TL Chess Match 4 - Page 76

I have analyzed this move, and I see nothing wrong with it.
We keep all our pieces, go a pawn up, and are in a good position to still be able to castle on our king's side. What's not to love?

So we're up on material, but are being threatened with pins, and you're scared we can't castle? Do we even NEED to castle? we can do a3 like you all will probably wrongly vote, or b3 like i'm suggesting here. he might not even DO ba6 to prevent us from castling. If he does, though, we should do b3.

oh shit i didnt analyze qb5
that looks NASTY for us
if we do my plan we get checkmated LOL

I'm not at a chessboard but I had a look at this last night. After 11.Qxc6+ Qd7 12.Qc2? then black can play 12...Ba6! and we have a whole bunch of problems. One possible continuation could be 13.a3 Qb5! (threatening mate in 1) 14.Qd1 and black has so much pressure against our king that it is probably winning and we are in a position where we have no good moves.

Like others are saying Qc2 is really bad. Again... time to pay for the move 10. Bxc6+, just a slow and painful process from now on.

After Qxc6+, assuming that's what we decide, there are 3 possible responses from Ng5.


1) 11. ... Qd7.

This is probably the best move. Here, we almost certainly have to trade queens. I wanted to keep queens on the board, but we simply can't allow black to play Ba6. For example, 12. Qc2? Ba6, and our king is trapped in the middle, our knight is pinned, and we are in terrible shape. Here black has deadly threats, such as Qb5 and Qg4. We are simply losing here.

11. Qxc6+ Qd7 12. Qc2? Ba6


We have no choice really but to play 12. Qxb7+. Here black also has an interesting option... The simple recapture Bxd7 looks most obvious, which could lead to the example position I described earlier:

11. Qxc6+ Qd7 12. Qxd7+ Bxd7 13. a3


Or, black could even play Kxd7. This would connect the rooks and begins to activate the king now that queens are off the board. Here black would have the intention of playing Ba6. The threat of keeping our king in the center isn't so bad here with queens off the board. Trying to castle right away would lead to 13. O-O Ba6 14. Re1, moving into another pin, because Rd1 could be met with Be2, Re1, Bxf3, and we are in serious trouble.

11. Qxc6+ Qd7 12. Qxd7+ Kxd7 13. O-O Ba6 14. Re1


I think a better move would be 13. a3, which is very similar to the line and image posted above. No matter how black responds now, we will be able to exchange a piece and remove the knight from e4. The more we simplify the position a pawn ahead, the more we can solidify our slight advantage.


2) 11. ... Bd7.

This move looks bad at first glance, because it simply loses a central pawn, but the follow-up seems at least playable to me. Black can win a pawn back with: 12. Qxd5 Nxd2 13. Bxd2 Bxd2+ 14. Nxd2 Rxb2. The resulting position still looks better for white. We are up a pawn, have stronger control of the center, and black's pawn structure is very weak. Perhaps the only advantage black has is the bishop on an open board.




3) 11. ... Kf8?!

This is probably the most interesing move here... With it, black prevents the trade of queen's and goes for a dynamic, attacking game. The black king looks less secure, but the dark-squared bishop is currently defending the diagonal well. By keeping the rook on h8, black is threatening a king-side attack by eventually playing h5 to try and bust open the king-side. By keeping the queen on the c6 square, black is also threatening a rook shift with tempo, for example 12. O-O Rb6 13. Qc2 Rg6. However, he probably has to develop the bishop first because I don't see a good way for him to respond to Qa8, pinning the bishop and holding the black queen in place.

11. Qxc6+ Kf8 12. O-O