Current position (for you top-of-the-pagers).


So my position is a little bit worse than I had thought. I think it's farewell to dreams of making something happen, and to put my effort into safely guiding this to its conclusion without getting myself into any more trouble. Some fun puzzles:


After 27...Rd8?? White to play and win.


After 27...Re8, White captures on d5, reaching the position below. What's the best move?


After 27...a5, the same tactic shows up one move earlier:


Note that the above (spoilered) tactic works even if Black just passes the move. To be honest, I don't see a way for White to force a win in those lines, and his own king is not so safe with the open c,h-files...but let's defer that for the moment.

So it's clear that Black doesn't have a lot of options, as Rxd5 is a real threat.

If Black wants to avoid the draw, then a5 is hard to play, after 28.Rb5 Qc6 29.Rc5 Qe8 is the only move. I'm a little concerned with Black giving up this much space. It's only going to get harder to unwind. And, of course, a5 still requires analysis of the Rxd5 exchange "sacrifice" endgame.

If 27...Rc8 28.Qc2 Rxc5 29.dxc5 with the idea of Bd6 seems pretty unpleasant for Black. Surely, this is to be avoided.

So the safe 27...h6 seems to be the most promising. Now 28.Rxd5? Qxd5 29. Bxf6 hxg5 is nothing, so White needs to retreat the knight. Ne4 seems most sensible, and after Nxe4, g7 might be troublesome, so I think Nfd7 might be best. Yes, Nfd7-b6-d7-f6-d7 will be 15% of my moves. I'm not thrilled about it either. BUT when the rook moves, Black can play Qb5...and bask in that for a move or two until White plays Nd6.

So I have a little more thinking to do -- mostly about the "Black passes, Rxd5" lines (after a5, I guess...but Re8 and I guess Qa7 are alternatives...). White, of course, might play something other than Rxd5, and the outcome of the Rxd5 variations is itself unclear to me. I'm guessing that these are fine for White, but I need to just hack away at those lines some more. The queen+knight generally do work well together (at least that's the conventional wisdom), so it's a question of whether the knight can find a decent outpost and whether White's king is safe enough.

Postscript: I know I mentioned b3 in the previous post. Although it is a creative solution to those Rxd5 lines (bxa2! will be timely) White can always play axb3 first, in which case I don't see what's gained.

Tactics after Rxd5 are too complicated for me, but there were plenty of lines where I couldn't improve upon repetition (for Black).

So h6 lines with Nd7 intending Qb5 are the winner. We'll see where this leads. I am definitely curious whether A.Ertbjerg intended to play Rxd5 against a5 or Re8, or to continue with something more calm. (Re8 is not exactly a super-productive move...White might keep the pressure on a little longer with Qc2 or something.)

Regarding piece trades: Black lacks the luxury to think about such things. Trading queens would be best. Trading knights (if tactically possible, which it really isn't after Ne4) would also seem to be positionally desirable. Any trade is probably good for Black though...

I don't really have any candidates but Ne4.

e4 is just a very good square for the night and when he forces me to move it I will. As mentioned in my other post, my knight was sreally the only piece that was a bit badly placed and e4 is an improvement.

After Nxe4 Qxe4 I might get some play against g7 as well and I'll have all my pieces on good squares.

I know this a bit lazy but I can't see any alternatives and this is just a move you would normally play without using much time

loveinvain: Thanks! It's been fun, but a lot more work than I had anticipated. At my mediocre level of chess, for pretty much every move, I can see the advantage of spending more time thinking about what to play.

Glad I didn't bother thinking about Nh3-f4 ideas. Or really anything else, for White, for that matter.

Here, I think Nd7 is the best move, continuing with the intended reorganization. I have to say, in retrospect, I should have given Nf8 (even g6?) more thought. I completely missed the Rc5xd5, Bxf6 idea.

So I have two candidates here.

Rc4 and Rc2 (not Rc1 because I want to pay Nd6 on Rc8

Rc4 Qb5 looks a bit unpleasant after Qc2 N5b6 Rc6 Qd5 Nd6 with Rxb6 Qc7 might be an idea though. It's not clear and it's not forced to get there so I'm just mentioning it for future references and the theme might come in other variations as well.

