TL Chess Match 4 - Page 110

I assume you mean 27. Bd2. (position)

Here, I haven't analyzed this out to a win/draw for Black or anything like that, but the position worries me. Black's pieces are co-ordinated and continuing to exert pressure on us and his central passed pawn is looking fairly dangerous, as he can support it with all his pieces, and it controls important squares in its own right. Meanwhile, our pieces are still playing defense; the Knight in particular is doing almost nothing for us on f1, and the plan of Ne3 which is its reason for being there no longer looks like it will materialize any time soon.

I assume that your plan with 27. Bd2 is to follow up with 28. Bb4, where if Black plays 28...BxB 29. PxB RxP, we have a very strong resource in 30. a6, now that our pawn is supported by our Rook. It's a good plan, and I like the ingenious little Be3 ...d4 Bd2 maneuver that you added to remove tactics involving f2, but what if Black plays 27...Ba6?

This move clears the way for Black to advance the d-pawn, if he chooses. Also, it gets the Bishop off the third rank, which helps introduce the new tactical threat of BxP (see below). Most importantly, it blockades our a5 pawn, giving Black the freedom to grab the a3 pawn (should the opportunity arise) without fear of a6.

After 27. Bd2 Ba6, Bb4 is not nearly as attractive a move as it had been, for without being backed by the threat of a6, it simply gives Black back a pawn. Meanwhile, Black threatens to take the pawn immediately with ...Bxa3, the point being that if we simply capture the Bishop with Rxa3, ...Rb1 wins the Knight at the least.

I don't see a good way of answering this threat. 28. Bc1 is very passive and sends our Bishop back to square (c)1. 28. a4 removes the threat for the time being, but it also removes b4 as a possible square for our Bishop, leading to a position where, once again, I think that Black has all the play. (28...Rb2 and what do we do now?)

It's true that we're two pawns up, so technically we can return one and still be in the lead, but with the a5 pawn blockaded and far from us, Black's d-pawn a clear and present danger and supportable at long range at d3 by the Bishop, and the mobility problems of our King and Knight, I don't think that we can afford to simply give Black the a3 pawn without compensation.

What do you advise after 27...Ba6?

to provoke d4 so that we can meet ...Rb2 with Bb4. If Black hasn't played ...d4, this is not an option (nor is Bc3) because of the threat to our pawn on f2.

The move that I'm looking at for black in particular (although I don't think it is black's most active response) is 19...Rb5

20. a4 Rxa5 21. Nb3 Ra7

Note: Although black can also play 21...Ra8, I find this highly unlikely, as it makes the black c-pawn a much more valuable target as well as being a very passive move.

+ Show Spoiler [22. Nc5+] +
+ Show Spoiler [22. Bf4] +
+ Show Spoiler [22. Be3] +

If black does happen to respond to 21. Nb3 with Ra8, I think we need to go full force after that c pawn, I.e. Bf4, Rec1.

Like I said, I don't know if black will play Rb5 (I somewhat doubt it in fact), but I wanted to provide analysis should he happen to. I'm gonna look through some of the c5 responses next.

20...Rb4


First, I'd like to say that it's very unlikely black will simply play Rb8 or b7, as it seems to have wasted the last move of moving the rook up in the first place, so I won't post any analysis.

I think white's best response to Rb4 is 21. Nf3. This move defends the d pawn from attack and allows for the Bishop to be freed from the back rank.

21...Bd6 can be countered with 22. Be3 and the mobility of white's rooks vs. black's somewhat tangled units (not to mention pawn up) a great chance for winning. (21...Bd6 22. Be3 Ba6 23. Rec1)

21...c5 still looks pretty strong. Maybe black has something better there?

if black plays 20...Rb4 we can play 21.axb4 right?

edit: nevermind, you mean 19...Rb5 20.a4 Rb4

21...c5 is really bad for black, 22. dxc5 Bxc5 23. Rxe8 Kxe8 24.Ba3 Rc4 (24...Rxa4 25. Re1+ winning a piece) looks great for white.

21...Ba6 22. Bd2 Rb2 looks promising for black, although it does seem like sooner or later he'll need to recapture the pawn.

Overall my view for black on 20...Rb4 seems like it is somewhat of a weaker move due to the tactics it gives white as well as allowing white to rearrange his pieces quite a bit before black can recapture one of the pawns. One of black's strengths is that he has us locked down, but by playing Rb4 it somewhat relieves pressure on us thanks to the strength of Nf3.

First of all, it's not necessarily true that 20...Rb8/b7 would have wasted the last move of moving the Rook up in the first place, as moving the Rook up is what provokes us to play a4. If that move weakens us, then that's all the justification Black needs for moving the Rook up in the first place.

I first looked at 20...Rb4/20...Rb8 out of principle. In other lines we'd been looking at, we had played Nf1, and at that point, a move like ...Rb4 is rather more threatening, since we don't have Nf3 as a defense. Of course in these lines, we have Nf3, but so far we'd been preferring Nf1 (intending Ne3), so my starting assumption was that forcing us to play Nf3 instead would be a victory for Black.

As it turned out (and as I said when I first mentioned Rb4 on the 19...Rb5 20. a4 page) 21. Nf3 ended up looking quite solid for us once we were forced into playing it. That turned my thoughts in the other direction--why shouldn't we consider playing Nf3 instead of Nf1 even in lines where we aren't forced to? We had dismissed the move earlier--but the last time we gave it any consideration was on move 18, and the situation is not the same now that we don't have a b-pawn. I posted to this effect on the 19...Ba6 page.

TL;DR I agree that White's best response to (19...Rb5 20. a4) Rb4 is Nf3. In fact, at first glance it looks so solid that I think we should consider making it our mainline plan in all lines (replacing the previous plan of Nf1-Ne3).

19. bxa5: 20 (qrs, jdseemoreglass, hp.shell, Malinor, timh, Sm3agol, Raysalis, dtvu, Chezus, EvilNalu, Mash2, chesshaha, sGs.Kal_rA, Malli, WuBu, GenesisX, Psilver, hype[NZ], ffreakk, itsjustatank)
19. Nc4: 0
19. Ne4: 0
19. Kh1: 0