16.Qf2 Re8 is a remarkable idea, evt retreating the bishop to f8. My first impressions are, that again the Queen is better on f2 than on e1 and that Black must answer 17.Rh3 with g6, as h6 is met with a well timed g5!
So 16.Qf2 Re8 17.Rh3 g6 (Nf8 18.Bd4 Rc8 19.Nc5 or h6 18.Bd4 Rc8 19.g5 hxg5 20.Rg1!)
a) 18.Rf1 Bxc3 19.bxc3 Rc8 shows, that Black must leave the knight on c4 indeed, but also the queen on d8 for a while; Memers' plan of f4-f5-f6 is not possible.
b) 18.Kb1 is to be considered. It is a loss of  tempo after Bxc3 (Black has other moves) 19.bxc3 Nxe3(?) 20.Qxe3 Rc8 21.Rf1. Still it is dangerous enough. White plays the queen to h4 or h6 and crashes through with f4-f5-f6; at the moment I do not see how Black can defend. But 19...Rc8 20.Bd4 Qe7 is spoilsport.
c) The same for 18.Nd4 Bxc3 19.bxc3 Rc8.
d) 18.Bd4 Rc8 (others?) 19.g5 works nicely in case of Bf8? 20.Qh4 h5 21.Ne2 and this knight is to be sacced on h5. Black should play Qe7 20.Qh4 Nf8 and now what? So I propose the subtle 19.Ne2 idea 20.g5, 21.Qh4, 22.Ng3 and 23.N(x)h5 and I will leave it to the S_F team to show up with something against this.

After 14...a5 15.Rg3 Bxc3 I'd rather chose 16.bxc3 idea b4 17.c4. As this is not relevant for the game anymore, I won't go in detail. White will continue with his typical plan and ...g6 is very suspicious without the black squared bishop.

Hello,

1. On 14....a5!? My analysis on this line was completely different from MNB and OSB. after 15.Rg3 not a4 but Bxc3. 16.Qxc3 b4 17.Qe1 Re8(not Ba6,18.Bxh7+ and White has all the fun and blood) and White has an advantage, but is it enough to win? Since the classical Bishop Sac is the main theme, I like Dom's idea Na5 and Nc4. But, not the follow up.

2. On the present game, Black's idea should be very simple. Play Re8 immediately and keep the Knight at c4 for another move. Note that Re8 move allows Black a breathing room against f5, Rh3, and the immediate Bishop Sac on h7.

3. So, if conditional is met by OsB(anagram?), The move against 16.Qe1, 16.Qf2 and probably 16.Bd4 should be Re8. Leaving the Stud Knight at c4 is logical as the Knight is looking at some sensitive squares like b2, a3, e3, and e5.

4. SF, I hope this is enough blood transfusion. Hopefully you get more from the"whiteatak shredder".  The position is definitely looking critical.

Memers

Welcome back Smyslov Fan.

Quote:


I haven't looked at Dom's suggestion so far but I thought after Na5 White gains a nice advantage and there must be something better if our analyse was correct. But I am playing the white side 

Tom

MNb wrote on 08/21/06 at 03:42:29:

I analyzed this line as well, but focused on 18.Rh3 (ignoring the threat to the c3-knight):

18.Rh3! Bxc3?

[18...h6 19.Nxc6 Bxc6 20.Bd4 (my main line) transposes to MNb’s line]

19.Bxh7+ Kh8 20.Bf5+ Kg8 21.Qf2 Bb2+

[21...Qd8 22.Bh7+ Kh8 23.g5+-]

22.Kb1 Qd8

 (a)   22...g5 23.fxg5 Rfe8 

(23...Rfd8 24.Nxe6 Nf8 25.Bh7+ Nxh7 26.Rxh7 Kxh7 27.Qxf7+ Kh8 28.Qg7#) 

24.Qh4 

(24.Bxe6 fxe6 25.g6 Nd8 26.Qh4 Kf8 27.Rf1+ Nf6 28.Qxf6+ Nf7 (28...Kg8 29.Rh8#) 29.Qxf7#) 