Rc2 and what do black play? Qb5 Qf3 and Nd6 is a serious threat. I'm actually having troubles finding anything interesting for black here, which is a good thing I guess.

So I think I'm just going to have Sholar figure out what black can do here

Rc2 seems better than Rc4 as it limits black more I think and makes it difficult for him to find a plan.

I would also like to mention that my minor pieces are really good placed right now and that f6 isn't available for a black knight right now. So I think the manoeuvring over the last moves have been good for me

Black Pieces with Pawn Structure

Move 19


Move 28



*

On a more serious note, I think Black needs to be pretty careful with this next move. I know I suggested Qb5 earlier, and that's still a nice idea (basically, to force White to compromise the queenside pawns a little) but I don't know if there's time. We've reached the end of a semi-forcing continuation, and Black has a move where there are no immediate threats, which I would do wise to take advantage of.

I wonder how many of the observers would now prefer the White pieces -- I don't think I'm there, myself, but I need to look at this position with fresh eyes to make sure I'm not just succumbing to chess inertia.

I think I need (and needed) to play with a little more creativity. As the above diagrams indicate, I think my earlier choices were maybe a little too conservative, as only White has improved over the last 10 moves.

I'm leaning toward 29...Rd8 at the moment. Had I played 29...Nf8 this on move 26, though, I wouldn't be considering it now, and it is also a candidate, together with the always fashionable Qb5.

But anyway, the idea is pretty simple. White has a few threats: g4-g5 (the original reason why I was hoping to avoid h6--this still seems like an obvious and good plan for White), Nd6 (knight is solid here, and this definitely discourages Nxe5), and after Nd6, the potential weakness of f7 (especially true if the Black Queen goes wandering).

I'm trying to avoid lines where Black plays f6, when suddenly Black has a lot of weaknesses to defend. Nf8 seems to take most of the poison out of the g4 push, keeps f7 defended, and prepares Rd8 (with Qb6) to discourage Nd6. (If we're pessimistic, it also covers the weaknesses generated by f6.) An immediate Rd8 probably leads to the same place, but might be more flexible? (c5 remains covered for the moment, and to the extent that there are ideas of Nd6/Qf3 in the air, the rook of off the diagonal making Ndf6 possible.)

The problem with Qb5 is simply Qf3. Both Qg4 and Nd6 are legitimate threats. Now, it may be the case that forcing b3 is so useful that Black is OK to play f6. But I'm not sure. (After Qf3, Qa4 hits an undefended rook as well as a2, but b3 is then with tempo)

There are still some small issues to work out.

So I wanted to make a move that had a little activity/threat in it (Rd8, Qb5) as opposed to a purely defensive one (Nf8) but there's no time. Add g7 to the weaknesses Black has which Nf8 covers to the previous list.

It's not so great to give White a free hand here, but after Nf8 I feel more comfortable with Black's defensive resources. It's not so obvious what White's best approach is...

There's some other stuff to write ("gets the knights off the same circuit", etc.) but these are purely post-hoc justifications.

Qf3 looks interesting now, with the sneaky threat of Rc7 and also with some ideas of Nd6 hitting f7. If Black tries Qd7, then Rc7! anyway, since Nxc7 Nf6+ gxf6 Qxf6 is mate. I don't see anything against Qe7 though, so it might not really be a good move, but if there are tactics like that in the position it must surely be good for White.

g4 seems like a good idea, if Black really is tied up.

So my pieces are decently placed here. I see 3 candidates here, Nc5 Nd6 and Qf3

Qf3 has the threat of Rc7 but after Qb6 is seems like a bunch of nothing. Qg4 can be meet by Ng6. So I'm not really convinced that it is anything but a fancy threat that can be meet rather easily.

Nc5 is likely meet by Qb5. I don't really want to exchange queens there, but i can probably play something like Qf3

Nd6 Qb6 perhaps I can play something like g4?

