Lets play a game of Chess

Nxb5 looks interesting.

I feel like black has a strong move with Nd4 here - attacking our queen and either forcing us to retreat her while advancing his position or entering a sequence of exchanges which would end badly for us. We might want to defend against that, two options I see would be e5 or Ne2.

I like e5 because if he doesn't play Nd4 he will have to retreat his knight at f6 to some position where it doesn't do much or else we take it. Also contrary to Ne2 it still leaves the door open for the Nxb5 plan dre1982 suggested.

Quote from: languagehasmeaning on September 30, 2015, 08:46:33 AM

Quote from: dre1982 on September 30, 2015, 08:31:35 AM

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.

Tonight I gonna look further to this. Nxb5 was just the first move which comes to mine mind.

Quote from: languagehasmeaning on September 30, 2015, 08:46:33 AM

How about the Ne1 recommendation you made last move?

This actually looks better to me than any of my ideas so my vote goes to Ne1 for now.

Quote from: ErisDiscordia on September 30, 2015, 08:48:07 AM

I like e5 because if he doesn't play Nd4 he will have to retreat his knight at f6 to some position where it doesn't do much or else we take it. Also contrary to Ne2 it still leaves the door open for the Nxb5 plan dre1982 suggested.

Your e5 move just made me think of something! I now have a guess why he played h6. Maybe black would like to play e5 but after our Qb3 move he was worried about Ng5 attacking our f7 pawn with both his queen and knight! His h6 move obviously stops us from playing Ng5.

If I am right about his reason for h6 (planning e5) then your e5 recommendation would stop that plan. I am not saying that e5 is the best move because both Nd5 centralizing the knight and Nd7 attacking the e5 pawn seem like good options for black. We also need to think about who is helped more by the h1-a8 diagonal being opened up.

However we should compare the of us playing e5 to what happens if he plays e5 locking our d3 and e4 pawns in place and taking total control of the d4 square.

I am sticking with my Ne1 vote for now but I admit e5 is at least interesting.

I like 19. Rd2.

Quote from: languagehasmeaning on September 30, 2015, 08:46:33 AM

We have to move our queen and then he can take on d3 next move.

Unless we move the queen straight back to b3, defending the pawn. Still, trading a knight for two pawns isn't the best idea ever (especially when one of the pawns is a rook's pawn).

Quote from: Foxpup on September 30, 2015, 09:07:28 AM

I like 19. Rd2.

Quote from: languagehasmeaning on September 30, 2015, 08:46:33 AM

We have to move our queen and then he can take on d3 next move.

Unless we move the queen straight back to b3, defending the pawn. Still, trading a knight for two pawns isn't the best idea ever (especially when one of the pawns is a rook's pawn).

You are right! For a moment in my head I forgot the c3 knight was no longer there in that line (it would obviously block a b3 queen from defending d3 if it was). I must be tired.

It still sounds like we agree on Nxb5 not being the best option.

19. Rd2 looks reasonable. I will think more about it later.

If we play e5 that pawn will directly become very weak and hard to defense. Maybe Bf1 is even a good move. The bishop is now defending air. Its maybe even better to use it to build some pressure at the queenside.

19. Ne2

The idea is that after black plays Nd4 we can capture with with our knight on e2 instead of our bishop.

Quote from: XMRpromotions on September 30, 2015, 10:29:07 AM

19. Ne2

The idea is that after black plays Nd4 we can capture with with our knight on e2 instead of our bishop.

Another Ne2 voter here

h4 please - it allows the Bishop at g2 to come out of the closeted space he's been in.

Quote from: languagehasmeaning on September 30, 2015, 07:33:41 AM

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.

I expect our opponent to move Nh5 and Bh4 in that order in the not too distant future.

Quote from: Timelord2067 on September 30, 2015, 02:52:33 PM

Quote from: languagehasmeaning on September 30, 2015, 07:33:41 AM

I expect our opponent to move Nh5 and Bh4 in that order in the not too distant future.

We have a knight on f3 and a pawn on g3. Why would you possibly expect him to play Bh4 anytime soon?

i have only begun to study this, but i do like the idea of e5

however i do believe ne2 would be the choice to make first

this would allow higher mobility for our queen so her effectiveness will not be limited in a future attack

i vote ne2

Quote from: languagehasmeaning on September 30, 2015, 03:48:28 PM

Quote from: Timelord2067 on September 30, 2015, 02:52:33 PM

Quote from: languagehasmeaning on September 30, 2015, 07:33:41 AM

I expect our opponent to move Nh5 and Bh4 in that order in the not too distant future.

We have a knight on f3 and a pawn on g3. Why would you possibly expect him to play Bh4 anytime soon?

Probably because on most plays by our Opponent, most players have thrown their arms in the air and said "I wasn't expecting him to do that!"

Plus I think he's trying to barricade both his King And Queen. Unless our King moves across to e1, in the long run, the Black Bishop at e4 will pin our King down to just six squares. Add his Rook at d1 and it's game over.

Nf6-Bh4-Nh5-Ng3 takes pawn
f2 then takes knight and bishop on h4 takes pawn on g3 now covering the king and none of our pieces can take that bishop. (that's six moves there BTW) ... add the two black rooks dropping down to d3 and d8 covering.

Thanks for reading.

Nxb5 was my first thought too.
But we don't get any great positional advantage from that. So I will pass.

I don't have a strong preference, but my vote is for Ne2.

I will vote for Ne2

Am I counting correctly?

3 votes Ne1 eris language dre
4 votes Ne2 xmr newb reckless boolberry
1 vote Rd2 fox
1 vote h4 timelord

Quote from: boolberry on October 01, 2015, 10:09:27 AM

Watching World Cup Final live now!

https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/baku-world-cup-2015/7/1/1

Thanks. Almost forgot because Giri is out. Sad

Quote from: boolberry on October 01, 2015, 10:20:11 AM

I will vote for Ne2

Am I counting correctly?

3 votes Ne1 eris language dre
4 votes Ne2 xmr newb reckless boolberry
1 vote Rd2 fox
1 vote h4 timelord

If you count me as dre then its alright.

After looking at the position once again I want to change my vote to Ne2.