Well, it's time for another bishop retreat and after looking at things more deeply, it appears I looked at the position superficially last time. I thought provoking Nb6 would be a good thing, but now I don't think so. The bishop on c4 gave the knight time to uncover the c8 bishop with tempo, and now after 14.Bf1, black can play 14...Bg4 which is annoying, because after Bxf3 white can't recapture with the queen due to the fork on c2. Argh. This is a good example of why I suck at chess, I often don't consider the opponent's replies nearly as much as I should until it's too late.

I still feel like Bf1 is the best retreat square, but now things appear to be going in a different direction than I'd like. Dang. Well, let's see what happens and hope for the best.

I didn't analyze this much, but it is a safe place to keep the bishop, out of the way of his other pieces. Plus, it keeps an eye on c4 and d3 to spoil my plans of playing c5-c4 and Nd3. Last move, I thought I'd play 14...a5 here in order to secure the knight on b6 and prevent e4-e5 (15. e5 dxe5 16. fxe5 N6xd5 wins a pawn and looks good for me). The problem with 14...a5 is that it weakens b5 so I will have trouble playing ...b7-b5, and white can play 15. Bb5, reclaiming control of e8 and annoying me. Though maybe that's not much of a threat really: 14...a5 15. Bb5 Bd7 and if the LSBs go, then I can play ...c4 and ...Nd3. Still, I should keep in mind the long-term weakening of b5 with this move.

Another thought is 14...a5 15. Bb5 f5. This actually looks nice as it forces white's e-pawn off the board. Oh, well there may be a problem here: 16. e5 dxe5 17. fxe5 N4xd5 18. Nxd5 Nxd5 19. Bc4 pinning the knight to my king, so 19...Be6 20. Ng5 Seems that 14...f5 would have the same problem.

I could play 14...Re8, but then 15. a5 Nd7 and I'm feeling all cramped with no way to move around like I said in my last spoiler. Actually, planning on ...b6 axb6 ...Nxb6 would be fine, I think.

I'm also considering 14...Bg4, getting the bishop out before I block it in again with my knight, and by pinning the Nf3 I weaken his control of e5. An immediate 15. e5 is still prevented as before. The first test of this move has to be immediately challenging the bishop: 15. h3 Bxf3 16. gxf3 (as 16. Qxf3 Nc2) looks ok but I'm not sure what to do, ...Re8, ...a5, ...Qc7? Maybe 16...f5 17. e5 dxe5 18. fxe5 N4xd5 19. Nxd5 Nxd5 20. Bc4 and this time 20...Be6 should hold as there is no Ng5 without the king's knight. Ha, but there's also no ...Be6 without the bishop that got captured on move 16. Chess is hard.

14...Bg4 15. Be2 would seem odd, moving the bishop yet again, and blocking the Re1, but it does break the pin. I guess 15...Re8 or 15...Kh8 to prevent that bishop pinning my knight that I've been having problems with in the ...f7-f5 lines.

Gah, I'm having trouble doing this while watching bad movies on tv, so I'm going to take a different approach. I'm going to assume/pretend that 14...a5, 14...Bg4, and 14...Re8 are all fine, so I'm going to pick one based on which idea I like most. I will eliminate 14...Bg4 as I want to keep the bishop for a possible ...f5 exf5 ...Bxf5, and also to guard e6. Plus, I can bring it to g4 later unless white wastes time with h2-h3. I also think I should put 14...a5 on hold given that it weakens b5, and if white plays 14...a5 15. Be3, then this plan of playing ...c4 might run into Be3xb6.

So that leaves 14...Re8, maintaining the option of playing the other moves later and putting some pressure on the e-file. The downside is abandoning defense of the f7-pawn, but even if white tries to get at it with say 15. f5, I should be fine.

I think ganstaman knows this opening better than I do, but I feel like he let me off the hook a little bit with not playing 14...Bg4. That was one of those times where you sort of hold your breath until the opponent moves, and then once they make another move you breathe easy. I think Bg4 would have made white very uncomfortable.

