Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 15:02:17 11/16/98
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On November 16, 1998 at 17:05:45, Amir Ban wrote: >On November 16, 1998 at 13:08:17, Ed Schröder wrote: > > >>>36. Qb6 Rab8 37. axb5 Rab8 38. Qxa6 e4 39. Bxe4 Qe5 40. Bf3 Rd8 >>>41. Qa7 Qxc3 42. Bh5 >> >>>Question: how to explain the appearance of the move 41.Qa7 in the PV ? >> >>41.Qa7 is a plausible move for a speculative engine. It prevents Qe3+ >> > >and it abandons the pawn on c3. > >Amir See my other follow-up for much more detail... but in this position, white is going to abandon "something". By giving up the c3 pawn white gets two connected passed pawns, rooks behind them, queen in front of them... could be positional poison for black. But to save c3 loses b5... which is better is a question. After giving up c3, white's two pawns, one on a6 one on b5 might end up a real problem. After retreating to d4 black can play axb5 and white has no passed pawn threats. And those are the only two queen moves I see (besides Qa7) since the queen is attacked by the rook, and d4 is the only place to defend the c pawn. I had originally thought this might just be a weak move on the end of the PV, but it really isn't. Crafty thinks this position after Qxc3 (searching beyond that) is actually better than the position after Qb6 at the beginning of this variation... I'm leaning toward agreeing myself...
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