MNb,

Thanks for your input on the 21.Rh6 and 21.f5 lines.  Below I have a couple of questions in addition to some thoughts and suggested variants on the lines you mentioned.

MNb wrote on 01/29/07 at 01:20:41:

I assume this is the 21.Rh6 Qf8 22.Qh3 Qg7 line, but I don’t know which 23rd move for White you have in mind.

Quote:

23.Re1 makes sense supporting e5 in order to play f4-f5 (unless there is another purpose I’m missing).  I still have to look at it a bit further, though.  For one thing, I’m not seeing White’s advantage after 23…a5 24.f5 a4 25.f6 (assuming this is best) 25…Qh8.  Maybe I’m making a wrong assumption or haven’t looked deeply enough yet.  Could you explain why (after 23...a5) 24.f5! is so strong?

So far I have two moves for White after 22…Qg7 that I’ve looked at carefully and am happy with: 23.Nd2 and 23.g5.  Neither has a compelling logic behind it, so I expect there are other 23rd move choices which merit consideration – one of which may be better than the two I’ve looked at.  I’ll definitely have a further look at 23.Re1.

Quote:

I completely agree that this looks attractive for White – I’d even go so far to say that it is practically winning!  However, Black has some other choices.  

After 21.f5 Ndxe5 22.Qf4, Black might try 22…Nxd3 (iso 22…f6) but after 23.Qh6 f6 24.cxd3 is kind of annoying, threatening fxg6 and hitting the knight on c4.  This line appears to work out well for White so 22…Nxd3 might not be enough of an improvement.  

But what if Black initially captures on e5 with the other knight?  After 21.f5 Ncxe5 22.Qf4 Nxd3 23.Qh6 f6 and now 24.cxd3 doesn’t attack anything since Black’s knight is on d7 instead of c4.  I’ve looked at 24.Rdxd3 here when 24…exf5 25.gxf5 Qg7 looks OK for Black.  I’m not sure this is the any kind of definitive answer with regard to the merit 21.f5, but I think White needs an improvement in the 21.f5 Ncxe5 line I’ve given above.

Overall, 21.f5 is very tempting and there are some variations where White gives up a pawn (on e5) and gets a crushing attack.  Unfortunately, there’s at least one defense for Black (based on 21…Ncxe5) that I haven’t found a way around yet.

Thus, 21.Rh6 remains the frontrunner at the moment (although 21.f5 is still under the microscope).  I’m interested to hear some specifics on the 23…Bf8 retreat in this line.

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I'm starting to look for improvements in the 21.f5 Ncxe5 mentioned above and I think 22.Re1 is worth considering.  Following 22...Nxd3 the violent 23.Rxh7 is interesting, and here I have 23...e5 (the rook, of course, cannot be captured) 24.Qh3 Qg5 25.cxd3 exd4 26.Nxd4.  Too soon to say whether this is going to revive the 21.f5 line, but it looks kind of promising.

OstapBender wrote on 08/03/06 at 23:27:08:


I've been pre-occupied with trying to find an antidote to Shipov's improvement 17.f5 in the Anand-Morozevich game, and I've come to the conclusion that it's a really strong move. 

I agree with your analysis except for the last move 26.Qe4. I think a stronger move is 26.Qd5! After 26...Kh8 27.Qd6, in addition to attacking the a6 pawn, this creates more back-rank mate threats, providing a useful tempo in some lines. After 26.Qe4 Shredder likes 26...Qe6, after which it thinks black's fine (i.e. equal); e.g. after: 27.h4 Qa2, 27.g3 Qa2 and 27.Kb1 h6.

After 26.Qd5 Kh8 27.Qd6! the two main lines I've been looking at have been 27...Qg5 and 27...Qe8. In both lines, I've been ending up with clear advantages for white in my analyses. The best I've been able to come up with for black is: 26.Qd5 Kh8 27.Qd6 Qg5 28.Kb1 Qf5 29.h3 (if 29.Qxa6 Rc8 looks fine for black) h6 30.Qxa6 e4 (gaining space) 31.Re1 (31.Qb6 Qg5 looks fine for black) Re8 32.Qa7 (probably the best but not the only move) and after something like 32...Kh7 33.Qe3 Re5 34.g4 Qe6 perhaps black's best strategy is to just sit tight and try to avoid exchanging queens or rooks. And I'd be interested to see if black can maintain the balance here, despite his one-pawn deficit.