24...Kf8 25.g6 Red8 26.Nxe6+ Ke8 27.gxf7+ Kxf7 28.Qh7+ Ke8 29.Bg6#

 (b)   22...Rfc8 23.Qh4 Kf8 24.Nxe6+ Ke8 

(24...fxe6 25.Qh8+ Kf7 26.Bg6+ Ke7 (26...Kxg6 27.Qh5#) 27.Bc5+ Nxc5 28.Qxg7+ Kd8 29.Rh8#) 

25.Nxg7+ Kf8 26.Qg5 Ne7 27.Rh8+ Ng8 28.Ne6+ Ke8

(28...fxe6 29.Rxg8+ Kf7 30.Qg7#) 

29.Rxg8+ Nf8 30.Ng7#

23.Bh7+ Kh8 24.g5 threatening Bf5+ followed by Qh4

Same conclusion: 14...a5 is not a good choice.

It's time for me to make my move, so I will go along with my previous thoughts and those of the majority of those who have written their wonderful analysis.   

Thanks again to everyone for contributing!

Since everyone pretty much agrees, I will play 

14...Na5

and will add the conditional:

IF 15.Rg3 then 15...Nc4

Thanks for waiting, Ostap!

I looked at memers'idea and it seems good, but I want to try my last improvement: 14.Rhg1 Na5 15.Rg3 Nc4 16.Qe1 Nxe3 17.Qxe3 Bxc3 18.Rh3 g6 19.bxc3 Qx7 20.Qg3 (or 20.Qf2) Rfb8!

A little more precise than Rfc8 because Black needs to control b5, and then: 21.Qh4 Nf8 22.Qh6 (memers.. with the idea Rf1,f5-f6 and mat) a5 23.Rf1 Ra6 24.f5 exf5 25.gxf5 Qxe5 26.fxg6 hxg6 27.Rh3 f5

b5 pawn is low price to avoid being mat

Hello
 
1. Welcome back SF. I thought you be very busy with the new school year. I also, hope you backed up your hard drive. Well, getting to the analysis. If, you want the variation to work, the 18th move for Black should be replaced with 18....Re8 19.Ne2 Be7 or Bf8. Dom's position weakens the dark squares around the King too much. The game would be a routine exploitation of dark squares by the White side.
2. I would be interested in your analysis of Nxb3+.

3. Good luck at the Colorado Open.

Memers

Welcome back Smyslov_Fan. We missed you here on the forum over the last few days. I am also a Smyslov Fan. I find the logic of his games aesthetically pleasing. I’d like to study his games in the Ruy Lopez (with both colours.) 

I’ve been doing some fairly extensive analysis of this game with Shredder 10. I’ve been leaving the program on for 12 hours some days while I was at work, analyzing some of these positions. I’m afraid to say, things aren’t looking too rosy for black in this position according to my analysis with Shredder. 

After 14…Na5 15.Rg3 Nc4 16.Qe1 Nxe3 17.Rh3, I let the program run for 12 hours analyzing the position after: 17…g6 18.Qxe3 Bxc3 19.bxc3 Qc7 20.Qf2 Rfc8 21.Qh4 Nf8 22.Qh6, and its evaluation after 12 hours was that white is winning. 

Similarly, after (14…Na5 15.Rg3 Nc4 16.Qe1 Nxe3 17.Rh3) ...Nxg4 18.Bxh7 Kxh8 19.Qg3 Nh6 20.Rg1 Rg8 21.Nd4! Bc5 22.Nce2, its conclusion after analyzing this position for hours was that white is winning – playing 23. Nxe6! after many of black’s moves such as 22…a5 or 22…Kxh7; or after 22…Qf8, playing 23.Bxg8 Qxg8 24.b4!

I also plugged in the position from the Nijboer-Glek game after 14…Rc8 15.Rg3 Re8 16.Rh3 g6 17.Qf2, with Khalifman’s suggested improvement for black of: 17…Bxc3 18.bxc3 Na5 19.Nc5, and its evaluation after 11.5 hours was that white is winning.

However, it’s analyzing the position with 18…b4, instead of …Na5 right now, and after a few hours it still thinks the position is about equal. I would still give my vote to 14…Rc8 for the next move in the current position, although I know that’s unpopular with the forum members here right now.   

At any rate though, my conclusion is that I don’t quite trust the move 11…Bb4 for black, and I think that Watson’s suggestion of 11…b6 is the more critical move in that position. I think that something should probably be done about activating that french light-squared bishop.

Cheers.