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Lews_Therin
Promising
Famous Hero
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posted December 16, 2004 01:41 AM |
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Hello Redsoxfan,
first of all some comments on the opening:
You didn´t exatctly play the regular Dragon Variation, but the Accelerated one. That makes quite a difference, as you would have been able to play d7-d5 in one move. In the concrete position that you had in your game, 8...d5 would have already led to a substantial advantage for you.
Also, mixing 6.Be2 and 8.f3 doesn´t make much sense with a pawn on c2. If white controls the g4 square with the f-pawn, the bishop is redundant on e2, and it should either stay on f1 or move to c4.
If the bishop moves to e2, then it´s better to castle short and play f2-f4 later.
Then 10...Qc7 is a crappy move, the queen will be a target there for a knight jump to d5, for example after white has driven away the Nf6 by g2-g4-g5. In some lines it´s also nice for white to have the option Nd4-b5. Plus the queen on c7 blocks the c-file for a later rook on c8. To attack on the queenside succesfully, you need a timely exchange sac Rc8xc3 at least as an option.
Your queen should either move to a5, or stay at d8 for the moment.
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In the position that you posted, your opponent played very strange moves. White is rather easily winning, for example by putting the queen to a4 and taking at a7 and b6 (or f7 with check, if black doesn´t spend a tempo here) next. Even if it´s necessary to give away the Bd1 or the Pf2 on the way, pawn b6 queens quickly and it´s over. With a rook against a queen, you need more than two pawns and the d-file for compensation.
After your opponent played passively, you were right to advance the kingside pawns to get some serious threads.
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RedSoxFan3
Admirable
Legendary Hero
Fan of Red Sox
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posted December 16, 2004 02:29 AM |
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My plan if needed be was to retreat the rook to d4 putting pressure on two loose pawns by my opponent and place the bishop on b8 defending both my loose pawns.
Edit: This is at least a very annoying position.
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Go Red Sox!
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Lews_Therin
Promising
Famous Hero
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posted December 16, 2004 03:15 AM |
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Quote:
My plan if needed be was to retreat the rook to d4 putting pressure on two loose pawns by my opponent and place the bishop on b8 defending both my loose pawns. I'm almost sure this is a locked position.
After 1.Qa4, your a7 is threatened immediately. No time to transfer the bishop to b8. And even if you had the bishop there, if wouldn´t help at all. Your position is passive then, and white has all the time in the world to slowly transfer his bishop to d5 and combine play against your king, pieces and pawns.
Threatening pawns on e4 and c4 doesn´t matter, white will pick up a7 and b6 in exchange, get an advanced passer, and it´s over. You can´t win a pawn race like that with a rook against a queen.
There´s far too much material on the board to build a fortress - if white makes a few sensible moves, black is dead lost. You can suggest a response to 1.Qa4 if you don´t believe me.
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RedSoxFan3
Admirable
Legendary Hero
Fan of Red Sox
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posted December 16, 2004 03:42 AM |
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Be2 If Qxa8 Rxf2. If Kg1? or Kh1? and then he drops his bishop. So there's two obvious moves. Kg3 and Kh3. If Kh3 I respond with Bf4 threatening mate next move. Kg3 is the only good move I would respond with Rf4. Here my calculative ability runs out. I can't see down the Kg3 well enough to know what would happen next. I can't tell if there's checkmate or not.
Edit: The bishop is in the way. Bah I resign after Kg5 I can't get checkmate.
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Go Red Sox!
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Lews_Therin
Promising
Famous Hero
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posted December 16, 2004 12:15 PM |
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You probably mean Qxa7 and Be3. Yes, I didn´t check any concrete lines, but as long as I control the light squares, it´s very unlikely that you get a mating attack with R+B quickly.
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RedSoxFan3
Admirable
Legendary Hero
Fan of Red Sox
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posted December 16, 2004 12:21 PM |
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I can pull it off, but there's a couple subtle that indirectly prevent it Queen moves to 8 row and then two checks by white on the black king ruin everything. The line I saw could get it but it would bring in a pawn and the king.
... h5 ...Kh4 ...Rf3 I think this is off the top of my head though.
My first attempt w/ Benoni against an anonymous opponent. My opponent accepted my 15 minute game search. His rating was around 2300. He played d4. At this point my zone rating was like 985 or something cause I'd only played two rated games and I blundered in both. I still find myself blundering constantly. It's really starting to drive me nuts.
But that's besides the point. After I played c5. My opponent played d5 almost immediately. I played e6 and I noticed a hesitation. He took like 20 seconds to play c4. I was guessing he assumed someone with my rating isn't gonna know the benoni. 
Anyway after I lost he said I play well for someone whose 985. However I got to what I considered a playable game. 29 moves isn't bad against someone with a rating of 2332. I could have gone farther, but I resigned after he forked my rook and dark bishop with his knight. However after reviewing the game myself I found an interesting gambit that would have given me counterplay and a threat against the king. Certainly better than the move I ended up choosing. I'll post the game now.
1)d4 c5 2)d5 e6 3)c4 exd5 4)cxd5 g6 5)e4 Bg7 6)Nc3 d6 7)Nf3 Nf6 8)Bg5 0-0 9)Bd3 Qa5?
Here's my first mistake. This allowed him to make the b5 push very difficult. I should have played Bg4 instead or even playing a6 would have been better. Oh well. I'll know that next time.
10) 0-0 Re8 11)Nb5! Qb6? 12)a4 a6 13) a5 Qd8 14) Nc3 Nbd7 15)Re1 Ne5 16)Nxe5 Rxe5 17) f4! Rxg5?!
This was my only move. Oh what do the ?! ! !? mean again? I can't remember. ? is bad move. ! is great move. ?! is dubious move. !? is something I can't remember. My opponent was a bit surprised by this gambit in exchange for my rook I can activate my dark bishop and it takes the pressure off the seemingly unstoppable pawn rush.
18)fxg5 Nh5?
If I had thought a little harder here I would have had another interesting gambit that would have given me counterplay. 18)...Nxd5?! If white takes with the Knight. 19)Nxd5 Bxb2 20)Ra2 Bd4+ 21)Ka8 Qxg5.
Now white has a great counterplay. My dark bishop is on a perfect square. I can now effectively play b7.
If white takes with the pawn I still have Qxg5, but it still has good counterplay capabilities. Any other move results in white playing Qd2 blocking the only way out for my Queen, which is exactly that happened. The rest of the game is meaningless, except for maybe opting to trade light bishops. Then I have the only bishop on the board.
19)Qd2 Bd4+ 20)Kh1 Bg4 21)Be2 Qc8 22)Qd1 Bxe2 23) Qxe2 Be5 24)Na4!...
I missed the fork on my earlier moves. I had expected to still be able to make the push.
