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Subject: Interest Middlegame Position

Author: Peter McKenzie

Date: 15:44:17 09/25/99


In a game on ICC Beadle (LambChop) reached the following interesting position:

2kr1b1r/ppp4p/1q4p1/3p1p1b/3N4/2PQPPP1/PP1N2P1/R4RK1 w - - 0 17

Tactics:

Here LambChop blundered with Nxf5, it needs an 8 ply search to avoid Nxf5.  The
key variation being Nxf5 gxf5 Qxf5+ Kb8 Qxh5 Qxe3+ Rf2 Bc5 Rf1 Qxd2.  This is a
10 ply variation, but we have a couple of checks in there so the check extension
sallows it to be seen in 8 ply.

My q-srch prunes out captures that look bad, so Qxd2 is pruned as the simple
algorithm I use thinks d2 is protected by the R on f2 :-(  I guess if my pruning
algorithm in q-srch was smarter then I'd see this line one ply earlier.  I'd
also see it earlier if I just looked at all captures in q-srch...

How many ply do other programs need to avoid Nxf5 ?  I know that crafty needs 8
ply too...


Positional:

I was slightly surprised when Bob Hyatt said he thought white was doing badly
anyway (crafty agreed).  I personally think that white is doing fine, I actually
prefer white's position.

Here is how I see the position:
White has 2 knights vs two bishops, so white should try to keep the position
somewhat closed.  Currently the knights are quite well posted, while the Bh5 is
quite bad although the Bf8 is potentially very good but currently not doing
much.

White's pawn structure is weakened, but black isn't currently in a position to
take advantage of this.  White will probably play f4 eventually, leaving holes
on e4 and g4 but this doesn't look too bad for white as black doesn't have a
knight to sink in there.  Also, the white knights cover those squares quite
well, and after f4 the Bh5 is really locked out.

White has a clear and simple plan of advancing on the queenside.  I think black
should try to open the position and infiltrate the dark squares, but its not
clear to me how to achieve this.

I think white should play 1.b4 which is in harmony with the plan of advancing on
the queenside, it also dissuades c5 (thereby keeping the strong knight on d4)
and has the added bonus of possibly threatening Nxf5.  I wouldn't worry about
Nxf5 too much though, as even if it wins a pawn the variations look very open
and dangerous for white.

After 1.b4, ...c5 looks poor.  Simply 2.bxc5 followed by 3.Rab1 with good
initiative for white.

Another line is 1.b4 Bd6 2.f4 Rhe8 3.a4 threatening a5 Qa6 b5 trapping the black
queen :-)

Maybe something like Qf6 is best for black?  The idea being to play g5
eventually.  Pretty slow though.

So there you have it, the opinion of someone used to be 2300 Fide but these days
struggles to maintain a 2000 ICC bullet rating :-)

LambChop gives white as +0.4 after 9ply, and wants to play a4.

So what do other people/programs think?

cheers,
Peter



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