TL Chess Match 4 - Page 133

trading would be bad. it advances their pawn during the trade and we have no way to stop it without material loss. wouldn't 29. Rxa3 immediately be winning, though? unless there's a tactic I'm not seeing here.

First of all, I want to know why *if* we play 28. Rc6, and black plays 28. ... Rc2 why 29. Rxc2 is bad?

This is all assuming 28. ... Rc2 which I think would be a terrible move for black imo. In every theoretical line I've played through on my lunch breaks, black just seems to be in a superior position at this point in the game. I do not see black needing to play for a draw at all. White, maybe, but black has more tricks up his sleeve.

What white would like to do (realistically), in order of importance are: 1) trade his knight for a bishop 2) relieve black of his pawns.
What black would like to do is: 1) force a favorable trade with the passed pawn 2) trade black bishops to gain a mobility advantage 3) force a random mate.

With that in mind why would black try a random trade with 28. ... Rc2 when that rook is half the reason the position is as scary as it is right now?

Ok... let's say he goes for it, what is black going to do with 29. Rxc2??? 29. ... dxc2? Then 30. Nb3. Black can then 30. ... Bxa3 and "threaten" promotion, but there is nothing to gain for it. I really do not see much of a way for black to force the pawn through in this position, and stands to lose the game here. Maybe this is a move to make white panic where Rxa6 leads to mate, but we have how many people playing white and 3 days to make a move? This isn't speed chess. I doubt 28. ... Rc2 heavily.

That said, I am torn about what *to* do. I don't much like the look of Rc6 or Rc7+, I think the rook still needs to help on defense at the moment. I like it less than before, but I still think my vote goes to Nf3. I think it sets up to snipe the d-pawn (which really is the main threat right now) better than any other options. And the lack of any negative feedback (despite being mostly because it has been unexplored) makes it seem to me to be the most attractive. I don't have a line for an argument to convince anyone else to vote for this as I mostly played around with it before the last vote, and found it attractive then, and now I've been devoting my time to figuring out why I don't like the other proposed moves.

the line where we play 28.Rc6 directly just looks too dangerous:
28.Rc6 Rc2 and we have to trade rocks and therefore have the pawn on c2, where it is vastly uncomfortable and I would dare say unstoppable. We cannot play this line in my opinion
If we are not trading, we can move our king 29. Kf2 Rxc6 30.dxc Kxc6, and we can advance our king more to the center 31. Kf3 Lxa3 32. Ke4 Lb4 and I see an advantage for black, but maybe not a losing one.

28.g2-g4 Rc2 29.Rb1 Here black will most likely utilize his dark squared bishop. There are several possibilities, I will just follow the one that most seem most afraid off: 29... Lxa3 30.Kf2 and we are getting stronger in the center, our king is freed and the black pawn is still on d3 and we can pin it there a long time longer, since we have a lot of protection in the center and now can possibly play Se4 later (which cannot be shut down by f6-f5 anymore because of g2-g4 earlier), and still have d2 covered with at least two pieces (potentially three with the king, though Lc5 is always a possibility for black) with theoretical pressure on the pawn on f6, which we probably won't be able to take in quite some time without compromising our defenses. We have a strong presence on the B-line, so the bishops cannot move there and if black wants to exchange rocks, he has to come to our line and cannot take with the pawn, so it stays on the third row.

However, this is mostly fighting for a draw. I don't see much winning-potential left in our position. g2-g4 gives us a better structured defence and a stronger center. And the pwan on a3 is lost either way in my opinion.

I agree that a rook swap would be bad thanks to his d pawn, but his tactic is to promote the D anyway, so he will go for a trade. Perhaps if we set the initiative, looking over the board again...Yeah the Bishop check onto our king and the rook moving down is a legitimate mate threat which can be alleviated by g2-g4. I think it's a safe move.

27.Rc7 Kd8 28.d6 Bd6 29. Bxd6 Rxd2 30. Bf4 Re2 31. Rc6
(...Bb5 32. Rd6+ Kc8 33.
white to play
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+ Show Spoiler +


(...d2 32. Bxd2
black to play
)

Why are yall predicting him to do Kd8 afterward? Ke8 seems far superior. Because he have the option of moving his bishop to d8 for superior position. Also he be moving to support his other 2 pawn on the right side.