24)...Qd8 25)Nb6 Rb8 26)Qg4?...
Now I win a pawn for free. Was this a gambit? Or did this player with such a high rating just drop a pawn?
26)...Bxb2 27)Ra2 Bd4 28)Rf1 Be5? 29)Nd7!
Here's where I resigned. I guess I wasn't used to seeing a bishop-rook fork from the knight. I'll just have to remember that next time I play the benoni.
The main question from this game is basically how I played and what do you think may have happened by playing Nxd5.
Edit: I've been having some trouble against people defending the pawn in Queen's Gambit. Sometimes I can break through. Sometimes I don't. I heard there are lines where you can make them pay for it. I've also experienced this in playing accelerated dragon.
The way I've been dealing with it is when someone defends it immediately, but someone did it a bit delayed this last time throwing me off.
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Go Red Sox!
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Lews_Therin
Promising
Famous Hero
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posted December 17, 2004 04:38 AM |
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That was a rather good game, looks like you´re improving!
First of all - regarding the annotation - maybe you can edit 2.c5 into 2.d5, and 9...Qg5 into 9...Qa5. I was able to guess correctly what you really meant, but other readers may not be able to follow you.
Okay, let´s take a look at the game:
Quote: 9)Bd3 Qa5?
Here's my first mistake. This allowed him to make the b5 push very difficult. I should have played Bg4 instead or even playing a6 would have been better. Oh well. I'll know that next time.
Well, you´re right that Qa5 is a mistake, the queen doesn´t belong there for a large number of reasons. She does nothing there, loses contact to the kingside and to pawn d6, stands in the way of your own play after white answers a7-a6 with a2-a4, and last but not least enables white to gain time attacking her.
Instead you´re right that 9...Bg4 would be a good move, to improve your control over the e5 square. But even better looks 9...h6, and the either:
10.Bh4 g5 11.Bg3 Nh5, and you get rid of white´s best minor piece. In return you have weakened your king´s position, but as long as you keep your light-squared bishop, the advantages of the swap on g3 clearly outweigh the disadvantages.
10.Bf4 Bg4 is just a good Benoni position for black. The pawn on h6 is usually considered a weakness, but in the Benoni, it´s an improvement, as you now always have the option to play Nf6-h5, and white can´t respond Bf4-g5.
White can´t really take advantage by playing Qd1-d2, as this square is better reserved for the Nf3. Play could continue 11.0-0 Nh5 12.Be3 Nd7 13.Be2, and now I like 12...f5 - black is rather active now, and after having wasted time, white is in no position to take advantage of the light-squared weaknesses in black´s camp. Note that the h6 pawn also does a good job here at preventing Nf3-g5-e5.
Quote: 10) 0-0 Re8 11)Nb5!
Uhm, no. 11.Nb5?? is terribly bad, both strategically and tactically.
First of all, after 11...Nxe4 12.Bxe4? Qxb5, black has two pawns and a winning position. So white must try something like 12.Re1 Bd7, where he is only one pawn down, and still close to losing, but not as hopelessly as in the other line.
But even your move 11...Qb6 looks quite sufficient to reach a satisfactory position. The knight will be simply kicked back to c3 shortly, and white will have wasted two moves.
Instead, of 11.Nb5??, white had to play 11.Nd2, followed by a quick Nd2-c4 and a large advantage for white.
Quote: 12)a4 a6 13) a5 Qd8 14) Nc3
Well, what has white achieved here? He has lost a lot of time moving his knight back and forth and pushing his a-pawn, and he has driven the queen from the bad square a5 to the good square d8. Moreover, by pushing the pawn to a5 he has released control on the queenside. Usually white keeps his pawn on a4 for a very long time, so that black is forced to do a large number of preparation moves in order to get b7-b5 through. As a rule of thumb, a4-a5 should only be played when it´s no longer possible to keep black´s pawns at bay ... so that after b7-b5 and a5xb6 e.p., they are at least split.
Even though developing the knight now to d7 is not wrong, here or one move later you should have better played 14...b5 or 15...b5. After pawns are exchanged on b6, you have freed your position on the queenside, and of course your pressure against b2 is more significant than white´s on a6.
17.f4? is another bad mistake. I told you once that in the Benoni, the dark-squared bishop is almost worth a rook, and in this case you get control of e5 square and at least another pawn in addition.
But even worse, in the following tactics, white seems to be simply losing. 17...Rxg5! is of course correct and necessary, but then after 18.fxg5 you had to play 18...Ng4, with the main threat being Bg7-d4+ and Ng4-e3/f2/h2, depending what white does. And don´t forget about the g5 pawn, which will be picked up by black´s queen soon. There doesn´t seem to be a defense for white, for example 19.Re2 Bd4+ 20.Kh1 Qxg5, and in order to hold back a mating attack, white will have to give back the rook for a minor piece sooner or later, being down a pawn in a clearly inferior position.
Quote: If I had thought a little harder here I would have had another interesting gambit that would have given me counterplay. 18)...Nxd5?! If white takes with the Knight. 19)Nxd5 Bxb2 20)Ra2 Bd4+ 21)Ka8 Qxg5. [...] If white takes with the pawn I still have Qxg5, but it still has good counterplay capabilities.
No, after 19.exd5 Qxg5 20.Re8+, black can resign.
Quote: 24)Na4!...I missed the fork on my earlier moves. I had expected to still be able to make the push.
It´s not so much about the fork, even though that threat certainly gains useful time for white. The idea is to transfer the knight from c3 over a4 and b6 to c4. From there it exerts maximum influence, by holding your queenside pawns at back, pressuring d6 and controlling the key square e5.
Quote: 26)Qg4?...
Now I win a pawn for free. Was this a gambit? Or did this player with such a high rating just drop a pawn?
Well, regarding his server rating ... from what he showed in this game, which was after all 15 minutes rapid, I doubt that he´s better than elo 2000. But 26.Qg4 is a correct decision. One of his pawns is going to drop in any case, so he´s absolutely right to keep the rather important one on g5 and give you the weakling b2.
Quote: 28)Rf1 Be5? 29)Nd7!
Here's where I resigned. I guess I wasn't used to seeing a bishop-rook fork from the knight. I'll just have to remember that next time I play the benoni.
Well, the fork that exchanges your important Be5 is bad enough, but the main problem is that white will play Raf2 in one of the next moves, and crush through on f7.
Quote I've been having some trouble against people defending the pawn in Queen's Gambit. Sometimes I can break through. Sometimes I don't. I heard there are lines where you can make them pay for it. I've also experienced this in playing accelerated dragon.
What are the concrete lines ...?
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RedSoxFan3
Admirable
Legendary Hero
Fan of Red Sox
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posted December 17, 2004 06:59 PM |
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Hey Lews. Thanks for all the great tips.
Nxc4 is an outstanding move.
