One move a day

K-d7. I may have mis-analyzed this. But as far as I can tell it's the only move that holds.

Kf8 loses immediately after Bb4+.

Ne6 looks like accepting defeat, although it might be the move that survives the longest because white has to lose a tempo with his king:
...Ne6 17.dxe6 Bxe6 18.Kc1 Kf8 and white should win but hastowork for it

Kd6, Kd7 and Kd8 are the obvious candidate moves. Of the three, I would choose Kd8, although I expect Kd7 in the game.

Originally posted by Mephisto2
Kd6, Kd7 and Kd8 are the obvious candidate moves. Of the three, I would choose Kd8, although I expect Kd7 in the game.[/b]

Originally posted by jgvaccaro
Out of curiosity, what leads you to expect a different move from your move of choice?

Originally posted by Mephisto2
One main reason: Kd7 looks intuitively better. Mainly because the king also helps to defend square c6 (in case of cxd6 by white).

The problem with that is (for instance) that after 16. ... Kd7 17.Bc3 c5 (perhaps Nf5 is better) 18.dxc6+ e.p. black cannot afford to take back on c6 with the king because of Qe4+ (possibly after Bxd4 and Rd8) with devastati ...[text shortened]... use there are fewer check possibilities for white, and white has more possibilities to go wrong.

Originally posted by Red Night
My problem with Kd8 is that after Bc3, Nf5 is not playable because of Bxf6+

Kd8, Bc3, c5, cxd, and now how does Black hold the Knight?

Originally posted by Mephisto2
Kc7. The knight cannot be taken right away because of Rd8. The white king is still unsafe. Tha t is the point I wanted to make and why Kd8 is not a bad choice (to say the least). In the end, the knight will probably get lost (as in the other variations) but white can easily go wrong.

Originally posted by Red Night
Excellent Mephisto.

Then what? cxb threatening Ba5+

Originally posted by Mephisto2
I'll have to look at that when/if it becomes relevant. Na3 (threatening Nb5+ with attack on the d4-knigh) looks promising.

1. c4 e6 2. e4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Qb3 Nc6
6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Bc4 Qe7+ 8. Kd1 Nf4 9. Re1 Ne6 10. d4 Qd6
11. d5 Be7 12. Bd2 Scd4 13. Nxd4 Nxd4 14. Qc3 Qf6 15. Rxe7 Kxe7
16. Qe3+ Kd8

I will be gone for a few days but bosintang will kindly fill in for me during my absence.
Thank you bosintang!

Good, my work was not done for nothing. Definitely 17.Bc3 now.

Yes, Bc3 looks to be an automatic move here.

Originally posted by Mephisto2
Good, my work was not done for nothing. Definitely 17.Bc3 now.

1. c4 e6 2. e4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Qb3 Nc6
6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Bc4 Qe7+ 8. Kd1 Nf4 9. Re1 Ne6 10. d4 Qd6
11. d5 Be7 12. Bd2 Scd4 13. Nxd4 Nxd4 14. Qc3 Qf6 15. Rxe7 Kxe7
16. Qe3+ Kd8 17. Bc3

This is the position I have been looking at for a while. Black has two very different options: a) fighting to keep the knight with c5 - in my opinion at the cost of losing it anyway in a fully defensive mode, or b) trying to generate some counterplay with Re8, accepting the loss of the knight, but benefiting from white's undefended kingside pawns and white's relatively unsafe king.

I don't know if this was an OTB game or not. Playing c5 is the more obvious action. I think Re8 offers more chances of survival.