I think I have a "safe haven" in 28. Qd1, which forces the queen exchange.

But 28. Bd6+ Ke8 (28. ...Kg7/8? 29. Be7 loses the exchange) 29. Qa3 is tempting me.



The threat is 30. Bf8! Nxf8 31. Rxd8+ Kxd8 32. Qxf8+ Kd7 33. Qxd7+



Obviously I need to check if Black has a defense and whether I manage to maneuver my Queen to defend my Bishop after ...Qe3+ and ...Qf2).

I will have to sleep on this; just wanted to tell anyone who's following this what was going on in my head (if someone is sick, definitely let me know).

usually id want to bring my king to the center ASAP after trading queens, but im making a forcefield on the 4th rank that his king can never get past. my king will still be able to get to e5, and from there i can choose from a couple pawn pushes (e6 and a6/b5) and try to trade bishops which would be the easiest path to victory. but step one is to eliminate counterplay by blocking his king off

also with white colored bishops, i want my pawns on black

not worried about 30. Bg4 and we trade bishops off. i win that K + P endgame. otherwise he can dance with his bishop as much as he wants - he wont hit anything since my pawns will all be on black

patience is key, this will be a slow grind. e6 is coming. just need to freeze up his pawns + king first

I was only analyzing 29. Bd6+ and 29. Qd1 up to certain point, then I started to realize this move might be just better than the other two.

Black may reply with 29. ...Qc5, 29. ...Qc6 and 29. ...Qc8.

A) 29. ...Qc5+.

After 30. Kh1 I am threatening to win the Queen with 31. Bd6+, so the Queen must move again. Only 30. ...Qa5, 30. ...Qc6 and 30. ...Qc8 are available.

i) After 30. ...Qa5 31. Bb5 Black may not play 31. ...Nc5, because after 32. Rxd8+, he loses whether he plays 32. ...Kg7 33. Qc3+ or 32. ...Ke7 33. Qd1, and the Bishop on b5 is untouchable: 34. ...Qxb5 35. Qd6#.

Meanwhile, I am threatening 32. Bc7, and I do not see how Black can defend against that threat.

ii) After 30. ...Qc6 31. Bb5 Qc8 (31. ...Qe6 32. Qxe6 fxe6 33. Bc7) I plan to play 32. Qd5.



After 32. ... Ke8 (if 32. ...Ke7, 33. Qd6+ Ke8 34. Qe5+ and we go back to the main variation) 33. Qe5+ Kf8 34. Qh8+ I win a piece, because 34. ...Bg8 is met with 34. Bd6+.

iii) After 30. ...Qc8, I plan to play 31. Qd5.



I am threatening to play 32. Bb5, which forces the transposition to the variation above, and I do not see a defense against this, because the Knight is pinned.

B) 29. ...Qc6.

Of course, I play 30. Bb5 Qc8 (again, 30. ...Qe6 31. Qxe6 fxe6 32. Qxc7) 31. Qd5, and 31. ...Qc5+ fails because of 32. Qxc5 bxc5 33. Bc7.

C) 29. ...Qc8. Yet again, I plan to play 30. Qd5, and 30. ...Qc5+ fails for the same reason it failed before.

I think the is the first "tough" decision I've needed to make this game.

I see two possible moves for black 16...Qb6 and 16...f5

16...Qb6 seems to maintain pressure on white. The Queen now pressures b2 while threatening d3+ winning the Queen.

Seems white has a few replies to this, none of which seem overly favorable for white. 17. Qf2 is seems like a fine reply now pinning the d4 pawn but after 17...Bc5 the Queen is once again in a lot of trouble and Nxc5 Qxc5 exchange seems forced which is obviously good for me in this spot.



The other added benefit to this is that it allows the eventual Rd1 to help defend d4 but my Queen could be passive for quite awhile if d3 does not come soon, which seems likely given my analysis.

16...f5 on the other hand looks like the more conservative move.

The knight if forced to either f2 or g3 neither of which seem like good squares.



The benefit of this move is removing whites only strong piece from the center. I'm also less likely to blunder and let my opponent back in the game but it is also more easily defended and pressing my opponent could lead to future mistake.

However now that I'm actually typing this out I realize that Qb6 seems much stronger after f5 as the knight is now doing nothing on the king side.

So let's do that.

I'm essentially on the ropes now and need Gamer to slip up. Since he made all the right moves when I was trying to worm out of mistake, I don't think he's going to.