Even after I retreated my queen after a6, I could have still played the b5 push and I got out my queen for development and put pressure on white's b pawn, I would have been in much better position.
I'm glad to see there were still so many viable options open to me. The b5 push was the move that I had neglected and paid for it I should have played it immediately after white played a6. Correct? Thanks for the help.
Edit: Another game of the benoni as black. I think I should show this one off.
1. d4 c5 2. d5 e6 3. c4 exd5 4. cxd5 d6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. e4 g6 7. h3? Bg7 8. Bd3
O-O 9. Nf3 a6 10. Bd2 b5 11. Bc2?...
My opponent clearly isn't strong. I was expecting a3. My opponent had now made a few odd moves that weaken his position and lose turns when he should have been developing and launching a few attacks.
...Re8 12. O-O Nbd7 13. Bg5 Ne5 14. Nxe5 Rxe5
15. Qd2? Rxg5 16. Qxg5 h6 17. Qc1 Qe7 18. Re1 b4! 19. Ne2?
I was expecting Nb1. Even a4 would have been better.
...Nxe4! 20. Ng3 f5 21.
f3? Bd4+
Now no matter what line you took there would be a trade off of knights or I'd at least be able get my knight to safety and then win his knight.
22. Ka1 Nf2+ 23. Ka2 Be5 and I win the knight
22. Ka2 Be5... Now if they take with the pawn I get the knight back anyway. If they take with the bishop, I take with the pawn and it's back to even again.
22. Kf1? Nxg3# {White checkmated} 0-1
After a few poor moves by my opponent, the game was lost.
Edit again: I've looked at it again and I found the option of Qxh3. My best move I think... 22. Ka2 Qh4.
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Go Red Sox!
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Lews_Therin
Promising
Famous Hero
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posted December 20, 2004 12:19 PM |
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Hello Redsoxfan,
Quote:
I'm glad to see there were still so many viable options open to me. The b5 push was the move that I had neglected and paid for it I should have played it immediately after white played a6. Correct? Thanks for the help.
Well, half-correct, as you still had a playable position afterwards, and even a winning position later, had you spotted 18...Ng4 instead of 18...Nh5?.
Quote:
1. d4 c5 2. d5 e6 3. c4 exd5 4. cxd5 d6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. e4 g6 7. h3? Bg7 8. Bd3
O-O 9. Nf3 a6 10. Bd2 b5 11. Bc2?...
My opponent clearly isn't strong. I was expecting a3. My opponent had now made a few odd moves that weaken his position and lose turns when he should have been developing and launching a few attacks.
7.h3 is one of the most exact moves in the position. The first nine moves are in fact discussing one of the two most dangerous variations for black. I think it was only in the early nineties that leading positional players like Karpov dropped the old classical main line (7.Nf3, 8.Be2, 9.0-0) in favour of what your opponent played.
In "normal" chess openings, it´s common knowledge that you usually don´t spend time on pawn moves that do nothing to further your development, and even weaken your king´s position to some extent. Likewise it´s well known that exchanging a bishop for a knight usually isn´t a good idea, unless you have a concrete gain (positional or material or regarding development time) on the other end.
However, the Benoni is not so common in these regards. First of all, exchange of pieces generally favours black. One of the black player´s main problems is lack of space, and with all pieces on the board, it can be a very tough job to maneuver correctly.
One example: Black often plays his f6 knight to e8, either to defend an attacked d6 pawn, or to move further to c7, in order to prepare b7-b5, Nc7-b5, or Bd7-b5 (The later ones often come into effect once white has played his a4-a5).
On the other hand, black very much wants to have a rook on e8, in order to exert control and pressure on the e-file. Now, which way do we go, Nf6-e8 or Rf8-e8?
The same problem exists for other squares as well, mostly d7 and c7.
As white controls considerably more space, he usually doesn´t have problems of this kind.
Second, even though the Bc8 is technically the "good bishop" (standing on the color of the opponent´s central pawns), in the Benoni it´s kind of black´s problem piece. Exchanging it via Bc8-g4 and Bg4xf3 is often an achievement for black already, as he not only gets rid of his worst piece, but also gains control of the key square e5.
That´s the main reason why, in this line, white players started to put a pawn to h3 early. But it has a few other points as well:
- White wants to play Bc1-f4, and having player h2-h3, he has secured that bishop the h2 square to withdraw to.
- It takes Nf6-g4 out of the position, which is often used either for tactics against the e3, f2 and h2 squares, or simply to transfer the knight to e5. Note that the second is also a consequence of black´s space problem: Square d7 is usually reserved for one of black´s other pieces.
But it seems to me like your opponent has simply played these moves from a book, without having any idea of what he was doing. 10.Bd2? was a silly move, not only does the bishop have his best square on f4 (especially after h2-h3), but on d2 he also blocks the knight´s route Nf3-d2-c4.
You are right that 11.Bc2? is quite pointless, too.
Quote:
...Re8 12. O-O Nbd7
A mistake. You could have simply grabbed the e4 pawn with 12...b4 and 13...Nxe4
Quote:
13. Bg5 Ne5 14. Nxe5 Rxe5 15. Qd2? Rxg5
I suppose that I´m guilty for this. I had told you that the dark-squared bishop is "almost worth a rook" in the Benoni, meaning that giving a rook for this bishop and a pawn should always be considered, especially if there is further compensation, in the shape of activity or a pawn structure that is better than before.
For the sacrifice that you have played in your game, there is no sufficient compensation. White can for example play 17.Qe3, 19.a3, 20.Rb1, 21.Ne2, and threaten to take control over square d4 with b2-b4. Or 19.Rad1, and arrange his pieces to prepare e4-e5.
Quote:
16. Qxg5 h6 17. Qc1 Qe7 18. Re1 b4! 19. Ne2?
I was expecting Nb1. Even a4 would have been better.
Yes, Nc3-b1-d2-c4 is very good for white, too. But white is also still winning after 19.Ne2.
Quote:
...Nxe4! 20. Ng3 f5 21.
f3? Bd4+
Now no matter what line you took there would be a trade off of knights or I'd at least be able get my knight to safety and then win his knight.
Firstly, after the correct 21.Nxe4 fxe4 22.Bxe4, you have not gained any material, but opened a line for white rooks. White´s advantage is decisive here.
Secondly, even after the bad 21.f3? Bd4+ 22.Kh2, white has a good position.
Quote:
22. Kh1 Nf2+ 23. Ka2 Be5 and I win the knight
I don´t quite understand why you want that check on f2, instead of just taking Ne4xg3+. After after 22...Be5? 23.Qxh6 white´s an exchange ahead, and how is the Nf2 going to get out?
Quote:
22. Kh2 Be5...Now if they take with the pawn I get the knight back anyway. If they take with the bishop, I take with the pawn and it's back to even again.
