Lets play a game of Chess

[Hueristic]

Anything wrong with e5? I see alot of possibilities from there as well as forcing a retreat. Or a swap where we would end up bishop for pawn trade I think. So I think there would be no choice but for him to retreat.

[boolberry]

Anything wrong with e5? I see alot of possibilities from there as well as forcing a retreat. Or a swap where we would end up bishop for pawn trade I think. So I think there would be no choice but for him to retreat.

I don't see anything immediately wrong with e5 but it could eventually become a weakness like our pawn on a5.

I am not sure if black would retreat with Nd7 (attacking our e5 pawn right away) or play Nd5. If he plays Nd7 we may have to move our bishop back to f4 to protect e5.

Please add my vote for Qb3 which I prefer because it does not create any new weaknesses for us to protect.

[boolberry]

Somehow I like Ne1 in this position.   I think it's about time white gets a bit more aggressive 

I like the idea of opening up our f pawn to advance but not yet.

18. Ne1 Nd4

We cannot capture with Bxd4 because cxd4 will win our pinned c3 knight. We have to move our queen way back to b1 because both Qd2 and Qc1 lose an exchange to Nb3

[Hueristic]

Anything wrong with e5? I see alot of possibilities from there as well as forcing a retreat. Or a swap where we would end up bishop for pawn trade I think. So I think there would be no choice but for him to retreat.

I don't see anything immediately wrong with e5 but it could eventually become a weakness like our pawn on a5.

I am not sure if black would retreat with Nd7 (attacking our e5 pawn right away) or play Nd5. If he plays Nd7 we may have to move our bishop back to f4 to protect e5.

Explain how he can win an exchange, I have him losing a bishop for a pawn up after we exchange knights. I don't see a better exchange for him.

[boolberry]

Anything wrong with e5? I see alot of possibilities from there as well as forcing a retreat. Or a swap where we would end up bishop for pawn trade I think. So I think there would be no choice but for him to retreat.

I don't see anything immediately wrong with e5 but it could eventually become a weakness like our pawn on a5.

I am not sure if black would retreat with Nd7 (attacking our e5 pawn right away) or play Nd5. If he plays Nd7 we may have to move our bishop back to f4 to protect e5.

Explain how he can win an exchange, I have him losing a bishop for a pawn up after we exchange knights. I don't see a better exchange for him.

I don't see how 18.e5 would lose an exchange. Are you referring to the post I made just above this asking about 18.Ne1?

In that case I gave 2 lines:

18. Ne1 Nd4
19. Qd2 Nb3 (forking queen and a1 rook winning an exchange)

18. Ne1 Nd4
19. Qc1 Nb3 (forking queen and a1 rook winning an exchange)

18. Ne1 Nd4
19. Qb1 would keep material even but leave our queen on a very passive square.

I also gave
18. Ne1 Nd4
19. Bxd4 cxd4 as a bad choice because our knight is pinned by his rook to our queen on c2 and we will lose it on the next move

[XMRpromotions]

I vote for Qb3

[Hueristic]

...

I don't see how 18.e5 would lose an exchange. ...

ok, I must have misread your post.

I'm an aggressive player so I'd e5. But then that could over extend but I like the bishops pinning his units and would like to put him on the defensive.

[dre1982]

I would go here for

Is there any chess game which pays the rewards in Bitcoins ?

Dont know but I wont do that if i was you. The chanche of cheating there would be 110%.

Somehow I like Ne1 in this position.   I think it's about time white gets a bit more aggressive  

I would also go for that move. We have to take that knight to the game. Thats why I first wanted to play Nd2 but that one doesnt work out.

After for example 18. .. Nb4 we could play 19. Qe2. Or
After for example 18. .. Nd4 we could play 19. Qb1. Looks bad but the Queen is now also at a bad field. After this we have an opportunity to play e5 and trade some pieces.

[ErisDiscordia]

My vote goes to Qb3.