These kind of position is where I really suck. I feel like I have placed my pieces on good squares but right now I'm really lacking a plan. g4-g5 is a plan at some point

at least on d6 the night prevents Rc8

so I think Nd6 is better but I am in no way confident here. At least my pieces are on goo squares. fwiw I don't really know what blacks plan should be here either. I think he needs to untangle a bit.

g4-g5 is a plan at some point but I can really work it in right now. I'll keep it in mind for the future.

I gave more thought to Qf3 lines, where I considered Qb6 to be the preferable move (because it prevented Nd6). For the same reason, here, Qb6 prevents Qf3 due to the threat of f6, winning the d4 pawn. And, of course, Rd8 will boot the knight, the downside being that the knight might attack the queen again in retreat...but I think there's more venom in this arrangement of Black's pieces than might first meet the eye. White's knight excursion means that he can't easily defend the d-pawn with it, and the bishop can be pushed with f6. This means that with the queen attacking d4, White is committing to defending it with his queen or rook. And Black might be better positioned to bring a second attacker with Rd8 than White will be to defend. So a glimmer of activity!

The other spot for the queen that makes sense to me is Qe7, with the idea of Qg5. This is a little less active, but it ensures the safety of the kingside. This wasn't my main plan going in with Nf8, but the moves work together well (with Ng6, for example) and this prevents any g4-g5 ideas which I am still a little concerned with. That still seems like a pretty direct plan for White and the only one I really see.

There aren't that many other squares for the queen, and I don't see what putting the queen on any of them would accomplish, so we'll decide between those two candidates.

I still need to check off some tactics. I also need to think about where White is planning on putting that knight. It won't be able to stay on d6, and I guess White doesn't want it on c5, but I'm not sure what the idea is.

i don't like Nd6 with the idea of preventing Rc8. The knight did a decent job preventing that move on e4 already, but looks unstable on d6. Dunno where (on these forums maybe?) but i read recently not giving a check with a knight is sometimes preferable because by threatening the check, the knight controls a lot of "second order squares" and thus it's better to keep that check in reserve. Maybe a similar principle applies here, the Ne4 controls c8.

I'm also at a loss at suggesting a better move, maybe the immediate g4...if Ng6 white could use the extra g-pawn to control the f4 square with g2-g3, not fearing the exchange on e5.

We'll see if I continue my trend of not playing the move that it was my gut reaction to play. I can't decide whether I'm making better or worse decisions, on average, as a result.

I agree, I think the N was better placed on e4 when it can go to d6 any time. On d6 it doesn't actually want to go anywhere. It "attacks" b7/b5/c8/e8/f7 but doesn't really intend to move to any of those squares, it just spoils them for the enemy heavy pieces

Decided to go with Qb6. Don't have time to post more details -- I think my earlier comments capture it pretty well. Quick notes:

Rc6 seemed more annoying than I expected against Qe7. I still don't see what Nd6 intends, although maybe Nc8 is a move I'll need to keep in mind. More likely is Ne4 in the next few moves, though...

If there's no new move by Saturday I'll add some more commentary. A thought is that analyzing these positions with huge lists of moves is causing me to miss the forest for the trees, and playing moves that have a concrete plan might be stronger in the long term, even if I miss some stuff move-to-move. So I'll stick to that, for now. If White does nothing, Rd8 is coming soon, and then maybe either a5 or Qa5 (to provoke b3).

I think we might see Nc4, though I don't think the knight sits well on that square, either.

Perhaps the simplest explanation is this: previously, I had been willing to make a lot of concessions in the hopes of pushing the queenside pawns. Perhaps the better idea would have been to pressure d5 directly, and push the queenside pawns whenever I had the opportunity.

I don't know whether that was realistic in the past, but I think that's the plan I'm going to try and work with going forward. We'll see...

I guess it's a logical consequence of me having no plan at hte previous move that I'm still struggling here to figure out what I want to do.

The knight isn't nearly as safe as I somehow wanted it to be on d6 (black is threatening f6 at the right time) So I need to look out for stuff like that.

So with that in mind Nc4 avoids all those lines, not that it necessarily needed to be avoided, and prepares to rearrange my bishop via d6. I think Bd6-c5 might be an improvement as I can't see how I can effectively put pressure on g7 and from the a3-f8 diagonal it helps on the Q-side as well. And it also vacates the e5 square for my night.