Cheers,
WAS

MNb wrote on 01/28/07 at 20:43:01:

Good point!  The ...Qf8-g7 maneuver is the best defense to 21.Rh6 that I've found so far, but I don't think White's kingside ambitions have ground to a halt here - not yet.  With the black queen committed to the kingside, Black's queenside play loses much of it's impact.  And if White can later get in f5-f6 the black queen will be exhiled to the corner of the board on h8.  White might be able to move his queen aside in order to push advance h4-h5 (after playing g5 to protect the rook of course).  I'm still pretty confident that 21.Rh6 followed by Qh3 will prove to be an effective plan.

I admit I don't have White's plan against ...Qf8-g7 completely mapped out just yet, but I'm working on it. 

After 20...Bc6 we have

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bc5 9.Qd2 0-0 10.0-0-0 a6 11.Nb3 Bb4 12.Bd3 b5 13.g4 Bb7 14.Rhg1 Na5 15.Rg3 Nc4 16.Qe1 Qh4 17.Bd4 Rfc8 18.Qf1 Qe7 19.Kb1 g6 20.Rh3 Bc6




Although I thought (based on your previous posts) that you were leaning toward 20...Bc6, when contemplating whether to play 20.Rh3 I spent most of my time analyzing 20...a5.

Here are some of my thoughts on 20...a5:

20…a5 21.Nxb5 Unless I've overlooked something, this amounts to an exchange sac (Black plays ...a4 followed by ...Nd2+). 

Alternatively, White can opt not to sac the exchange by playing 21.Bxc4.

21...a4 22.Nc1 a3

Also possible is: 22...Nd2+ 23.Rxd2 Bxd2 24.Nd6 

23.b3 Nd2+ 24.Rxd2 Bxd2 25.Nd6  It's difficult to be absolutely certain that this is the best course.  It’s a long term sacrifice and Black might conceivably have the option of giving back the material (e.g., with …Rxd6) at a favorable moment.  However, White seems to have definite positional compensation (as well as a pawn) for the exchange.

Had you played 20…a5, I was leaning toward playing ambitiously with 21.Nxb5, but was comforted somewhat by having 21.Bxc4 as a bail out option.

After 20...Bc6, I'm leaning toward 21.Rh6 while also considering some other moves such as 21.a3 (which looks potentially risky in view of 21...Bxa3) and 21.f5 (this advance is likely to be played at some point, but here it might still be premature).

For what it's worth, I still think 20...Bc6 might still be the better move -- but analyzing 20...a5 was more critical in deciding whether my move 20.Rh3 was a sound way to proceed.  To sum up, I think 20...a5 seemed potentially more dangerous for both sides!

I'll look a bit more at 21.Rh6 before committing to it.  If any other candidate moves come to mind I will list them in a subsequent post.  As always, all suggestions, advice, predictions of doom, etc. are most welcome!

Preparations have been made, pieces have moved into agressive positions, and the stage is set for a great battle!

"The French are bravely in their battles set,
And will with all expedience charge on us."

"All things are ready if our minds be so."

O.k. well, I guess I'll play my move then. It's 20...Bc6.

Good luck.

Hi Ostap,

I'm unclear as to if you are playing 20.Rh3 as your move. But no worries either way. If you do play 20.Rh3, then I'll almost certainly play 20...Bc6, as after 20...a5 21.Nxb5! I don't think black probably has enough compensation for his pawn. I was looking at moving one of the rooks to b8 as well, but I just think 20...Bc6 is more efficient, protecting the b5 pawn while preparing the advance of the a pawn, after which I'd assess the position as unclear. And you're right, I think it would be a fun game for both sides to play from that position. 

Cheers,
WAS

Black should now design a plan based on counter attack with ...a5 and defence with ...f6.

Wecome back Smyslov-Fan!

Sorry I will have to prove you wrong about your (intuitive?) assessment of 18.Qf1  , but I will agree with you that 20.Rh3 is a more consistent follow up than either one of the knight moves I mentioned.  I think the knight moves are safe, but not exactly inspiring.

20.Qh3 and 20.h4 also look superficially attractive, but neither seems to hold up to close scrutiny.  20.f5, to be honest, doesn't even merit the briefest of glances (if anyone can actually demonstrate otherwise, I'm all ears).

So 20.Rh3 is still the frontrunner, albeit still only backed by analysis of some of Black's likely responses.  A few more things to check (as I find time), and I think I be able to get the winning plan nailed down...

Cheers,
Ostap