There don't seem to be any good obvious moves and this at least puts our queen on a good diagonal.

[boolberry]

I count the following:

7 votes for Qb3 (foxpup jjacob languagehasmeaning timelord2067 boolberry xmrpromotions erisdiscordia)

2 votes for Ne1 (obscurebean dre1982)

1 vote for e5 (hueristic)

1 vote for Rd2 (gotmilk)

I see several comments from actmyname but no actual vote.

Is this correct?

[Hueristic]

I like Rd2 second so I will change to that.
I like Ne1 least.
Maybe I just can't see far enough for that move.

[abacus]

I vote for 18. Qb3.
It seems the best move among our few options and Foxpup has posted a good exit strategy.

Is this correct?

Yes, I've counted the same votes.
Here is the update with my one and Heuristic's change.

18. Nd2 dre1982
18. Qb3 - 8 VOTES - [Foxpup, jjacob, languagehasmeaning, Timelord2067, boolberry, XMRpromotions, ErisDiscordia, abacus]
18. Rd2 - 2 VOTES - [gotmilk_ (you meant Rd2, right?), Hueristic]
18. Ne1 - 2 VOTES - [ObscureBean (I'm assuming you voted for it), dre1982]
18. e5 Hueristic

We don't have many good options. 18. Qb3 is as good as any, I guess. Our stupidly advanced a-pawn is proving to be a crippling weakness (which is why I was against advancing it in the first place) and we'll probably have to let it go at some point. I just don't see how we can maintain it in the long run.

Was 14.a5 really that bad? (just asking)
I mean, the other options we had didn't like me too much:
1) if we don't move a-pawn -> we lost the pawn captured by bxc4 giving it for free
2) if we axb5 -> the black moves axb5 again, opening the a file and I was a bit scared of it.

With a5, which is still surviving for now, we forced the Queen move and, considering the quiz OP posted, it seems also the Knight in Nb8.

[abacus]

I think that, with the increase of number of partecipants and relative discussions, counting the votes is becoming more difficult and time consuming.

I propose, as a quick-and-dirty solution, to split this thread with a twin one to separate the future gathering process of votes from all the rest. This should greatly improve the readability.

I haven't still created this new parallel thread because I would like to know your thoughts about the idea itself, what must be posted where and if the new thread should be moderated. It should work, don't you think?

[newb4now]

I think that, with the increase of number of partecipants and relative discussions, counting the votes is becoming more difficult and time consuming.

I propose, as a quick-and-dirty solution, to split this thread with a twin one to separate the future gathering process of votes from all the rest. This should greatly improve the readability.

I haven't still created this new parallel thread because I would like to know your thoughts about the idea itself, what must be posted where and if the new thread should be moderated. It should work, don't you think?

I vote Qb3 too. Its more fun to post now that I just became a hero member!

That vote only thread sounds smart. Will OP start that or will you? Why do you think it should be moderated? So that only votes are posted and not anything else?

Another option would be for every voter to quote the previous voter and update a running tally of voting totals. Compliance may become difficult to enforce but in theory this should be easy.

[abacus]

That vote only thread sounds smart. Will OP start that or will you? Why do you think it should be moderated? So that only votes are posted and not anything else?

Exactly, only votes in a clear and agreed one row post (we should discuss how vote changes or 2nd choice must be declared).
It's important to decide if it should be moderated or not, because this option is only available when you start a new topic and you can't modify it after.

About the thread starter, I think that OP would be the natural choice here, but if I remember well he asked for someone else to count the votes. I also see Taras or Foxpup well suited for this task. If I am trusted enough, I am available too.

Another option would be for every voter to quote the previous voter and update a running tally of voting totals. Compliance may become difficult to enforce but in theory this should be easy.

That should improve the current situation, but as you wrote, I've some doubts about its compliance.


Update including the last vote:

I vote Qb3 too.