I might be looking at this superficially again, but I think after white plays 15.h3, black has trouble developing. I don't really see a good way to organize his pieces. The c8 bishop can't really move, and if he puts it on d7, I'm playing a5 and pushing the knight back to c8 and then probably continuing with e5 in the near future when white's pieces start to come alive. After 15.h3, I'm curious what black will play. The pressure on the e4 pawn is sort of an illusion right now because if black plays Bxc3, then after white recaptures, black has to spend a tempo to move the knight (which currently has no squares to go to). So yeah, I don't see a good easy clear plan for black, while white can try to play e5 and then use the extra space and activity to put pressure on black.

I'm curious to see what black does here after 15.h3.

Tex is right imo, Black had to play Bg4 (that should have been the point of Nb6). h3 looks good, interesting that he doesn't mention the alternative of a5 but I prefer h3 anyway due to the reasoning ganstaman gave that after a5, b6 will free Black a little.

Hmm, seems like a fine move. Prevents ...Bg4, obviously, so his knight can continue to help with e5, and it also makes it harder for me to get my LSB developed (which would be nice and would connect the heavy artillery on my back rank). It does weaken some squares around his king, but I can't see a way to take advantage of this for now. I still want to play for ...f7-f5 as my other break (...b7-b5) is looking rather impossible. But, as discussed in previous posts, the move f7-f5 makes me vulnerable to pins by Bc4. So I am considering 15...Kh8.

On possible response: 15...Kh8 16. a5 Nd7 and likely 17....b6 and things should be fine. One nice point to keep in mind is that at b6, my knight helps stop e4-e5 by threatening to take on d5, while at d7 the knight helps stop e4-e5 by threatening to take on e5. So it doesn't matter to me where the knight is, it is working against the e5 pawn break either way.

Possibly interesting is 15...Kh8 16. Na2 Nxa2 17. Rxa2. From here, white can plan b2-b3, which frees his DSB a bit, and the Ra2 can swing over on the 2nd rank to one of the central files. However, I would be able to play 17...f5 first which I like.

I can see 2 ways that white could try to prevent this f5-push: 16. f5, and 16. g4. Putting his own pawn on f5 would be a pawn sacrifice: 15...Kh8 16. f5 gxf5 17. exf5 Bxf5. I can't say that I'm happy now that I'm missing the g-pawn, but white loses the e- and f-pawns, and they were rather key to his central grip. I also like my bishop on the b1-h7 diagonal. I could also decline the sacrifice with something like 16...Nd7, planning ...Ne5, but I don't know that I can resist free pawns.

As for 15...Kh8 16. g4, it's certainly a bold way to clamp down on f5, but it comes at the cost of an exposed king. I think I could still play 16...f5 to open things up. If the e-file opens up, I could play ...Rxe1. White can't respond with Qxe1 due to ...Nc2, so white plays Nxe1 instead. That does then allow ...Qh4 and ...Bd4+. I'm not working with a concrete line here, but I do see that my pieces should be able to get in around his king, whereas I'm not as sure how his pieces would make their way to mine.

One issue that comes to mind now is that 15...Kh8 abandons the f7-pawn. So if 16. e5 dxe5 17. fxe5 N4xd5 18. Nxd5 Nxd5 19. Bc4 then white threatens Bxf7 if my knight moves. But I guess 19...Be6 20. Ng5 and I can either allow Nxe6 ...fxe6, or play ...Nc7. Also, it seems I should be considering 18...Qxd5 19. Qxd5 Nxd5 in these positions as well, as it might be better for the queens to be off. I'd have to see once we move closer to such a position, if we ever do.

So, besides 15...Kh8, is there anything else I want to do? I can't see anythign else that really looks appealing, so here we go...

I feel obligated to try to make f5 work for both sides, every move. This feels like a big leak in my understanding of these positions.

maybe your thought process should start with "what would f5 achieve for me". If all you can come up with is "holes on e5/e6 respectively" than maybe you can be cured

That said, i have no idea if the f5 idea is bad for white. Not understanding this made me stay away from this whole line for white.

