TL Chess Match 4 - Page 135

29. Ke1: 1 (qrs, Zen5034)
29. Rc7+: 4 (hp.Shell, ApocAlypsE007, Avaryroro, qrs)
29. Nc4: 1 (SheaR619)

29. Ke1 Bd8,

I proposed 30. Ne4, which is no good because of a rook fork that I missed. So I say move it to the other side with 30. Nb3

our Knight to play defense for the foreseeable future.

Kd8

I think that Black's better move is 29...Ke8, allowing him to play ...Bd8 later on

In either case, I think our best reply is 30. Ke1

I thought this was our intention after playing the last move. I don't see what him moving .... Ra2 does to change that. We are giving up that a3 pawn in exchange for getting our king into better position. Rc7 doesn't look bad, it's an option we've had for a while now and I'm still considering it, but for now I like Ke1. I don't think that moving our knight should even be considered. Nb3 is suicide for our rook and Nc4 ends in us giving up a bishop and knight for his forward pawn and bishop.

It was and is our intention to play Ke1 (which is the main reason we played Kf1 last move, as you said), and it was and is our intention to play Rc7+ (which is the main reason we played a whole bunch of moves, including Rc1, Bf4, and fxe3 (to keep the Bishop on f4). It's just a question of which to play first, and here I cast my vote for 29. Rc7+ for a simple reason: if we play Rc7+ first, we are guaranteed to be able to follow up with Ke1 on the next move (as Black must respond to the check), whereas if we play Ke1 first, Black can play 29...Bd8 to prevent us from ever playing Rc7.

On the tree, beginning here you can see the discussion between me and Zen over what we can do if after 29. Ke1 Bd8, but as of now the answer seems to be, 'not very much'. If you have a plan, post it!

that 29. Ke1 and 29. Rc7 simply transpose.

I still don't understand why we don't play 29.Rc6 Bb5 30.Rc7+ instead of 29.Rc7+ directly. White's bishop is actually more exposed on the B-line (if we ever get our rock on that line), and doesn't block anything what we could be doing, while on the A-line it prevents any theoretical advancemnt of our pawn and is also better protected in general. It probably doesn't matter too much, but it seems to be a superior sequence to me, and little things do add up.
Would be a waste to vote for it now though, since it will never reach a majority. Well, haven't decided my vote yet.

whether we want Black's Bishop on a6 or b5 (or don't care)

Perhaps Black's Bishop is better on b5: from there it can go to a4, where it controls the Queening square d1. Also, if it stays on a6, maybe we can gain time later on by attacking it then, instead of using that now.

making Black move his Bishop

I read most of the discussion between Ke1 vs. Rc7+ and I don't really like where it was going. With Rc6 we can always follow it with 30. Rc7+.

So far, we've only really come up with one basic plan, which is to use Rc7+ to get our Rook to the other side of the board where it can start eating Kingside pawns (at least the h-pawn). Ke1 is a necessary defensive move that we'll probably have to play sooner or later, and Rc6 is an intermezzo move that we can play before Rc7+. It's in no way a substitute for the other two moves, since if 29. Rc6 is our first move, then 30. Rc7+ will presumably be our next and 31. Ke1 will probably follow that.

So the question of whether to play 29. Rc6, as far as I can see, comes down to the question of whether we'd rather have Black's Bishop on b5 or a6. I don't know the answer to that one way or the other.