Chessmaster vs RHP

17..Bc4 18. Rf4 Qd5 19. d4 ed e.p. 20. Bd2 b6 21. f6 g6 anyone thinking along lines like this?

Originally posted by micarr
17..Bc4 18. Rf4 Qd5 19. d4 ed e.p. 20. Bd2 b6 21. f6 g6 anyone thinking along lines like this?

what move has the most votes at the moment anyway?

Micarr,

I agree with the analysis and it doesn't look good!

The only change I could suggest is 18...Bd3 19. f6 Rc4 20. Qe7 Rc6

But the trouble with that line is somewhere we lost the initiative.

I've spent sometime looking at Rc4 again...

How about:

17...Rc4 18. Qb5 Bd7 19. Qd5 Ba4 20. Qxd8 Rxd8 21. Bxa4 Rxa4 22. b4 Nb3

I like the look of that more! We still have some initiative.

So...yet again....I'm changing my vote!

Rc4 please

Indeed I vote Rc4......

But I will change it at the drop of a Hat if someone can provide analysis and a line that shows how bad it is....

my pre-lim analysis supports micarr's.
Bc4 is the better move.
Rc4 only looks good because it gives us initiative, but initiative for what? Rc4 has no purpose. think moves in the future or more. all we will have is an awkward rook on c4 and a passive bishop. Bc4 activates our bishop and keeps our c-rook on the more solid 8th rank.
see micarr's previous analysis on the last page for possible line.
Bc4 is my vote

I dont agree. we are down in material (albeit a pawn) so initiative is crucial! Its what will give us the win or at least material equality

If you follow micarr's analysis to the end it doesn't look pretty. Rc4 will liquidate some material but we can regain the pawn and maintain the initiative and progress from there

Originally posted by Tengu
Micarr,

I agree with the analysis and it doesn't look good!

The only change I could suggest is 18...Bd3 19. f6 Rc4 20. Qe7 Rc6

But the trouble with that line is somewhere we lost the initiative.

I've spent sometime looking at Rc4 again...

How about:

17...Rc4 18. Qb5 Bd7 19. Qd5 Ba4 20. Qxd8 Rxd8 21. Bxa4 Rxa4 22. b4 Nb3

I like the look o ...[text shortened]... re! We still have some initiative.

So...yet again....I'm changing my vote!

Rc4 please

I've been gone for a while, but I've been keeping track of this game. I also think Bc4 is our best shot.

chessmaster has moved
Rf4

Here, I really like g5. Of course he could take it en-passant but that means a rook trade and a better square for our queen, in essence, a better position for us. Otherwise, he has to move the rook which looks no mor promising.

I completely missed g5 when analysing Bc4

This is what I've looked at:

18...g5

19. Rxe4 loses to Qd3! When white has to sacrifice the exchange to prevent mate on f1

19. Rf2 Bd3 20. f6 Qd5

I'm not quite sure where to go from there. The position seems in a weird kind of balance to me. Maybe 21. a4 or b3 ?? with the idea of bringing the dark square bishop into play?

I still like the solid boring 18..Qd5 which I am voting for (centralises the queen, importantly connects our rooks and places more pressure on the soft b3). The only way I can see him getting his miserable c1 bishop into the game is by finachetto on b2 after b3 and if we own b3 then it means d4 and we get a passed pawn in many lines. 18..Bd3 is making another move with a minor piece in the opening which is a priori to be frowned upon I have to say. Never move a piece twice in the opening generally speaking unless you can find funky moves like 16..Na5!? to punish an errant queen who is breaking more fundamental rules wandering around in the centre of the board. 18..Bd3 allows an immediate 19. f6 practically forcing g6 and I like keeping my monarch in a pad without holes around it! Having said that exigentsky's 18..g5!? is a wild move and I like it but you have to include some analysis. If 19. Rxe4?! then 19..Qd3 I am sure you saw and we are dare I say it winning hitting the soft back rank but this is not the best line of course. In many lines though white will have to play b3 and finachetto the horrible queens bishop and the a1-h8 diagonal looks very nice after this g5 line. Whatabout if 18..Qd5 19. f6 then 19..g5!? Our combined efforts are something like Tal and Karpov 😉

With 18...g5 19. Rxe4 Qd3 FORCES 20. Rxc4 as there is no other way to stop the Bc4-Qd3 battering ram landing on f1 with mate.

unless you count h3 with qxe4!! we can but hope!

I think g5 at the moment looks risky, especially if CM takes en passant and we take with our f-pawn. It completely opens up our King to both diagonals against CM's two bishops and Queen.

With the bishop where it is our knight can't move, and the Knight could certainly do with being on a better square than it is now. So I think it's got to be Bd3 in my humble opinion, I am sure someone will point out the flaws!