For Black, I think the appeal of f5 is obvious...but maybe that's not even correct here? For White...it prevents Black from playing f5(!), provoking gxf5 might be good (doesn't look that easy to defend that structure), f4 is for bishops...

I agree that it looks anti-positional, but I would be happier if I had another reason (maybe a tactical one, maybe just a more specific one) why this is the wrong idea in this structure. And I'm not sure the hole on e5 is that important; White can play e5, too, or drop a knight on e6, and Black doesn't have a knight on d7 at the moment...

I don't think 16.f5 is a great idea, but something like 16.f5 gf5 17.Ng5 with Qh5 coming...it's a mess. If 16...Nd7 17.Bg5 and maybe intending Bf4/not fearing a trade on e5.

That doesn't sound like "feeling obligated to make it work", that sounds more like very good reasoning.

Whenever i see a position like this, i want to try of those positional pawn sacs with e5 meeting .... dxe5 with f5 when when white gets e4 (and then d6) for his knight as well as a great dark sq B and a promising attack.

in a blitz game i would play

16.a5 Nd7 17.e5 dxe5 18.f5 in a heartbeat

Don't know if it works here but def worth considering because black can get into a terrible mess in positions like this, white then has great squares for all his minor pieces and black's best square ...e5 is clogged up with one of his own pawns.

Haha, OK, I won't argue with that. I do sense that I have this closer to the top of candidate moves than others...that's what I'm reacting to.

I might be missing something deeper here, but to me this looks like a bit of a waiting move because I think black might be having trouble finding something to do. I can't figure out another reason why he would have played that move. If anything, I think actually opens up some more possibilities for white with a well-timed Ng5, threatening a fork on the undefended f7 square. I can't find a way to immediately take advantage of it, but I'm going to keep an eye on that motif if it surfaces in later variations.

I looked at the position for a while and am having trouble coming up with a clear breakthrough. e5 is the common idea in most Benoni positions, but here I don't think white is quite ready for it yet. if anything I feel like it would actually help black figure out what he's doing. Mainly I don't like that it would give up the f5 square for the c8 bishop, which currently has no scope. Also it would coordinate nicely from that square with the b4 knight, so no go on that right now.

After looking for some time, my plan is to play Be3 to cover the d4 square, then play Nf3->d2->c4 which still helps push e5 through at some point, but also pressures the d6 square which will be annoying for black. This is a fairly time-consuming idea, but I don't see any immediate play for black right now to take advantage of it. His situation hasn't really changed from last move and development still looks difficult.

I think 15...Kh8 gave black enough tactical resources to be able to deal with any white threats. For example, if 16.Be3 f5 (to strike at white's center, black's only pawn break), then 17.Ng5 Qe7 18.a5 and if black retreats with 18...Nd7, then 19.exf5 looks good for white, and if 18...h6, then 19.Nf3 Nd7 20.exf5 again looks good for white. I'm curious to see what black has planned to get some active play. Hopefully I didn't overlook anything in my calculations, I have a nasty habit of doing that

Just before this move, I was thinking about how f2-f4 is a good move for helping get in the e5 pawn push, but it otherwise blocks white's DSB which would like to be on f4 or g5. I had not given much thought to Be3 as it blocks the e-file, at least temporarily, though it can always drop back to f2 where it can guard some kingside dark squares. The bishop does annoy me some as now, in the event of e5 ...dxe5, he'd have Bxc5 (which gets a pawn and forks my knights).

As an aside, I just realized that my abandoning of the f7 pawn may be slightly more annoying than I thought. If white plays Ng5, I'd have to actually do something about this.

Let's see what happens if I try my original plan of 16...f5. Then 17. e5 dxe5 18. fxe5 N4xd5 19. Bxc5 (I think maybe even 18. Bxc5 would be possible, but I think it should at the worst transpose), with maybe 19. Nxd5 first. As white can play Bd6 to hold the passed e-pawn, I'm not seeing what I really get out of this. Also, I'm wondering how to deal with 16...f5 17. e5 dxe5 18. Ng5 -- seems a little tricky, actually.