Objectively speaking I'm thinking this manoeuvre starting at Nd6 is a waste of time and that there is a better plan to be found in this position. However once I played that I think following through is the best choice. In reality all of this is me trying to justify moves in a position were I'm at a loss as how to continue.

I guess the fact that I have no other real candidates show how I have no idea how to continue. Hopefully I will be able to learn something about this in the post-game analysis where you can all yell at me for missing the obv. plans

Ne4 > Nc4 imo

Going back like that is incredibly hard in chess... Most people including me can't do it unless its incredibly obvious you have to do it.

Not totally unexpected. Rather than move the knight somewhere else (where?) I think the idea might just have been to try to achieve the Qf3+Nd6 configuration. In fact, I'd guess that we'll see Nd6 again within the next three moves.

At any rate, that's definitely the next two moves (Qf3 and Nd6) I'll be focusing on for White when deciding where to put the queen. I haven't really done any work in this position but Black doesn't have many options (putting the queen on the c-file seems awkward, since the rook on c2 is still defended) so the options are basically b5, d8, and b7. The last option invites a repetition of moves though...

I think this is basically the right thought, but Black can be more ambitious -- at the moment, it looks to me that Black can prevent the Qf3+Nd6 arrangement.

To this end, Qb5 doesn't help -- after White replies with Qf3, Black already doesn't have much better than Qd7 allowing Nd6. (There's some humor here: the weakness on f7 can be protected in many ways, but two of them include: shielding the square with Nf6 and defending via the 7th with Ra7 -- two options which I've worked to undo in the last few moves. So defending with the queen is probably best.) It's not that the queen is so misplaced there, though. I think this is a fine outcome.

But much more interesting is Qd8. Here, the immediate Nd6 is impossible because of f6 -- it's the same tactic whether Black has Q@b6 or Q@d8, really. And now, after 32.Qf3 Rc8 33.Nd6 Rc7! and Black has turned the tables completely.


(It's sort of dumb to give moves in these analysis variables exclamations, but Rc7 is really nice. White's a lot more tied down than it looks like at first glace: he can't really trade rooks, and the N@d6 is in real danger from f6.) Rc8 pins the knight to the rook against non-Nd6 moves, so this is pretty handy in all lines.

Qd8 is also nice in that it lets Black keep the other option of Qg5/Ng6 as well. Now, compared with 30...Qe7, White doesn't have the annoying Rc6, and Black is basically up a tempo (or maybe two). So Black completely shuts down the g4 idea this way as well, which is the only other active plan I can see for White.

And let's not forget that Qd8 Qf3 Qd7 is also an option, so it's not like Black is giving up any flexibility here. Basically, the only reason to play Qb5 is because it looks nice to have that pin there, and because it fulfills a long-time dream of that queen to reach that square.

Now, I'm sure some of you have a side-bet going on whether Black ever plays Qb5 in this game. But it's not happening this move. (For those of you who took the over on how many times I'd put Qb5 as a candidate move, though, excellent work.)

Not much to say really. I will just continue with the rearrangement of my pieces. Qd8 does nothing to prevent that as far as I can see. It does prevent g4-g5 for the moment but I doubt that is the intention behind the move. Like it is to be able to play Rc8

Interesting. I guess the idea is Bc5 and then trying to hunt the queenside pawns. At least, this puts a damper on that as a source of counterplay. On the other hand, my instinct is to just play Rc8-Rc6 followed by Qc7/Nd7. The knight is prevented from returning to play via d6, and Black gets some decent play.

That's a very quick read. I don't think the pawn on b4 should be in danger here, but if it is, playing a5-a4 (to prevent Qb3) might be wiser. I think Black's pressure on the c-file gets there first, though, but I'll need to actually look more closely to be sure.

White's might also intend a quick a3. Still none of this is really threatening. I'm pretty happy to move operations over to the queenside in this position. (At least, I think I should be!) Rightly or wrongly, I am definitely breathing easier now.