And what do you do after 23.f4 ?
Quote:
22. Kf1? Nxg3# {White checkmated} 0-1
Well, it was a blunderful game, but a good one to get some feeling for the tactics in the Benoni. Even though 15...Rxg5? surely wasn´t correct, you saw what can happen on the dark-squares when white´s bishop there is missing, and black´s is still in play.
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Lews_Therin
Promising
Famous Hero
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posted December 20, 2004 12:56 PM |
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Wub
Responsible
Famous Hero
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posted December 30, 2004 03:45 AM |
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Edited By: Wub on 29 Dec 2004
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Hello Lews,
It’s a pity to hear that you didn’t score an IM norm in that tournament  but on the other hand, a score of 4.5/11 does not really sound that disastrous to me at all. I don’t know what your ELO performance was, but if you had scored 50% against an average opposition of 2317, I’d say that would have been a very good result. So maybe 4.5/11 is a mediocre performance, but the phrase ‘worst collapse in chess ever’ is certainly not something that matches this score in my opinion.
Well, it’s been awhile since I found the time to write here, so I’d like to come back at the following first:
Quote:
I think that the Alapin transposition is quite playable, but the Modern Caro-Kann type of line that I chose is just something that I know how to play better. (You probably saw my disaster against GM Teske ...)
Yes, I did play through that game and was wondering where black went wrong. I suspected that at some point you must have strayed away from opening theory, as white’s development and piece activity looked so overwhelming. But upon further analysis I noticed that black is actually quite solid, unlike the white player who had to make some positional concessions for his initiative. Concretely, I believe that Qb6 was a mistake and Qa5 was the right move. Although I can understand that you want to trade queens to tome down the attack, in my opinion the queen trade demolishes black’s pawn structure, thus giving white good targets to aim his highly active pieces on. After Qa5 however, it is true that black is two tempi behind in development, but his position is still very solid while white has a clear weakness on c3. I could not find a decisive way for him to continue his attack.
I am happy to hear that you (and your team) won in the second round, because I would like to see you maintain your position in the 2. Bundesliga.
Quote:
My opponent was probably the weakest one I get this season, an FM with Elo 2265.
You still have to play these kind of n00bs in 2. Bundesliga ? But seriously, “weakest” and “FM with Elo 2265” is not a combination I hear everyday (but that’s me who would be overjoyed with a 4.5/11 score in an IM tournament ).
Please keep in mind when reading that what I know about the Dutch is simply what I gathered here and there during the last week, since I neither play it with white, nor with black. So not everything that I have written may be from a source as reliable as an opening book by a grandmaster.
It seems that in the Leningrad Dutch there are several move orders that can be followed to get to the following position:
In your game you used the somewhat less common 4. c4, instead of the more usual 4. Nf3. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, though both continuations allow for other (relatively unimportant) sidelines to be picked. After 4. c4 there is the possibility to continue with Nh3 at some point, so it can eye e6 from either g5 or f4. Also c4 leaves white the possibility to insert an early f4. The move 4. Nf3 on the other hand leaves white the possibility of an early b4 or the calm c3 + Nd2. All these lines have been tried by grandmasters but are rare. In the majority of all games the above position seems to be reached.
Quote:
I had spent the whole Saturday, studying all the sidelines of the Leningrad, and parts of the main line 7... Qe8. (This doesn't sound very bright, but when I did that work, I wasn't exactly aware about its being the main line.)
To my humble knowledge, the main line is split in three main continuations at this point: the logical 7. …Nc6, the solid 7. …c6 and the topical 7. …Qe8.
Quote:
In the Leningrad Dutch it's a rule of thumb for white to never permit a black e5-f5 pawn centre. So as soon as e7-e5 cannot be prevented by other means, d4-d5 is more or less forced.
While 8. d5 is the most common, there are other interesting possibilities, which I tried to understand. White can also prevent d5 by playing Nd5, with a threat on c7. If black captures, white gets a double pawn that is actually quite strong. Also 8. Re1 has been tried to burden black with an isolated pawn if he tries 8. …e5. An other possibility is 8. Qb3, which seems to prevent e5 tactically: 8. Qb3 e5? 9. c5+ and now 9. …Le6 10. Qxb7; 9. ...Qe6 10. Qxe6 Bxe6 11. Ng5 Bc8 12. Nd5; 9. ...Kh8 10. cxd6 cxd6 11. Nb5 Be6 12. Nxd6.
Quote:
8... a5
Unfortunately my knowledge and understanding of the opening ended here.
I read that this is the move that is preferred by GM Kindermann over 8. …Na6, which he says can be difficult for black after 9. Rb1. After 8. …a5 white has other good moves to choose from than your 9. Nd4, such as again 9. Rb1, but also 9. Ne1 (to follow up with Nd3 and thus cover the c5 square) and 9. Be3 (I suspect to trade of either a knight that jumps to c5 or the bishop at g7 with Qd2 and Bh6). However, the continuation that you figured out over the board with Nd4, b3 and Bb2 may well be one of the very best lines for white against this system.
Quote:
It seems like 11...Nh5 was quite a mistake, and my following reaction may have been just the right thing to exploit it.
I think 11. …Nh5 was indeed a grave error too. The knight remains fairly inactive for a long time there, while it was needed very hard to monitor e4.
Quote:
According to Kindermann, black must make use of the factor that white has left control of the c1-h6 diagonal
Yes, g5 is much better and has been tried in for example Aseev-Kobalija 2001. It has been suggested however, that it was not entirely satisfactory for black either and that the strong GM Zhong Zhang therefore tried the logical 11. …Nc5 (Korobov-Zhong Zhang 2004). But that is just what I have read.
Quote:
As a long-term idea, I intended to develop my heavy pieces and prepare for a later f2-f4 and e3-e4.
This also seems like the right strategic plan to me. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the reason why white must go for f4 first, is that otherwise e4 is answered by a black f4. By playing for e4, white can target the weakness on e6 more successfully and also pressure the backward e-pawn. Black on the other hand must try to get e5 in, which would make the weakness at e6 less salient and greatly improve his pawn structure. Black can also use his queenside pawns to attack the white pawn chain, especially the strong pawn at d5. From this follows that white can probably achieve a durable advantage by locking the queenside.
Your move 12. e3 looks very good to me as well, but I have also been looking at 12. f4. It is in conformity with white’s strategic plans, but maybe it is a bit premature? What I mean is for example: 12. f4 Nc5 13. e4 fxe4 14. Nxe4 Nxe4 15. Bxe4. White has grabbed a lot of space, but I’m not sure if maybe he overextended his position.
Instead of 12. …c6 I would have preferred 12. …Nc5, which seems more to the point. Your 13. Qd2 seems good to me (and a lot better than the terrible computer suggestion dxc6). But Nc7 seems to be quite a mistake again and in my opinion this rather dubious plan gives white a decisive advantage. Now I want to be careful in criticizing a stronger player, but I believe that firstly the idea of 8. …a5 was to secure the c5 square, and not to play the knight to c7. Secondly, the plan with b5 simply does not work as the game shows: white can lock the wing and black is even left with weaknesses. While black should have two knights eyeing the key square e4 (from f6 and c5), he is now left with a position in which he is already strategically losing in my opinion.
Instead of your 14. Rfe1 I would have chosen 14. Rae1. The e- and f-file is where the rooks are needed as I think the game shows (especially at the moment where you wanted to double your rooks). This is also in accordance with the idea to play f4 and e4, as white’s f4 pawn may become mobile on the half-open file when white succeeds in playing e4.
You must have seen the move c5 coming, but the answer 15. Nde2 may not be the best. Since 15. Nc2 blocks the protection of the bishop at b2 (which is important to play for e4), Nf3 blocks the diagonal of the bishop (which looks at e4) and Nde2 blocks the rook (which indirectly looks at e4), I would first consider to play Ne6 (and besides that, I also like to play my pieces forward ). I’m not sure about its evaluation, but it looks interesting: 15. Ne6 Bxe6 16. dxe6 and now -16…Nxe6 17. Bxb7 Rb8 18. Bg2 Ng5 19. Rad1 and white can continue with e4 or –16…Rb8 17. Nd5 Nxg7 18. Qxa5.
Quote:
I would have answered 15... b5 with 16. a4, which looks rather pleasant for white.
Absolutely, which is why I think the whole b5 idea was wrong. Also, black now has a new weakness at b7, which prevents any e5 ideas for the moment. But maybe instead of g5 the move Nf6 was preferable.
Quote:
Maybe 16... h6 was a better way to maintain the tension.
Even though I didn’t read your comment yet, I suspected this too.
From here it becomes hard for black to get anything going, as the unpleasant Ne8 also shows. Still, I did not see a need to play 19. …b6 so early. While this move is necessary if black ever wants to play e5, there’s no need to hurry it and here you can even profit from it as you did.
Your idea to double the rooks on the f-file looks sufficient to me. I assume it was played to resolve the tension, but I do not really understand why Bf3 is necessary as a preparation for this. Still I like this move, since it prevents the knight at f6 to protect the b6 pawn from d7 for the moment. For this reason, I like the move Qg6 instead of 24. Rg8 for black, so that the knight can still go to d7.
Quote:
Maybe it was wiser to take on g5 myself, instead of forcing black to release the tension. Even though black's structure becomes very ugly, it's not so easy to exploit it.
In that case I did not see a much easier way to proceed.
Instead of black’s 27. …Qh6 I like 27. …Ng4, followed by Nh5-f6 and possibly Nf6-d7.
Quote:
32. Qe2?!
Much better was 32.Ke1 immediately.
I agree. The computer however considers the interesting tactical shot 32. Nxb6. I thought that was interesting to mention, even though it is in advance completely out of the question of course to play this move with the time pressure you were in.
Quote:
Qh3?
35... e5! is what I was afraid of - thanks to the exposed white king, the position is completely unclear now.
Well, my (relatively crappy) chess program gives an other line (starting with 36. fxe5 Nxe5 37. Rc3) which is probably not that interesting to give, as it does not matter for the overall analysis: with e5 black would have gotten the complications he should be looking for and the judgment of the resulting position is (also in my analysis) unclear.
Still, I do not completely understand what was going on during that time trouble. Instead of shuffling his pieces back and forth, why couldn’t black bring his king to the queenside as well? The road even seems much safer than that of the white king. And why did you play Qe2-d2-e2 while your king had not arrived on a2 yet? Also, black probably alleged he was still in time-trouble when he played 41. Ng7-e8 and 42. Ng8-e7. And then when the time trouble is over he suddenly does start to transfer his king. Well, I can only imagine that it must have been quite stressful for both players (and not surprisingly so, when at move 29 you only have few minutes left ).
After having survived the time trouble phase however, your play is sufficiently convincing to claim the win without too much trouble, even though I agree that 46. Bd1 was quite shaky. As black I would have looked for complications with something like 48. …e5, which certainly makes it harder for white to win than what happened during the game. Still, I think this was a well-deserved win, because I think black went wrong with Nh5 and Nc7. What I found particularly impressive is how you played the early middle-game without having knowledge of the theory. The time-trouble phase was messy, but luckily it did not influence the outcome.
Hopefully I can finish my analysis of your other game this holiday too, but I have no idea yet if it will be easy to annotate for me or not (and I have some reading up to do in this thread as well). But anyway, I wish you a happy 2005 with many I(G)M scalps, and I hope you will be able to reach again the level of play that you showed in Baden-Wörishofen.
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RedSoxFan3
Admirable
Legendary Hero
Fan of Red Sox
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posted January 03, 2005 06:05 AM |
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Hello. I have been playing sicilian and I seem to have a lack of understanding in a few lines that I have been playing. I think I either don't know enough variations or I don't understand everything that I am playing. I feel like the lines I understand I play very well.
I'll show a recent game I played. It was a blundersome game, I even found a point in the game in which I had a chance to get back to something playable unfortunately I missed one small detail.
I'll post a game of the Alapin Variation. I guess I simply don't understand this game at all. I look at it and look at it and just don't see what I should play. I suppose I could take the pawn but that leads to very unfamiliar territory for me.
1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nc6 3. d4 b6 4. Nf3 e6 5. Bc4 Nf6 6. Bg5 Bb7 7. e5 h6 8. Bh4
g5 9. Nxg5 hxg5 10. Bxg5 Be7 11. exf6 Bd6 12. h3 Na5 13. Na3 Bxg2 14. Rg1
Rxh3 15. Rxg2 Rh1+ 16. Bf1 {Black resigns} 1-0
Had I taken the bishop first I might have had something somewhat playable. Careful play after that may have gotten me back in the game.
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Go Red Sox!
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UndeadRSF
Hired Hero
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posted January 12, 2005 09:38 PM |
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I took a close look at this game of the Leningrad Dutch and found myself in an opening that boggles the mind. This is a ridiculously complex opening and the game does not get any simpler as the game goes on. However I think it gives me some better understanding.
Well I started playing chess again after a long stint over break and I must say I couldn't have blundered more. I lost like 8 games in a row to some terrible players and dropped under 800. (New account on ICC)
But now I've come back and played a few outstanding games. This is probably the first successful sacrifice I've ever had that led to a forced mate.
Anyway I've noticed most of our discussion here seems to lie in opening theory, followed by analysizing the resulting middlegame and/or endgame. But I haven't seen much on mating patterns. So I guess this is a good example of exploiting the overworked rook.
So here's the game. I'm sure that it's forced mate I've checked for over 30 minutes and I'm 100% positive. Even if black doesn't take the rook sacrifice it leads to a forced mate. The longest variation I could find ends up being mate in around 10. I may be wrong about how quickly it can be done, but regardless it's forced mate, not simply winning position. I honestly doubt there is a winning position for black after the sacrifice unless it's forced mate.
White moves first with Qa7?
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Djive
Honorable
Supreme Hero
Zapper of Toads
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posted January 12, 2005 10:32 PM |
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Edited By: Djive on 12 Jan 2005
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If white wants to prolong game I'd say white starts with Qd1 (Normally, exchanging pieces is bad when you have less material but if white wants to prolong the game I'd say it's the thing to do.).
Rxf3 would be answered with Qxf3 most other moves with Qxd2. If black does Qxa2 I guess Qe1 would be a possible answer and on Qxd1 follows Rxd1.
A sensible move for white is to resign though.
I don't see why black would have any problems whatsoever of winning this game. Qa7 doesn't really threaten anything.
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"A brilliant light can either illuminate or blind. How will you know which until you open your eyes?"
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RedSoxFan3
Admirable
Legendary Hero
Fan of Red Sox
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posted January 13, 2005 07:49 AM |
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Actually I'm wrong it's mate in like five for black after 1. Qa7?...
What are the next moves for mate in five for black?
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Go Red Sox!
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Djive
Honorable
Supreme Hero
Zapper of Toads
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posted January 13, 2005 07:07 PM |
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Quote:
Actually I'm wrong it's mate in like five for black after 1. Qa7?...
What are the next moves for mate in five for black?
I think white can hold out a bit longer (though not much) than five moves after 1 Qa7. Send in your next move.
If it is 1 - Rxf3 then my next move is 2. Qxb8+
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"A brilliant light can either illuminate or blind. How will you know which until you open your eyes?"
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RedSoxFan3
Admirable
Legendary Hero
Fan of Red Sox
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posted January 13, 2005 07:41 PM |
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2. Kh2
My apologies. It's forced mate no matter what. Nevermind how many.
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Go Red Sox!
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Djive
Honorable
Supreme Hero
Zapper of Toads
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posted January 16, 2005 08:07 PM |
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Quote:
2. Kh2
My apologies. It's forced mate no matter what. Nevermind how many.
hrmmfff.... you are moving the BLACK PIECES not white.
In a position where you are 3 pieces ahead and opponent has zilch counter-play it's kind of always forced check mate.
Please don't say it is forced check mate in five moves in such a position unless you actually are sure it is.
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"A brilliant light can either illuminate or blind. How will you know which until you open your eyes?"
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Lews_Therin
Promising
Famous Hero
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posted January 18, 2005 02:53 PM |
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Hello Wub!
Well, the tournament was quite bad for me - out of 11 games I performed about 100 points below my rating. But what I called "worst collapse" is not the tournament in itself, but my 0000 series, followed by a draw against a 2000-player and another resignable position in the next game. I intend to play tournament chess for the rest of my life, but I hope that I won´t experience something like that again.
Quote: Yes, I did play through that game and was wondering where black went wrong.
Against Teske I totally misplayed the opening. 7...Qd8? was a mistake, after which black already has a very bad position. Instead it was practically forced to go into the complications after 7...Qe4+ 8.Be3 Bg4
You are right about 11...Qa5, but if I remember the postmortem correctly, Teske was unhappy about 10.Nxd4 afterwards, and prefered 10.0-0-0 instead. Maybe 10.0-0-0 11.Rxd4 Qa5 12.Qb5 ... but I don´t remember exactly what his idea was anymore.
Later I managed to come back into the game when Teske refused to accept my exchange-sacrifice-bluff ...
Quote: To my humble knowledge, the main line is split in three main continuations at this point: the logical 7. …Nc6, the solid 7. …c6 and the topical 7. …Qe8.
Well, those and 7. …e6 are black´s choices. But 7. …Qe8 seems to have become black´s most popular move by far, that´s why I called it the main line.
Quote: While 8. d5 is the most common, there are other interesting possibilities, which I tried to understand. White can also prevent d5 by playing Nd5, with a threat on c7.
Okay, you are right about this. 8.d5 is by no means forced.
Quote:8... a5
After 8. …a5 white has other good moves to choose from than your 9. Nd4, such as again 9. Rb1, but also 9. Ne1 (to follow up with Nd3 and thus cover the c5 square) and 9. Be3 (I suspect to trade of either a knight that jumps to c5 or the bishop at g7 with Qd2 and Bh6).
Or to simply keep full control of the c1-h6 diagonal and prevent black from playing h7-h6 and g6-g5.
I didn´t know the Nf3-e1-d3 here so far, looks to me like it might be worth a try next time. It´s not only the c5 square, but also and maybe even more important f4.
Quote: However, the continuation that you figured out over the board with Nd4, b3 and Bb2 may well be one of the very best lines for white against this system.
Well, from what I have seen so far, it very much depends on the evaluation of the line with 11...g5 and 12...f4.
Quote: Yes, g5 is much better and has been tried in for example Aseev-Kobalija 2001. It has been suggested however, that it was not entirely satisfactory for black either and that the strong GM Zhong Zhang therefore tried the logical 11. …Nc5 (Korobov-Zhong Zhang 2004). But that is just what I have read.
I find 11...g5 more logical than 11...Nc5 - white leaves c1-h6, and black immediately claims space there. Who has suggested that it´s not satisfactorily for black? Were there any variations given?
Maybe Zhong played 11...Nc5 as an improvement, but I´m doubtful that there´s the logical connection that you suggest. Zhong is a very strong practical player, but he often gets into trouble by playing inferior lines. Theory doesn´t seem to be his strong point from what I´ve seen, and the game against Korobov didn´t really make the knight jump to c5 shine either.
Quote: This also seems like the right strategic plan to me. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the reason why white must go for f4 first, is that otherwise e4 is answered by a black f4.
Yes.
Quote: By playing for e4, white can target the weakness on e6 more successfully and also pressure the backward e-pawn. Black on the other hand must try to get e5 in, which would make the weakness at e6 less salient and greatly improve his pawn structure. Black can also use his queenside pawns to attack the white pawn chain, especially the strong pawn at d5. From this follows that white can probably achieve a durable advantage by locking the queenside.
I think it depends. Black´s queenside is also full of targets - a5, b7, c7/c6 are all potential weaknesses. If black achieves counterplay at other parts of the board, a locked queenside can be helpful.
Quote: Your move 12. e3 looks very good to me as well, but I have also been looking at 12. f4. It is in conformity with white’s strategic plans, but maybe it is a bit premature? What I mean is for example: 12. f4 Nc5 13. e4 fxe4 14. Nxe4 Nxe4 15. Bxe4. White has grabbed a lot of space, but I’m not sure if maybe he overextended his position.
Well, the main reason why I played 12.e3 was to reply f2-f4 anytime black plays g6-g5. But as long as there is no f5-f4 threat, I rather keep my position solid and unweakened. Time wasn´t a big factor anymore, so it seemed practical to play solid and uncompromitting moves. If black ever decides/manages to open the position in the center or on the queenside, I rather have pawns on f2, e3 than on e2, f4.
Concretely, regarding the line you suggest, it seems to me that white has overhurried the e2-e4 advance. Black looks okay after 15...c5 16.dxc6 bxc6.
Quote: Instead of 12. …c6 I would have preferred 12. …Nc5, which seems more to the point. Your 13. Qd2 seems good to me (and a lot better than the terrible computer suggestion dxc6). But Nc7 seems to be quite a mistake again and in my opinion this rather dubious plan gives white a decisive advantage. Now I want to be careful in criticizing a stronger player, but I believe that firstly the idea of 8. …a5 was to secure the c5 square, and not to play the knight to c7. Secondly, the plan with b5 simply does not work as the game shows: white can lock the wing and black is even left with weaknesses. While black should have two knights eyeing the key square e4 (from f6 and c5), he is now left with a position in which he is already strategically losing in my opinion.
You make a good point here, but I don´t think the matter is so clear. Na6-c5 without c7-c6 seems to be the more frequently played plan here, but c7-c6 + Na6-c7 has been played by some strong players, too - among them Valery Beim, who is the author of a highly praised book on the Leningrad Dutch. I think it is a matter of timing.
In my opinion the mistake is not 12...c6, but the later 14...c5 may already be inaccurate, resolving the tension too early. In any case this move should only be played if it can be followed by an immediate b7-b5. My opponent could have done that, and after 16.a4 bxc4 17.bxc4 Na6 18.Nb5 Qf7, white´s advantage is certainly smaller than in the game.
In this spirit, it might also have been better to play 17...Na6 instead of 17...Ne8.
But it was also possible to hold the tension on the queenside instead, and leave the option c6-c5 and b7-b5 open, until there is a better moment for such a break.
Quote: Instead of your 14. Rfe1 I would have chosen 14. Rae1. The e- and f-file is where the rooks are needed as I think the game shows (especially at the moment where you wanted to double your rooks). This is also in accordance with the idea to play f4 and e4, as white’s f4 pawn may become mobile on the half-open file when white succeeds in playing e4.
But putting the rooks to e1 and f1 only makes sense if black plays g6-g5 and keeps up the tension of pawns f4-g5. If for example black opens the c-file, it´s much better to have an a-rook available. Or in case I move my queen away from d1, without an a-rook I may not be able anymore to play a2-a4, like I did in the game.
Quote: You must have seen the move c5 coming, but the answer 15. Nde2 may not be the best. Since 15. Nc2 blocks the protection of the bishop at b2 (which is important to play for e4), Nf3 blocks the diagonal of the bishop (which looks at e4) and Nde2 blocks the rook (which indirectly looks at e4), I would first consider to play Ne6 (and besides that, I also like to play my pieces forward ). I’m not sure about its evaluation, but it looks interesting: 15. Ne6 Bxe6 16. dxe6 and now -16…Nxe6 17. Bxb7 Rb8 18. Bg2 Ng5 19. Rad1 and white can continue with e4 or –16…Rb8 17. Nd5 Nxg7 18. Qxa5.
I don´t like 16.Ne6 at all. It seems to lose almost all of the hold that I have on black´s position, exchanging the d5 pawn for black´s b7. For example after 15...Nxe6 16.dxe6 Bxe6 17.Bxb7 Rb8 18.Bg2, 18...Nf6, 18...Kh8, and 18...Bc8 all look satisfactory for black.
Quote: Still, I did not see a need to play 19. …b6 so early. While this move is necessary if black ever wants to play e5, there’s no need to hurry it and here you can even profit from it as you did.
On the other hand, as long as the pawn is on b7, white can always move the c3 knight with a gain of tempo.
Quote: Your idea to double the rooks on the f-file looks sufficient to me. I assume it was played to resolve the tension, but I do not really understand why Bf3 is necessary as a preparation for this.
It probably wasn´t necessary at all. But I had the time to keep everything safe and further restrict black´s mobility. Besides, with limited clock time it´s not easy to distinguish the large number of "ghosts" from the real threats. It´s just practical to have a bishop able to exchange a black knight on e4 and g4, whenever that becomes necessary or advantageous.
Quote: Still I like this move, since it prevents the knight at f6 to protect the b6 pawn from d7 for the moment. For this reason, I like the move Qg6 instead of 24. Rg8 for black, so that the knight can still go to d7.
Yes, that would objectively have been better. But consider that both players´ clocks were running low, and my opponent probably was hoping to break through to my king in time trouble.
Quote: Instead of black’s 27. …Qh6 I like 27. …Ng4, followed by Nh5-f6 and possibly Nf6-d7.
Yes, that´s probably a better arrangement of pieces.
Quote: The computer however considers the interesting tactical shot 32. Nxb6. I thought that was interesting to mention, even though it is in advance completely out of the question of course to play this move with the time pressure you were in.
Nice idea  . But it seems to me that black has sufficient counterplay after 32.Nxb6 Rxb6 33.Qxa5 Rb8 34.Qa7 Re8 35.b6 Nxf4
Quote: Still, I do not completely understand what was going on during that time trouble. Instead of shuffling his pieces back and forth, why couldn’t black bring his king to the queenside as well? The road even seems much safer than that of the white king.
And why did you play Qe2-d2-e2 while your king had not arrived on a2 yet?
I can only guess that he first hoped to somehow get some threats working, and then with only seconds on the clock, there was no time for him to make any decisions.
Likewise, I was not sure at that moment whether my king should stand on a2 or b2, and simply wanted to reach move 41.
Quote: Also, black probably alleged he was still in time-trouble when he played 41. Ng7-e8 and 42. Ng8-e7.
I think he was hoping for a repitition of moves. Anyway, it´s not easy for black to find any good moves here, so I think he more or less decided to wait until I give him a hint about what my further plans were.
Quote: As black I would have looked for complications with something like 48. …e5, which certainly makes it harder for white to win than what happened during the game.
Yes, in the end he made it very easy for me.
Quote: But anyway, I wish you a happy 2005 with many I(G)M scalps, and I hope you will be able to reach again the level of play that you showed in Baden-Wörishofen.
Thank you , and a happy new year, too! Hope you´ll find some time to play chess despite of your studies, and this time kick the IM´s butt, who you have reached a winning position against .
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Lews_Therin
Promising
Famous Hero
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posted January 18, 2005 11:42 PM |
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And here is my game from sunday. Our team won by 5,5-2,5 points, and got itself back in the middle of the field with 4:6 points, and good chances to survive this Bundesliga season. I played against a 17 year-old with an Elo of 2268 ... and a strong trend upwards.
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 Nc6 5.d3 d6 6.f4
Against white´s main alternative, 6.Be3, intending to prepare a quick swap of bishops by Qd1-d2 and Be3-h6, I prefer the Bovinnik-setup: 6...e5.
The basic idea of Botvinnik´s variation is that white will hardly be able to do without the f2-f4 advance, if he hasn´t played it already. Then black will take e5xf4, and the diagonal will be free again. After a white g3xf4, f7-f5 will hold off and fix white´s pawns. For this reason, it may be better for white to take back on f4 with the bishop instead.
As white has played 6.Be3 already, unless he wants to live with a loss of a full tempo, he will have to stick to his initial plan and exchange black´s now bad bishop. In which case black will probably also play f7-f6, and hope to make something out of his favoutable good vs. bad bishop situation.
Now white has played 6.Be3 already, so unless he wants to live with a loss of a full tempo, he will have to stick to his initial plan and exchange black´s now bad bishop. In which case black will probably also play f7-f6, and hope to make something out of his good vs. bad bishop situation.
6...Rb8
6...e5 Is the abovementioned line in its pure form.
The most analysed continuation, which can be considered "main line" in the Closed Sicilian with g7-g6, is 6...e6 7.Nf3 Nge7 8.0-0 0-0 9.Be3 Nd4 10.e5
7.Nf3 b5 8.0-0 b4 9.Ne2 Nf6 10.a3
It´s one of white´s basic choices, whether or not to open the a-file. If he doesn´t, there will be more targets on the queenside, and black will have more space for his attack there - like the squares a6 for the bishop and a5 for the queen.
In case he does, black will in return use the a-file to penetrate with a rook.
10...a5 11.axb4 axb4 12.h3 0-0 13.Be3 Bb7
Initially I had applied a "?!" here, having regarded my move to be a loss of tempo during and after the game. But the matter is not as clear as I first thought.
13...Ne8 14.Rb1 Is what I considered to be more accurate for black. The point is: If white plays b2-b3 as he does in the game, the rook is not well placed on b1, and probably has to spend another tempo in order to move to c1.
On the other hand, white keeps himself flexible, and if he´s able to do without b2-b3 at all, his structure and dark-square control is obviously much better.
A game Reshevsky-Korchnoi makes a good point of this: 14...Nc7 15.f5 Nb5 16.Qd2 Nbd4 17.Nh4 Nxe2+ 18.Qxe2 Ne5 19.Nf3 Nxf3+ 20.Qxf3 Bb7 21.h4 with a white advantage according to Polugaevsky. In my opinion though, black would better have left the knight on e8 for awhile and played Rb8-a8-a2 more quickly, in order to force b2-b3 first.
14.b3
Still following a Candidates game Spassky-Geller from 1968. Kasparov analyses this game in "My Great Predecessors 3" and attaches an exclamation mark to this move, as it enables white to play Rc1-a1 in one go.
14...Ne8
In the abovementioned game, Geller played 14...Ra8 15.Rc1 Ra2 16.g4 Qa8?!, and moving the queen so far away from the kingside turned out to be too dangerous for black.
14...Nd7 is an improvement suggestion by Geller. Black gets the option of playing e7-e6 and d6-d5. And alternatively the knight can be exchanged later by Nd7-e5, with much less time spent than in my game.
15.Rc1 Nc7 16.g4 Nb5 17.f5
Initially I had envisioned Ra8-a2 now, and even considered employing the b5 knight on the squares a3 and c3 in some way. But white´s attack looks threatening, and it´s not at all easy to deal with it at the board. So I decided to rather eliminate one of white´s knights.
17...Nbd4
17...Ra8 is very playable too. The computer always seems to hold off white´s attack on the kingside, even with the full set of pieces on the board. But in practical play, it´s very difficult to deal with all of white´s many attacking ideas:
A) 18.fxg6?! probably resolves the tension too early: 18...fxg6 (18...hxg6?! 19.Qe1 Bf6 20.Bh6 Re8 21.Qf2 with good attacking chances.) Now for example after 19.Qd2 Qd7 20.Bh6 Bxh6 21.Qxh6 e5 22.Ng5 Ncd4 23.Nxd4 Nxd4 24.Kh2 Qg7, black has everything under control.
B) 18.h4 looks best to me. 18...Ra2 19.h5 Qd7 20.Qd2 Without computer help, I´d rather not want to be black here.
18.Nf4?!
18.Nexd4 cxd4 19.Bg5 with approximate equality, looks like a sensible computer suggestion.
18...Nxf3+ 19.Rxf3 Nd4 20.Rf2 Ra8 21.Nd5
It´s difficult to suggest an improvement. 21.h4 e5! 22.fxe6 fxe6 and black is better.
21...Bxd5 22.exd5 gxf5!
After an indifferent move like 22...Qd7 , white´s play will be justified: 23.Be4 Ra2 24.h4 and an attack is on its way.
23.gxf5 Kh8 24.Bg5
My main worry, and the reason why the decision on 22...gxf5 took me about 45 minutes, was 24.Qh5 Bf6! with the idea 25.Bh6?! Rg8 26.Qxf7? Bh4 -/+
Before I found this possibility, I spent alot of time on 24...Qe8?! 25.f6 Bxf6 26.Be4 Rg8+ 27.Kh1 Rg7 28.Bh6 Rg6 29.Bxg6 fxg6 30.Qg4 and the position is close to equality, but if anyone has chances of winning, it´s white.
24...Bf6
On the contrary, this one took me only about 3 seconds. A typical Accelerated Dragon motive: Structure doesn´t matter when the good knight is as good, and the bad bishop is as bad as in the game.
25.Bxf6+?
White should have either withdrawn the bishop, or tried 25.h4 Rg8 26.Qh5 Qf8 27.Be4 Rg7 28.Kh1 Qg8 29.Rg2 Be5 30.Rcg1 f6 31.Bc1 Rxg2 32.Rxg2 Qf8, and white should be able to hold.
25...exf6 -/+
Black´s position can be considered strategically winning. If white manages to survive the midgame, any endgame with those minor pieces will be almost hopeless.
26.Qh5 Qe7 27.Be4 Rg8+ 28.Kh1 Ra2 29.Qh4 Qe5 30.Rg2 Rxg2 31.Bxg2 Ne2
31...Nxf5 wins faster and even more easily.
32.Qh6 Kg8 33.Rd1 Ra1 34.Qd2 Ng3+ 35.Kg1 Qe2 36.Qxe2 Nxe2+ 37.Kf2 Rxd1 38.Kxe2 Rg1 39.Bf3 Rg5 40.Be4 Rg3 0-1
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