One potential solution is 16...Qc7, which supports the c-pawn, the e5-square, and the f7-pawn/square. There are 2 responses I'm unsure about: 1) 17. e5 dxe5 18. d6 Qc6 19. fxe5 seems tough. Though I don't have to take on e5: 17. e5 h5? so I can play ...Bf5 and ...Nc2? I wanted to play 17...Bf5 right away, but on 18. g4 Bc2 I'm not sure what I get from his queen moving or what I do next.

2) 16...Qc7 17. Rc1. I don't think I can play 17...f5 18. e5 dxe5 19. d6 like above. What can I play, though? Maybe I can go for the ...b7-b5 push with 17...Rb1 followed by ...Bd7 and ...Nc8. I wonder if it's even worth playing 16...Qc7 first, though, if I go for this plan.

Gah, I'm feeling so lost. I'm going with 16...Qc7 as it does help with 3 squares at once so if I'm missing something, at least I've added support to some of my weak spots.

The fact that Nd7 and Kg8 were both reasonable moves for Black there suggests a plan gone awry. Indeed, I think Black's going to have to play one or both of these in short order.

I am satisfied to give up on f5 now. Qd2 (idea: e5+Qf2) gets my vote. I missed this idea before Be3, but it looks pretty annoying. I don't understand the objective behind Nd2-c4. White's knight on f3 is better than Black's on b6, and I don't see what it accomplishes on c4 that it doesn't already do on f3 (hitting e5 being the most important part of its mission).

17.Nd2 Nd7 18.Nc4 Nb6 (18...b6) 19.Nxb6 Qxb6 and White's maneuvers will have accomplished nothing, despite Black just marking time, he removes a pair of pieces (definitely favors him, having less space) for the small price of dislocating the queen from c7 to b6.

I like Qd2 but I don't see e5 as a big part of that plan, just Qf2 next and White will surely be able to force a kingside weakness

re Nc4, I assume the idea was to play Nc4 only after a5 Nd7, so that the knight hits d6 and if Qe7 then there might be some more tempi coming after e5. still I don't think it can be the right plan, to me it looks like White is trying to plan and manoeuvre when it is already time to start calculating the right breakthrough

I think 14.Bc4 was inaccurate, but after Black missed his chance to play Bg4 he's probably even worse off than after 14.Bf1 Nf6. His only positive plan is f5 and it looks way risky (he could have tried to prepare b5 with something like Rb8 and Na8 instead of Kh8+Qc7 but it's really slow and doesn't even achieve that much since Nb4 is in the way). Probably Black should just hunker down now

Seems like a pretty natural move from black, but I don't see really any direct threats from it. It's a good move though, I think. It gets the queen off the back rank and covers the e5 square.

I keep feeling like there should be something more forcing/tactical for white in this position, because of black's cramped development, but I can't find it just yet. I have a few tactical motifs going through my head (the weak f7 pawn via Ng5, the typical Benoni e5 push to attack the base of his pawn chain and free the e4 square, some potential threats to the c5 pawn if the d6 pawn comes off the board, after ...dxe5, playing the intermezzo d6 and then recapturing on e5) but right now I can't seem to make any of them work. It just doesn't feel like the time is right yet. I might be missing something obvious, but any of those tactics feel too early. Right now it seems like some of those more forcing moves would actually give some squares to the black pieces for development, which I don't want to do.

So my plan now is to keep improving slightly and let the position marinade for a while and see what comes of it. White has the nice space advantage and hopefully black's lack of space/coordination will cause him to make some oversights in the near future. If not, I can re-organize my pieces until they're optimally placed for an e5 push at some point, just not right now.

I decided on 17.Bf2 for a few reasons. I don't see anything really concrete to do yet with the other pieces and like I mentioned above, e5 seems too early. I'm not exactly sure where I want the queen to be just yet so that will wait. Bf2 does have some positive points. It frees the e-file for the rook to help push e5, but it also maintains pressure on c5 and x-rays the knight on b6 that could become loose in some lines.

