TL Chess Match 4 - Page 105

I wouldn't have expected it at first glance, but the threat of Rh3-Rxh2 turns out to play a large role in shutting down Black's options here.

...c5, putting the question to us immediately, before our pieces have had the chance to regroup. Here, we can't avoid allowing Black a passed pawn, which along with the Bishop pair and the open board seems like it may give him reasonable chances in this position.

Here I'm not sure what our best approach is. We can still trade off Rooks, if we like, but I'm not sure I like the look of that in this line. E.g. 21. dxc5 Bxc5 22. Rxe8 Kxe8 23. Bd2 Rb2 (diagram/PGN viewer) and although we may be two pawns up on him, I'm not sure at all that I like our position.

Continuing the first line you give that ends with 22. Nd2, how would you respond to, 22...Rxe3 23. fxe3 Rb5 attacking the pawn? I don't see a defense for it, and additionally, you've cut off a lot of the mobility of the c1 Bishop for white.

unless I've missed something (not at a board atm) we can simply play 24.a4 (then if 24...Rxa5 25.Nb3 and black loses the rook)

1) It's true that b3 ties down at least one of our pieces to protecting it, which b4 does not. However, b4 limits us in other ways: specifically, the entire b-file becomes off limits to our pieces. This is a severe limitation, in my opinion: worse than the one that you describe, for two reasons:

• b3 ties our Knight to d2 for the time being--but d2 is a good square for our Knight. It is relatively safe from attack there, and it controls a number of useful squares, including b3, b1, and c5. We don't need to put it elsewhere--and in fact, in many lines we want it just where it is now.
  
  By contrast, opening the b-file limits our Bishop from going to b2, and it would emphatically prefer b2 to the square it is now, c1. Yes, there are other useful squares that it may be able to get to eventually, but it takes time to get to them (for one thing, the Knight needs to be moved out of the way), and time is a luxury that we do not necessarily have.
  
• The restriction of b3 is a temporary one--Black will not be able to prevent us from eventually freeing the Knight from defending the b-pawn, whether with a (better-prepared) b4 or by defending it with a different piece (such as a Rb1). By contrast, the open b-file is a issue that persists indefinitely.

+ Show Spoiler [caveat] +
2) I admit that this is an advantage of b4.

3) Again, this issue is more double-edged than you make it sound. It's true that b4, unlike b3, presents the immediate threat of Nb3, but that's all it is: a threat. It has the result of more or less forcing Black to play the immediate ...a5 (which he would likely, though not necessarily, have played anyhow), and after that, its role is done: with an open b-file and Black's a-pawn gone, we neither can nor particularly want to place a Knight on b3.

Meanwhile, in the b3 lines, we can imagine the possibility of Nb3 at some time in the future, although I concede that it's not particularly likely. Mainly, though, my response to this point is that Nb3 (so far as I have seen) does not have much of a role to play in either the b4 or the b3 lines. It's possible that you've analyzed a line that hasn't come to my attention, of course.

4) This one is the crux of the difference, in my opinion. You put it very well; the only word I'd change in your sentence is the word "black's". b4 is a more forcing move. It limits both sides' responses or options in a way that b3 doesn't. In one case we may talk about "forcing" vs. "non-forcing" and in the other about "flexible" vs. "inflexible", but they're really two sides of the same coin.

What this debate boils down to, I believe, is that b4 forces the game down certain lines--lines where we have a slight advantage, as far as I've seen, but not necessarily enough of one to win. If I was confident that these lines were good for us, and not drawish, I'd be on board with you and b4. Since I'm not, I prefer the flexibility of b3, delaying simplification and keeping the board slightly more closed--at the price, I grant you, of giving us (but Black as well!) more things to worry about.

At first I wanted to play b4, but then b3 was interesting, and it is not as committing as b4. b4 could run into some trouble with black playing a5, and also it gives us some more options with our bishop. This move was the hardest move for me to decide so far, i'm still not sure if this is the best move to play here.

I am surprise by Re8 since i expect the rook to go to g8 at some point. The move i expected was a5 and then a4 to lock down our queenside pawns. The only reason I can see for Re8 is that Ng5 wants to gain control of the e file, probably after a plan like Ba6 to connect the rooks first then Bd6, since our bishop still needs to defend the b pawn and block us from connecting our own rook.

The 2 plan i am contemplating is b4 or Nb1. I like Nb1 more so i will choose that.

18. b4 a5 19. bxa5 dont really like the position although we are 2 pawns up so we can give up the a5 pawn for development. Maybe we are better here? I dunno
after 18.b4 Ba6 19. Bb2 Bd6 20. Nb3 black can probably swap all the rooks off after 20...Rxe1 21. Rxe1 Re8 22. Rxe8 Kxe8 and black is still a pawn down but have the 2 bishops. If 23. Nc5 Bxc5 and black can probably hold the opposite colour bishop endgame.

