i screwed up in the last move because I think he can compensate his backward pawn after e5. I basically misevaluated the position. He is now going to pressure my isolated pawn so I basically need to come up with a plan to avoid losing.

The line i figured out is after e5 doing Qc3 and that should keep me safe because xed5 my queen is going to be super sexy attacking the rook, defending the a1 square, indirectly attacking d8, etc.

So I actually think that Im not so bad as I originally thought after I first made the move, anyway the bishop is going on d3 because i can threat h7, the only advantage bes has is that I can threat the c6 square having my bishop defended but it would come at the expense of having the bishop undefended, also I might eventually need to do Bc2 to throw away his rook at a4.

I dont know where this game is headed but I think its drawish but since at least I suck at endgames I expect some chaos to happen there.

I meant to say " after I first read his move" not "after I first made the move"

I don't get this 25... b5 move at all, is there an upside? Suddenly White has a big fat target to aim at, just Rc1, Qc3, B on the long diagonal, maybe a tempo for luft and the position plays itself; Black is tied to the defence of the backwards pawn.

Kyle is mostly calculating with 26... e5 / 27. d5, but why should White ever play d5?

I am not quite sure what to propose instead of 25... b5, maybe just put the Q to a8 via c8. It probably comes down to if you think that a White 26. b5 had to be prevented. But imo the endgame after 26. b5 cxb5 / 27. Bxb5 Bxb5 / 28. Qxb5 Qc6 feels okay for Black.

he could have gone Qd6 first, with the idea that on a neutral move like g3/h3 we play b5 2. Bd3 Ra4 and now the attack on b4 gives black the initiative and ensures that white doesn't have a favorable reply to ...e5 anymore because black's queen already attacks d4. This is a sort of "prophylactic attacking". Of course after Qd6 white has 2. b5 but then cxb5 3. Bxb5 Qb6 looks OK for black and he can even try for more with 2. ...c5!? because the Q has casually stepped out of the fork.

yeah Ra4+Qd6 ideas don't seem that great now since White can just protect b4 and then chase off the rook with something like Qc3 and Bc2. e5 Qc3 looks undesirable too. Maybe Ra4+Qa7 semi-waiting and planning to trade rooks on a1 if possible?

Perhaps black can play e5, trade on d4 (if d5 then c5 & black seems fine) & then look to play Be6, Qd7 (or perhaps Qd6 if the rook is unprotected) & perhaps Bd5 or Bc4 & there is some sort of play at least ...
Of course white has moves in the meantime & the plan can be kind of easy to stop ... but still its at least some sort of activity in the position rather than simply passive defense.
Yes, white now has a target on c6, though its tough to attack it sufficiently in the middlegame & black can defend passively if need be. White also seems to be drifting somewhat ... though not enough to lose the position.

I'm looking back over my last post, and I'm not sure if the lines I posted actually made any sense or resembled what I was planning in my mind at all. Visualizing the board accurately is hard enough without trying to get the coordinates right too, and writing down all the moves.

Anyway, e5 was the plan and e5 it is. I can't really see any reason to play anything else. I guess I could play Qd6 or Qb6 or something, but I don't see the point.

His options here are dxe5 and d5. dxe5 Qxe5 looks pretty awesome for me. I get control of that a1 square, my bishop is free, my queen is dominating the whole board. I concede an exposed backward pawn, but he's already got a weak pawn himself, so basically the draw is now in my hands and not his. I can take it whenever I want (famous last words) but I can also press on for the win.

e5 d5 makes things a little trickier. I'll probably just play Qd6 then and let him initiate the capture, trading off his central pawn for my weak c-pawn.

I guess he could just ignore it entirely. Something like e5 Qb2/exd4 Qxd4 looks pretty good for white. Actually, that looks *really* good for white. Maybe I should reconsider. I'm going to move away from the board and come back later when "e5 now!!!!" isn't burned into my mind.

Yeah, I still really want to play e5. And if I wait, there's a good chance he plays f4 and takes that away from me.

Qd6 keeps the pressure on his loose pawn, keeps e5 strong if he doesn't play f4, and gives me the option of offering to trade queens with Qd5 in a few moves. I kind of want to push for a queen trade here with the idea that my rook is more ready to penetrate and that f6 is a lot less scary in an endgame than it is with queens on the board.

Imagine the game goes h3 Qd5 Qxd5 - which pawn would yall take back with? I think it should be quite instructive hearing different ideas of which pawn and why.

Interesting question. I would at a quickish glance take with the e-pawn since it leaves a less glaring weakness and doesn't give the white rook a file. We can then pester White along the a-file and I assume B endings should be drawable. I guess we could play also cxd5 and just be ready to set up camp with Rb8/Rb7, Bd7 and Ke7/d6 (not h3 qd5 qxd exd rc1 ra4 rc7 withs a complete failure in this particular case). It's close

Seems to me that taking back with the e pawn just leaves white hopelessly passive while taking back with the c pawn gives white lots of play.

he did the move i was expecting before. Ok my best move seems to be Qc3 avoiding e5.
Rc1 could be an option but my rook is stuck in the last rank.

So Im going with Qc3 and I guess I should have not done Qb3 in the first place.

The other option would be f4 but I dont have the balls to do that.

The problem Im having is that my pieces keep moving back and forth between the same squares and I dont feel confortable moving my f-pawn. Im hoping to move my rook next move.

If he does f6, I may have to do Qb3

Anyway Im clueless right now.

i answer to learn: i would take with the c pawn. Although i didnt spend much time pondering, i believe an active rook from behind white's b pawn should be enough. Why? What's ur opinion YKW?

e-pawn is the better choice...Black controls the open file and can easily tie white to defending b4. Although I think the position is drawn in either case.

Hmm. So now I still can't play e5, he's got that a1 square again, and I can't really offer to trade queens anytime soon. Well, these last few moves have been a colossal failure.

I'm basically out of ideas here. I've got some threats that can all be thwarted fairly easily, and I don't see too many ways to improve my position. He's probably a little better here, but not by much. Imma offer a draw. Dunno if he'll accept or not.

Im obviously going to look for something before accepting the draw. My idea is to attack the c6 pawn, however I would have to attack it with my bishop, otherwise it can easily be defended.

Anyway here are the following lines Im thinking of:

e4/ Qd6
e5/Qd5
f3/ Qa2
Be4/Qa6
Rc1/Rc7
Qc5/Qa3
Rc3/ Qa1+


the other option is

f3/Qg5
Re1/Ra2
Re2/ Rxe2
Bxe2

mmmm...

e4/ Qg5
e5/Qe7
Be4...

I also missed

e4/ Qd6
e5/Qe7

the problem is that by attacking the c pawn Im letting my b pawn loose and exchanging his c-pawn for my b-pawn leaves him with a passed pawn.

I thought of angleshooting and waiting for 24 hours to see if somebody posted a long post which probably meant I could win this .

Is it a case of 'its probably (hopefully) drawn & I don't know what to do ... so I'll offer a draw??
Both players seem to be unhappy with their positions, so is a draw by default the 'appropriate' result?

As for the earlier question about which way to take in the potential Qxd5 line, I'd be inclined to play exd5 ... idea is to minimise the number of weaknesses (basically c6 & it can't be attacked from in front by the white bishop), whereas taking with the c-pawn leaves the b-pawn isolated, easy to attack & there may also be issues with e6 as well (after say f4-f5), which might tie the king down to defense there. In the exd5 line, the king can quickly get to d6 & then see what develops as to where it is needed in the future.