On January 25 2014 23:19 Nyxisto wrote: I think black is fine if not even a little better. Two knights in a closed position sound fine in principle, but here they're not doing much. On the other hand black could try to stack on the a - file and open up the game there and getting the knight into the action with a5-b3.
even if you open up the a-file you knight still can't get to a5, and you can't open up the game on the queenside any more than the a-file unless you basically just win pawns which means you'll probably win anyway
even if you open the a-file trading up the rooks doesn't favour the bishops at all in this position if I were black I'd want my knight to go to a7, c8, b6 and then a4, having a solid outpost there and then just defend the kingside and hope to get it into a draw which shouldn'r be too hard. (assuming the white bishop moves to the other side, otherwise you can't really do much but defend) i think only white has real winning chances and thats only because black is cramped and has trouble getting his king away from the kingside, but I think it shouldn't be too hard to make it a draw
doubling rooks is met with qf7 and doubling his own rooks though, I think kingside pressure has a better chance but I can't find a direct attack way atm
the N on c6 protects the doubled rooks another plan would be to go na7 Bc8 with B5xA4 and Nb5 outpost if he goes Ba4 to try to take the knight you go Bd7 and when he moves the bishop back to attack the a-pawn you go Bc8 and you repeat moves so he can't make progress
Knight into d4? You mena a4? It's still easy to trade it off with the white bishop and you're just down a piece for nothing? Why would you like black here?
we could probably find some way to recreate the position and play it out if you want?
i think nyxisto got my picture slightly wrong, black still have a bishop at D4? Im having this game saved so i could replay that situation according to the thread :D
All he had to do was the move the rook to the left one square and he would have a great position! >.>
Well, the only reason Carlsen put himself in a worse position was to set up a trap after seeing from Bill Gates' Bd4 that he wasn't a good player - and it obviously worked ,-)
These Catalan structures seem to be so popular at the moment. I find the whole Queen shuffling in the opening super weird. Also the germans have taken over the stream :D
Carlsen has now massive advantage against Gelfand; Aronian is a piece up for some pawns in complex position but knowing him, he's going to win as well because Anand has no real prospects of complicating the game. Nakamura vs Caruana looked very good for Black but the American GM defended well and it looks drawish.
EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/OqB2HBq.png)
