Can you post that game?

After Qf2 Golubev recommends Qa5 and I dont see any good way to go for as black

I meant of course after Rd5

I agree that only white can win. The only question is why didnt white play Bc4 in the first place? And are their any improvments earlyer after Re1?

Sorry, just a bit of English:

Much safer / Much more safe.

(I am afraid in Spain they only teach grammar )

Quote:

As I dont have chess machine goddess Rybka I have to rely on my friend shredder, lets call him pinky, and my second friend, the brain.

So the Pinky and the Brain had a look at the position and moved on a bit further:

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 O-O 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.O-O-O d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4 Nxc3 13.Qxc3 Bh6+ 14.Be3 Bxe3+ 15.Qxe3 Qb6 16.Qxe7 Be6 17.Qa3 Rad8 18.Re1 Rd5 19.Bc4 Ra5 20.Qc3 Bxc4 21.Qxc4 Rb8 22.b3 Rxa2 23.Re7 Rf8 24.Qc3 Ra5 25.Kb2

Starting with 19.Bc4 all looks logical and somehow forced - white now tries to exchange a pair of rooks to reach a so called "NQE" (GM Flear - "Not Quiet an Endgame" or "nuckie" - see "Practical endgame play").

So the following moves may be (of course black can try deviation, but can he hinder whites plan?)  25...Rd5 26.Rhe1 a5 27.Re8 Rd8 28.Rxf8+ Rxf8 29.Re4



Position after 29.Re4 - starting point for the "nuckie"

In this nuckie I think white has a large advantage due to two factors:

1) the white King is much more safer than the black one - because with the rook on the fourth black cannot manage a breakthrough, white is in the possesion of the long diagonal (a very important factor for safety) and will rush up with the h-pawn (if black block with h5 then g4 will follow)

2)blacks queenside pawns are weak - he has to avoid the exchange of queens when white king and rook could very fast attack them. But on the other hand with the queens on board point 1) is counting - blacks king is in danger

Summing up:

The Pinky and the Brain think that Rybka is right in its evaluation and black is in trouble.

Thanks a lot for this game - there are similar games in Experts vs. Sicilian, but this one looks even more clearer to me. Thats the way to play for a win in this variation from whites point of view.

Any counter arguments heartly welcome!

Fair enough.  I think it's not that beneficial to focus on the scores that the computers give to the position, and instead to look at the moves that they suggest.  The position seems to slightly favor white because of the split queenside pawns, but Black seems to be out of immediate danger.

It doesn't look like Black is in such bad shape even after 19.Bc4.  After 24...Ra5-d5 or (-c5 or something similar), it seems that Black is doing OK.  Why does Rybka think Black is in trouble?