and opening the e-file for use for our rooks. The d-file will be closed for a long time now, since black has no reasonable bishop moves and capturing it does no good. The e2 square is also open for our knight to maneuver to d4 via e2 if we choose to do so. The d4 square would be a great knight post, attacking the c and e pawns if our bishop can maneuver around the back of his pawn chain. Furthermore, the knight still eyes b5 in preparation for our b4-b5 push when we choose to do so. Alternatively, we could start our pawn storm immediately. It just depends on what black plays.

I think we can safely push that pawn, not much black can do. I like Ba6 fine, but see no reason to commit the bishop to that side just yet.

Black could respond 24... Rb8, then we could play a move which won many votes a few moves back - 25. Rd4 to continue the push. If black plays some other move (presumably one of the rooks will have to move) we should be fine.

I agree with everything you just said. The bishop right now serves no purpose on e2, and a5 is a threat that we should take seriously. Ba6 would put our Bishop into a good location to attack the queen side. Freeing up the e2 square also allows us to play Re2, effectively locking down the Knight for now. If we can keep all of Black's pieces focused on defense (excluding the Bishop, but that's besides the point right now, I think we can get a really good attack on the queen side supported not only with our pawns, but also our Bishop and possibly our Rook that currently sits on d1.

Ba6 is fine too IMO.

I'm sure we can create a passed pawn this way.

Knight stays put to keep the e6 pawn static, and build up enough threats to tie black into a knot.

Ba6 was my first instinct after a couple seconds, but I want to see where b4 is headed. I never really looked at or studied midgame and endgame pawn formations and passing situations, so I usually tend not to want to move pawns after the opening, unless it is obvious.

I commited :p

24. b4 is playable but 25. Rd4 just ties up our rook. Also we can't really move the knight until we move the a-pawn first. 24. b4 opens up the game a little too much prematurely before we can capitalize on it. Black's game is cramped and there is little he can do to generate activity. After b4, we just create weaknesses in our game that may give black a chance.

24. b4 Rb8 25. Rd4 g5! and black has some kingside play. He can swing his rook over to the kingside, and our rook is tied down to b4. If black ever moves his knight, he can play e5, forcing us to move the rook and losing the b4 pawn. Ba6 is better, keep with the theme of slowly improving our game while tying up black to passive defense. We can't rush prematurely with b4, otherwise it lets black get out of the box.

I think we'd be fine after 25... g5. We could easily play 26. a4 and go on with our plan to pass a pawn. Our night and bishop are in a good spot for an eventual b5 as far as I can tell.