nygren.ca

True. But couldn't he still have done that anyways? Qc6 Qxc6 dxc6 f6... pretty much the same situation, though I suppose at this point you can do Rd1+ (Ke8 | Kc8) Bd6 to get out of it. Comparable, anyways.

but my concern was 25. ... f6 after g4. In that case I didn't see it much better than the simplifying Qc6.

So move 49... 25 g4 Ng7 26 Bf6+ (Kc7 | Kc8) 27 Bxg7 Bxg7 28 Rxc5+. Any other sequence he directly loses a backrow piece. Here you gain a pawn, get your rook in deep, maintain tempo AND open up your other took for activation. Of course, what actually happened was much better for you because Mike didn't take the queen trade. Maybe the trade results in a faster mate, dunno. But I wanted to mention this sequence.

I meant where the knight is now. I see a number of bad pitfalls if you went with a different move sequence.

Devin, I didn't see the bad spot...

Yeah, you might as well not have that knight. That bishop completely removes it from the game. There are other things about that situation I could mention but on the very slight chance that John hasn't noticed them, I won't, but it's a really really bad spot, lol.

damn, I made those moves at work, and thought it would haunt me. I expected the queen though. I wish my knight was more involved in the action, as i think it would have made for a good ending, but after it took you white bishop it was forced back to the wrong side of the board.

I think it was a pretty poor line for you, given that he is still quite capable of Rfc1 Rc8 Qc4. There are some other moves that can be involved along the way, one that creates a marginal gain for you structurally, but with the game reduced to this level and his ability to eventually force one of your queen pawns to die and a potential queen trade thereafter (unless you run away giving him more tempo)... I think this game is very much a rook's game so that trade didn't benefit you as much as it has in other games.

What do you guys think? John's dark bishop more or less had my rook and two knights pinned, and his white bishop was defending two pieces. Also, I was about to lose the one advantage I had which is more pawns. I think the move I'd like to take back at this point is queen takes John's a file pawn...I had been playing so tight up until that point, but who knows.

Don't know if this was a good line for me, but both your bishops were being thorns in my side, so what the hey.

Ahhhh, yes, of course with that rook. Silly me, I see it. So 15 ... (Qb6 | Qc7) 16 Nxb7 Qxb7 17 Rfc1 ... either the a6 or the c6 pawn fall after his next move. And he's going to have serious defensive issues holding the other one. When I was looking at originally, for some reason I only looked at Rac1 for the attack line. :P

My hope is that after exchanging my knight for Mike's b7 bishop, I can gain the c6 pawn for compensation, and possibly other queen side pawns. We will see if that works.

I thought I saw his plan, but I missed something. So now I'm not sure.

hmmm, I don't see what you guys see. I don't think I'm at risk of losing material, but I suppose I'll find out soon.

Nicely played, John. 14. Na4 was sneaky.

hmmm, that wasn't the opening I prepared for.