18. Nd2 dre1982
18. Qb3 - 9 VOTES - [Foxpup, jjacob, languagehasmeaning, Timelord2067, boolberry, XMRpromotions, ErisDiscordia, abacus, newb4now]
18. Rd2 - 2 VOTES - [gotmilk_ (you meant Rd2, right?), Hueristic]
18. Ne1 - 2 VOTES - [ObscureBean (I'm assuming you voted for it), dre1982]
18. e5 Hueristic

[Foxpup]

Was 14.a5 really that bad? (just asking)

It perhaps wasn't that bad, but it definitely created a weakness that Black's wasted no time taking advantage of.

[letsplayagame]

That vote only thread sounds smart. Will OP start that or will you? Why do you think it should be moderated? So that only votes are posted and not anything else?

Exactly, only votes in a clear and agreed one row post (we should discuss how vote changes or 2nd choice must be declared).
It's important to decide if it should be moderated or not, because this option is only available when you start a new topic and you can't modify it after.

About the thread starter, I think that OP would be the natural choice here, but if I remember well he asked for someone else to count the votes. I also see Taras or Foxpup well suited for this task. If I am trusted enough, I am available too.

Another option would be for every voter to quote the previous voter and update a running tally of voting totals. Compliance may become difficult to enforce but in theory this should be easy.

That should improve the current situation, but as you wrote, I've some doubts about its compliance.


Update including the last vote:

I vote Qb3 too.

18. Nd2 dre1982
18. Qb3 - 9 VOTES - [Foxpup, jjacob, languagehasmeaning, Timelord2067, boolberry, XMRpromotions, ErisDiscordia, abacus, newb4now]
18. Rd2 - 2 VOTES - [gotmilk_ (you meant Rd2, right?), Hueristic]
18. Ne1 - 2 VOTES - [ObscureBean (I'm assuming you voted for it), dre1982]
18. e5 Hueristic

I can understand why counting votes is a chore with the current format.  Your idea for another voting only thread (ran by someone else) is a good one. Once it is created I can link to it in the OP here.  The community can decide who the moderator (if needed) should be, so long as it is not me.

If this happens we can talk more about chess in this thread without worrying about confusing the vote counters.  I can post more puzzles and am willing to help analyze our current game once it is over.

Your move bitcointalk. You have the white pieces

The current position is updated below:

1. Nf3     d5
2. c4      e6
3. g3      Nf6
4. Bg2    dxc4
5. Qa4+  Nbd7
6. Qxc4   c5
7. 0-0     a6
8. d3      b5
9. Qc2    Bb7
10.Nc3    Be7
11.Bf4     0-0
12.Rfd1   Qb6
13.a4      Rfd8
14.a5      Qa7
15.e4      Rac8
16.h3      Nb8
17.Be3     Nc6
18.Qb3    h6

[languagehasmeaning]

One problem we have right now is that our rook on a1 is stuck defending a5. If we could move twice in a row Qa2 and Rac1 might make sense. However after we play Qa2 he can play Nb4 attacking our d3 pawn and after Qb1 to defend it our rook is still caught in the corner!

I am trying to figure out why he played h6. Ng5 and Bg5 for us did not seem like anything special to me.

I have no move suggestions yet but give me some more time to think.

[dre1982]

I am looking at Nxb5 for trading the Knight for 2 pawns and after that we can build up pressure at the c5 pawn to even win this one.

[languagehasmeaning]

I am looking at Nxb5 for trading the Knight for 2 pawns and after that we can build up pressure at the c5 pawn to even win this one.

After
19.Nxb5 axb5
20.Qxb5 Ba6

We have to move our queen and then he can take on d3 next move. So we would end up trading a knight and pawn for just two pawns. After we lose d3 our e4 pawn would become weaker also.

How about the Ne1 recommendation you made last move? I think I like that idea of yours better. It would add another defended to d3 and allow our f2 pawn to advance to f4.