I hope I'm not missing any immediate tactics but I really can't find them right now. I like 17.Bf2, though, because it poses the same question to black, asking him how he plans to develop/unravel. In my earlier days I feel like I would have tried to rush something in a position like this, but now I think white has a good position he can improve and I don't see a lot of active counterplay for black, so I'm just going to make small improvements until the time is right.

I sure hope I'm not missing anything obvious. If I am, I'm sure 10 spoiler posts in a matter of minutes will let me know

I'm putting this in here just to help freak out Tex.

Ok no really, at this point as white I would set up the e5 push and go after the c5 pawn. The board is begging for a queenside massacre, so I'd just go with the flow of it.

Ok, so getting the bishop off the e-file and also filling in the dark squares on the kingside.

17...f5 still has the problem of giving white a pair of connected passed pawns cramping me down the center, and I can't see some compensation or winning tactical idea that gets me out of that. I also can't see how the work on remedying that, so I think I might have to give up on the idea for now.

This leaves me with 3 other ideas:

1) 17...Kg8. Admit that it was a mistake to move the king and give f7 a protector again so I can later either move my queen or stick something (knight or bishop) on d7. But I think I should hold off. I can instead respond to an eventual Ng5 with ...Kg8 and try to do something more productive this move. Plus, leaving the king on h8 helps me maybe eventually with ...f5.

2) 17...Nd7. This might help prepare ...f5. If white passes on move 18, then 18...f5 19. e5 dxe5 20. d6 Qc6 21. fxe5 Nxe5 and I'm up a pawn. Though 19. exf5, exposing my rook and back rank looks bad. And even if that weren't the case, with my knight blocking in my bishop, I'd have to recapture on f5 with my g6-pawn

3) 17...Rb8. Seems rather benign. Doesn't get in anyone's way and helps prepare an eventual ...b7-b5. Though it does line up my queen and rook on that diagonal, so if 18. Bg3 white could prepare for e4-e5. But in that case, I probably wouldn't want to respond with ...dxe5 fxe5 as it sets me up for that skewer, so I think I'd leave the pawn on e5. and should be ok.

Another way of preparing for the b5-push is 17...Bd7. I'm trying to think of how white could repsond to either move in a way that makes me not want to play the other on move 18 (ie, when would they not transpose?). I think the rook move seems to intefere slightly less with other things as d7 could be used by the knight or moved through by the queen if she transfers to e7 or something.

4) So there's a 4th thought I just had. 17...c5. If 18. Bxb6 Qxb6+ and then my queen can return to protect c4 so this looks nice, or maybe better 19...Nd3 20. Bxd3 cxd3 21. Qxd3 Qxb2? If 18. Nd2 Nd3 19. Bxd3 cxd3 20. Nf3 Nc4 planning ...Nxb2, but 21. Rb1 Bxc3 22. bxc3 Na3 23. Rb3 Nc2 24. Rf1 Qc4 and if I'm seeing this final position correctly I think it all just holds together. What about 18. e5 Bf5 setting up ...Nc2 or ...Bd3 or ...Nd3, so I think ok.

White can also respond with 18. Rc1, or 18. Bd4 or the like. Then I'm much less sure of what I can do. So oh well, maybe in several moves.

e5!

I looked at this position for quite a while before deciding what to play. Again, I feel like there should be some sort of tactical breakthrough with e5 but I can't quite make it work yet. So my plan is to improve the queen's scope potentially while again waiting to see what black is going to do.

I tried looking at candidate moves for black and am having trouble coming up with a good plan. If 18...Bd7, then I think 19.e5 finally works. If 18...Nd7, then I can play 19.Rad1 and prepare for e5 because the bishop is blocked and black can't really threaten the a4 pawn. Plus, I can always play b3 if I need to in order to protect it now that the queen is on d2.

Long story short, I can't seem to make any immediate action work but I'm continuing to improve the position while asking black what he plans to do. I feel like I'm being too passive and should have jammed e5 already but I really can't make it work just yet unfortunately. Probably a lack of calculation ability on my part more than anything.