.The reason i like 18.Nb1 over Nf1 is that Nb1 stop black from playing the a5-a4 plan.
ie. 18. Nf1 a5 and black can go a4 the next move.
ie. 18. Nb1 a5 19. Nc3 stops black from going a4
if black try to challenge the e file ie. 18 Nb1 Ba6 19. Nc3 Bd6, we can probably go 20. Rxe8 Rxe8 21. Be3 Bc4 and 22.b4 and i like white position more

after 18.b4 a5 19.bxa5 Ba6 20.Nf1 c5 we have the option of playing 21.Ne3 since 21...cxd4 22.Nxd5 Bd8 23.Rxd8 Kxd8 and blacks bishop must defend f6 otherwise we have 3v1 on the kingside. So as long as we can prevent the pawn from promoting we will be fine



maybe 24.Bd2 Rb2 25.Bb4 Bc4 26.Nf4 (edit: Nb6 here might make 25...Bc4 not such a good move) d3 25.Rd1 and I don't see the pawn promoting since black needs his dark square bishop to defend d2, but e.g. 25...f5 (intending to play 26...Bg4) 26.g3 Bg4 27.Nxd3 and we will win from here



Better for black might be 21...Kc6 (or not lol after 22.Nf5 Rb7 23.Re6+ and black is losing the bishop)

I gave one line where we play Rb1 immediately, and, though it leads to an endgame where we keep our one-pawn advantage, I wasn't sure that it was enough of an advantage to win with, given Black's greater mobility in that position. Perhaps you take a more optimistic view of that endgame, though.

Meanwhile, if we don't play Rb1 immediately, then it's not clear to me when or how we'll be able to. After all, in the b4 lines, d2 is only a temporary post for the Knight, and once it leaves, b1 is unsupported again. If we safely manage to connect Rooks, then b1 would once more be supported, but for one thing, that's at least two moves down the line (we have to move the Knight, then the Bishop), and Black won't be standing still during that time either--he can continue with his own plans (probably involving the old ...c5) to put pressure on us. For another, even once b1 is protected by a Rook, we're not entirely in the clear: Black still may (partly depending on where we post our Knight) have tactics involving a two-Rook showdown down the b- and e-files, where the back-rank check (and threat of mate) means that we may lose, even if we get first draw, much as in the story Shane.

Do you have any specific b4 lines that you've liked the look of, where we get to contest the b-file with Rb1?

b2 has the great practical advantage of convenience: we can move there safely and quickly in one move, after b3. To reach d2, on the other hand, we need to move our Knight at least once, and we'll probably have to move it again for it to reach a useful square. (Also note that if that square becomes e3, then we are at least temporarily eliminating most of the extra mobility provided by Bd2 over Bb2.) While we do all this, Black may be able to restrict us in other ways, simply by applying pressure (for instance, to the a3 pawn, forcing us to leave our Bishop behind to defend it).

Meanwhile, after Bb2, we can move to c3 in just one more step--still not quite as good as d2, but an improvement (it hits the squares a5 and b4, though not the Kingside).

In short: we can discuss which square would be ideally better for our Bishop (and as I said, I agree with you there), but I think we agree that its top priority at present is simply to vacate c1, where it does relatively little for us and badly obstructs our position. b2 is to hand, whereas d2 is a bit more complicated. I'm not definitively saying that we can't play our Bishop there without making other compromises, but here again, I'd like to see some specific lines where we play Bd2 in a way that you're happy with.

My thought for Black if we opted for 21. Ne3 had been 21...Kc6, as you suggest. It seems a better move here than in lines where it's played ahead of the c-pawn.

I hadn't fully seen the strength of 22. Nf5, which you point out, but I don't think it makes a difference: after 22...Bf8, we are again faced with the immediate threat of ...R(x)e1#, and once we deal with that, in whatever way we choose to, Black can play c4, giving him a passed pawn that is already in our territory, that we currently have no way to threaten (as it is supported on c4 by his d-pawn), and that he can easily move to support with all of his pieces (King included), whereas our King is far away. (sample diagram/line in PGN viewer).

Again, this isn't a line where I think we necessarily have serious problems, but it's one that I find worrisome enough to prefer avoiding b4, since b3 gives us an alternative.

the possibility of Black's being able to paralyze us (assuming we intend to keep our extra pawn) by locking down our Queenside while continuing to threaten the b-pawn. You've partly addressed that, by showing how Nb1 defends against ...a4, but I don't think that that alone is enough to address the issue:

1. Black still has ...a5 at his disposal, and even ...a5 is enough to create problems for us. ...a5 before we've played b4 stops us from playing b4 without losing a pawn.
   
   The main point of ...a4 is to stop us from playing b3 as well, but once we move the Knight off d2, b3 is not an option either. Sure, we could imagine supporting that with an eventual Rb1, but a Rook on b1 can be easily driven off by Black's light-squared Bishop.
   
2. Don't forget about the third move at Black's disposal for locking down the Queenside: the blockading move ...Rb3. While Nb1-c3 defends ...a4, as you say, it makes ...Rb3 stronger (imo), since it prevents us from confronting that Rook with Re3.

When all of these factors are taken together, I'm very concerned that Nb1 doesn't do enough to solve our issues with the Queenside. If you can show me a specific line (any line--it doesn't need to be forced) where we play Nb1, Black proceeds with the ...a5/(...a4)/...Rb3 plan, and we still manage to activate our pieces without dropping the b-pawn, then I'll reconsider Nb1.

18. Nf1: 2 (mastergriggy, EvilNalu)
18. Nf3: 1 (Cloud9157)
18. b4: 6 (Malli, jdseemoreglass, Bill Murray, itsjustatank, lightman, hype[NZ], dtvu)
18. h3: 0 (Bill Murray)
18. f4: 1 (timh, keyStorm)
18. Nb1: 2 (Chezus, Raysalis)
18. b3: 5 (wizard944, qrs, A-tan, chesshaha, indigoawareness)
Abstain: 4 (hp.Shell, Bill Murray, timh, Blazinghand)