TL Chess Match 4 - Page 132

right now I'm liking 28. Rc6 for the reasons listed last page: it gains initiative and will allow us to push a past pawn. i will agree that 28. Kf1 seems a bit too passive for us right now, and 28. Rc7+ for the most part has already been acknowledged as a bad line. 28. Ne4 seems interesting but Malinor stated, I don't see how the rerouting of the knight would benefit us immediately, if at all.

it doesn't gain initiative, but loses it. After 28...Bb5, White will have spent one move in threatening the Bishop and Black will have spent one move in moving the Bishop out of danger--but now we will need to take another move to save the Rook which is now under attack. That's a free tempo that we've handed to Black.

Of course we can technically keep the tempo by playing 29. Rc7+, but that's not much better than the 28. Rc7+ lines. The basic problem with all of these Rook moves is that our Rook is needed for the defense, so moving it to the other side of the board is counter-productive.

it opened up the a7-g1 diagonal. That gives Black control over the a7 and b6 squares (through the potential fork ...Bc5+), which makes a big difference to how strong our counterplay is.

what if 28.Rc6 and 28. Ra2, then what ? If we capture something, pawn or bishop, it will be mate wont it ? 28.Rc6 28. Ra2 29.Rxc6 29.Bc5 30.Kf1 30.Ra1 . There are of course a couple of moves white can do like block the bishop with his bishop and or put the knight in front of the king, but will only delay the inevitable wont it ?

If we follow that line, it is absolutely mate, you're right. What if we follow that line and don't take the bishop after he moves ... Ra2? Instead we move either our g or h pawn freeing up a space for our king to escape to. This would force him to move his bishop on his next move. Wouldn't that give us tempo? I don't know how this line ends up for us, but it is a possibility.

The only other moves I see for him if we move Rc6 would be ... Bb7 which we could move Rc3. Or he could move ... Bb5. We can't move Rb6 pinning his bishop and rook because he could move his dark squared bishop to fork our king and rook on his next move. I think any other move in this line loses tempo like qrs said. Maybe Re6 with the intention of d6 after?

28. Rc7+, Ke8
Pd6, Bd8
Rc6, Bd8xPa5
RxBa6, Ba5xNd2
Bf4xBd2, RxBd2
Ra8+, Kd7
a6, Rx2
a7, d2
Rd8+, KxR
a8(promote)+, ??

ok with this variation we are ensured the tempo and PROMOTION FIRST! At the cost of a rook...so ugh what do you guy think? We can potentially check for draw perhaps or does anyone see an opening?

because iono what else to do rofl and it put our knight in a more offensive position yet still defend that square. As long as the rook is in the backrow, we are pretty safe to anything and there nothing bad about it. It obvious that black want to play Rc2 soon. This move is also pretty safe against that.

Same idea as Kf1 but on a more flexible square

dont' love it. don't see anything better.

You'd think it's more flexible, but actually, I believe Kf2 is quite a bit less flexible than Kf1. The problem is that it pins our Knight.

This prevents f6-f5 and therefore gives us the possibility to later play Ne4. While blacks pawn on d3 looks very uncomfortable to us, he cannot threaten to transit it into a queen during the next couple of moves. Especially if we get the knight on e4 and have the bishop still on f4, we might even have some offensive pressure again.

28. Kf1 is simply too slow in my opinion, it takes forever until we get the king in a decent position.

28. Rc7+ Rd8 29. Rc3 could work somehow I guess but I thing it will push us behind. At least that way we have pushed the black king farther away. But I don't think it is a good move at all.

28.g2-g4: your proposal
28...Bxa3: I think this is probably Black's default move in this position. Besides picking up the pawn, it sets up a discovered threat to our Rook, and clears the way for ...Bb4, supporting a push of the d-pawn.

What do you want to play here? If we play 29. Ne4, Black has 29...Re2, threatening both our Knight and the Rook, and with the threat of ...d3-d2 if both of our pieces flee the area. If we play 29. Rc7+ and go off on an adventure with our Rook, (e.g. 29...Kd8 30. Rxh2) Black threatens ...Bb4 followed, again, by ...d3-d2.

I don't love 28. Kf1 much more than you do, but if we don't get another defender to the d-pawn, then our need to stop Black from Queening paralyzes all of our pieces.

My line is 28... Bxa3 29.Rc6 Bb5 30.Rc7+ Kd8.

Followed by either 31. Rb7 with options for black, but likely an exchange of rocks. Or 31.Rxh7 Bb4 32.Se4 which would result into a forced position of rock/3pawns versus rock/bishop. How good that is is above my level of play, but it should be somewhat even, and if we can exchange rocks we can at least force a draw.

In your second line, (31. Rxh7), Black can play 31...Re2 to force the Knight away before playing ...Bb4, and I don't like our position at all if Black gets to keep the Bishop pair.

Your first line (31. Rb7) looks like it might be all right, though.

We meet 28...Bb5, which I had suggested for Black, with your 29. Rc7+ Kd8 30. Rb7 pinning the Bishop. We meet 28...Ra2, which TheRidd had suggested for Black, with 29. g4, as Mash2 suggested.

28...Rc2? If we exchange Rooks, I can't see how to hold on to our pawn advantage, although we might have a draw.

Reasoning: There is an opportunity for a triple fork, in the Bb5 variation that you pointed out Qrs, unlikely that he will make that move and we will retain our momentum. Also crucially opening up the A lane from the bishop to progress the A5 pawn to put some counter-pressure. if 28... Bb5 29.. Rc7+... Kd8... 30. Rb7.. Thinking of his response to this. Also future potential for Bb8 now that we are on the Bishop diagonal. I gotta get home from work though so, let me know what you think. What else can he do instead of Bb5 is the important question.

28...Rc2. I honestly believe that black is in a position to force a draw, and if he plays for it it will just happen. I don't see a clear way for white to push the pawn advantage into a win, only if black is also playing to win. At this point, I would probably take a draw if he offered it.