Updates pls!

Went on vacation. Got back last night. He had played 13. Nxd4 like I expected, and since my time was going to expire overnight, but I was too tired to analyze much at the time, I played 13. ... Bd7 like I had planned to, but without really doing any additional analysis. My idea is relatively vague, but I feel like he has all the initiative, and I want to trade off my undeveloped bishop for his well-placed bishop, and open up the e8 square for my rook. I'm hoping I didn't miss anything obvious, in playing this move without looking hard at it, but it seems pretty safe and logical.

Moves so far:
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. e3 Nc6 6. Bd3 g6 7. Nge2 Bg7 8. O-O O-O 9. f3 e5 10. Qb3 b6 11. Bb5 Na5 12. Qb4 exd4 13. Nxd4 Bd7

Current Position (I just found the "flip position" button on the diagram generator, lol):

14. b3 is interesting. It takes away c4 as a potential outpost for my knight, and also maybe (?) sets up Ba3 doubling the bishop and queen along the diagonal (though that doesn't look like a real threat to me). If I still want to trade the bishops off, here, I can. It would leave him with a very strong knight presence on the queenside, but I think I would be able to start targeting the long black diagonals again. Assuming he retakes with one of the knights, any move I make with my f6 knight would pin his remaining knight to the rook. Meanwhile I have Re8 to start bringing more pressure onto e6 (though Nc4 would have helped a lot with that plan, so b3 is annoying, and preventing that looks like precisely why he played it.) If I'm not going to trade bishops, I could also try Re8 now, but I don't see what that gains. His bishop is better than mine, and if I ever get an attack going it will probably be based on the dark squares, not the light ones. The one other move I considered here was Rc8 to try to pressure the c3 knight, but any pressure looks very superficial so I passed on that idea. I'm going to go ahead with the trade.

Moves so far:
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. e3 Nc6 6. Bd3 g6 7. Nge2 Bg7 8. O-O O-O 9. f3 e5 10. Qb3 b6 11. Bb5 Na5 12. Qb4 exd4 13. Nxd4 Bd7 14. b3 Bxb5

Current position (white to move):

15. Qxb5

I expected him to capture with one of the knights, but instead he brought the queen up. This leaves his c3 knight undefended, but puts a little pressure on d5. Nothing looks good here other than putting a rook on an open file with Re8 or Rc8. Re8 is what I've been wanting to set up, but it isn't immediately critical. I'm leaning more toward Rc8 to pressure the undefended knight. Either he has to defend it with the queen (pulling pressure off of d5), defend it with the bishop (leaving e3 vulnerable), or retreat the knight to a4/e2, neither of which threatens me and both of which make the remaining knight on the diagonal pinnable if I can create a good square to move my f6 knight to.

Other than the rook moves, I don't see anything else useful, and my a knight isn't threatened by b4 because then Nc4 is a good outpost. 15. ... Rc8 it is.

Moves so far:
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. e3 Nc6 6. Bd3 g6 7. Nge2 Bg7 8. O-O O-O 9. f3 e5 10. Qb3 b6 11. Bb5 Na5 12. Qb4 exd4 13. Nxd4 Bd7 14. b3 Bxb5 15. Qxb5 Rc8

Current Position (white to move):

So after running the clock down from 3 days to 33 hours, my opponent then entered "vacation mode", pausing this (and all his other) games. I have no idea how long this will slow things down, but I haven't abandoned this thread, there's just nothing new to report.

I don't know why the game I picked for this thread had to turn out to be the slowest of all the games I've played so far, but oh well.

Just start another thread with another game

I've enjoyed this so far.

+1

Well okay then, why not! I'll put in a game request now, and start up a new thread as soon as it gets accepted. I will *also* be continuing this thread when my opponent eventually starts playing again though. His vacation time can't last forever!

He's back. 16. Bd2

I don't know exactly why I thought that "defend it with the bishop (leaving e3 vulnerable)" was automatic, I had Bb2 in my mind, but of course there's also Bd2. I have an interesting tactical idea here, that I have to look closer at. I don't feel too bad about letting him twist in the wind a little, so I'm going to post the idea WITHOUT making the move, and let you guys discuss its brilliance/idiocy as the case may be.

I'm looking at 16. ... Qe7, threatening Rxc3 (and if Bxc3 then Qxe3+!). At first glance it leaves my d-pawn underdefended, but my idea is that if 17. Nxd5 Nxd5 18. Qxd5 Rc5 19. Qe4 (anything else loses the queen) Qxe4 20. fxe4 Nc6 then his knight is pinned to his rook and can't move, while I threaten Nxd4 exd4 Bxd4+ to win back the pawn with initiative (and a potential fork on his rook). He can't get an extra defender onto the knight, therefore he has to move the rook on move 21, and after 21. ... Nxd4 22. exd4 Bxd4+ material is back even, and I've created an isolated pawn that might give me good endgame chances.

I'm pretty sure that after 17. Nxd5 the line would basically be forced. I'm not 100% sure the resulting endgame is *actually* good for me yet, though it looks nice at first glance. I also haven't looked at what other options he has on move 17 if he doesn't jump at the "free" pawn. I'm going to sit on this position for a while, analyze the endgame, analyze move 17, and make sure I'm not missing anything on the combo. Also, there might be a better continuation for me in there (I'm not sure 19. ... Qxe4 is my best try there yet either)

In the meantime, it's still my turn, and here's the position. You guys are welcome to discuss my ideas for a little while, I'll probably not decide on whether I'm trying it until tomorrow.

Moves so far:
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. e3 Nc6 6. Bd3 g6 7. Nge2 Bg7 8. O-O O-O 9. f3 e5 10. Qb3 b6 11. Bb5 Na5 12. Qb4 exd4 13. Nxd4 Bd7 14. b3 Bxb5 15. Qxb5 Rc8 16. Bd2

Current position (black to move):

I haven't found a way to improve my side of the sequence, and looking closer at that endgame, I'm not seeing any reason to suspect it's theoretically won for me. It doesn't look lost either though, and as black against an opponent now rated 300 points higher than me, from a position that I think is currently advantageous, I'm content to play for an even endgame, particularly when it's my opponent who walks a razor's edge to get there, not me. That is IF he responds to Qe7 with Nxd5 though. If instead he responds with Re1, then my threat is blunted immediately, and my d5 pawn actually is hanging. In that case, though, I can always play Qd7, offering the trade, and I think things look all right. Whether he trades, or retreats the queen, the pressure I'm feeling is alleviated.

As for other ideas, I looked at 16. ... Rc5 17. Qxx Qe7, but 18. Re1 still takes away anything I really have threatening, and now Na4 gets a little uncomfortable for me.

I think I'm going to go with Qe7 now. If he takes the d-pawn I feel good about my line to play for an even endgame (and if he slips up getting there, even better). If he defends e6, I'll play Qd7 next.

Moves so far:
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. e3 Nc6 6. Bd3 g6 7. Nge2 Bg7 8. O-O O-O 9. f3 e5 10. Qb3 b6 11. Bb5 Na5 12. Qb4 exd4 13. Nxd4 Bd7 14. b3 Bxb5 15. Qxb5 Rc8 16. Bd2 Qe7

Current Position: