woofwoof wrote on 07/17/06 at 05:25:11:
The overall posn isnt so unpleasant as it looks for black despite the "-ve" feeback so far from some. It isnt so comfortable I must admit, then again I'm always one for more freedom & activity. Anyway I did subjct the current posn to deep positional analysis on my ol' EXTREME, & the best it could come up with was a 0.28 advantage to white (how does one put a "+" over an "= "?) That's still minor difference, so it is approximately equal for all practical purposes, so black still has lots to play for, tho not so easy either.
White still needs some regrouping to really get the pawn push underway, so not so serious yet, I think. Schematically anyway, I feel the best plan now is to try to double the rooks on the C-file. 1 can advance up & down, while the other exrts more pressure on it or patrols the 8th rank whenever needed.
My apologies to Hgman If I had come up with some dubious ideas/moves along the way.
btw I did not let EXTREME finish the analysis as it was taking a LONG time. but the figure I gave above was abt there.
Wow! 0.28 is a lot more optimistic than what Hiarcs is giving me, but I'll take it!
I would imagine that a number of players would prefer more dynamic play for Black, but I don't mind defending so long as I don't get overrun. I'm not sure there are too many solid, counter-attacking methods available to Black in the Advance Caro that don't shred Black's pawn structure. What I'm enjoying about this game and our collective exploration of this line is the prospect of using this line in correspondence games in the future. Win or lose here, I can't help feeling that I will be especially well-prepared to face the Advance Caro-Kann in the future.
woofwoof: thank you for your suggestions. I don't recall any dubious ideas along the way. You were absolutely right about the c-file earlier, and I think you're right about getting the second rook there as soon as possible. I just need to determine whether I should play 19 c3 Ke7, or whether 19 ... Nxd4 should come first.
I posted 19 ... Nxd4 20 Nxd4 Ke7 21 Rhe1 b5 22 Kb1 Nc4 last night, and that may still be best. Willempie's bishop is the best minor piece on the board, and he's right to think it belongs on the b1-h7 diagonal, but I don't think he needs to drop it back to b1 without it being provoked first. In fact, it could be necessary to give it up in exchange for a knight on c4 if that knight starts to look dangerous. My instinct is that slow maneuvering helps Black more than it helps White, but I could be wrong.
On 19 Nxc6, I was looking at 19 ... Rxc6 as a method of freeing c8 for the other rook. I'll post a little analysis this evening...