(October 19th, 2013, 11:19)Gustaran Wrote: If you were to analyze this position what would you say? What are the differences (Silman's famous "imbalances") between White's and Black's position? What would be a general goal for white? (no variations needed yet).
IMO white's pieces are able to attack the black kings position and defend their own king while black needs first to move to bring anything for an attack and has it not easy to defend. White needs to defend g2 black has g and h as worries.
My latest idea would be Rd3 to help with attack.
PS I'm looking forward to your analyses to learn .
(October 19th, 2013, 11:19)Gustaran Wrote: Ok, the problem is that everbody is immediately starting to calculate moves without taking a step back and looking at the whole position first. In Civ 4 terms: If somebody gave you an unknown savegame, you would first take a good look at the different teams, analyze what your correct strategy is and then start micro managing towards that goal.
To answer some suggestions:
a) 15.Nf6+? gxf6 16.Bh6 Kh8 17.Bxf8 Lb7 18.f4 Rxf8 and Black has two Bishops for the rook and a winning position
b) 15.Nd6 is a good try but after Bb7 16.Qg4 Bxd6 17.Rxd6 Qe4 18.c3 Bd5 White has lost control over the open d-file
c) 15.Rfe1 is good as well, but not the best, since something like Bb7 16.Qg4 Rfd8 17.Bh6 g6 fails to give White a sizeable advantage
The correct way to deal with a problem like this is:
1. Step one: Assess the position
2. Step two: Create a short term or long term plan.
3. Step three: Look for candidate moves that aid you with b)
4. Calculate variations
If you were to analyze this position what would you say? What are the differences (Silman's famous "imbalances") between White's and Black's position? What would be a general goal for white? (no variations needed yet).
White has a space advantage, control of the open d file, a potentially powerful pawn on e5 supporting an outpost on d6 (or Nf6 I suppose...). Black is momentarily behind in development and space, but if white lets up then black will probably be able to move his light bishop to b7, challenge white's control of the d file, and open up the position to take advantage of his two bishops. Possibly with counterplay on the queenside -- again, if white gives him time. So as white we want to keep thing under control and keep black reacting rather than being able to gain any advantage.
I like positional puzzles but I feel like I'm awful at them - I hope I at least get the assessment right, because that's like the foundation for building a house.
Nd6 was the first thing that jumps out, but Gustaran already showed why that isn't a good plan. I was thinking we would want to double rooks on the d file behind the knight, but you really don't have the time.
It'd be nice to play c4 and clamp down on the queenside a bit, but I don't think white has time for that. 16. c4, Bb7 17.
I don't like Rfe1 because it looks too passive. This seems like a position where black is on the verge of busting out and you don't want to do anything to give him that chance.
Rd6 is something that has my eye, although I'm not sure of the follow up. Could white get away with 16. Rd6, Bxd6 17. Nf6+ ? Black can't take the knight because 17. Nf6+, gxf6 18. Bf6, Kh8 19. Bxf8, Rxf8 20. exf6, Rg8 --- no, that looks awful for white. And if black can take the rook with his bishop then the better line is probably 16. Rd6, Bxd6 17. Nxd6, Bb7 18. f3 (or Nxb7 but then you lose the knight that you sacked the exchange for), f6 and no, that's just not good at all.
It seems like it's the dark squared bishop that's keeping everything together for black. If you can eliminate that then white will have control over a lot of the dark squares in black's position, and the knight will be able to safely camp on d6 without being swapped off. So what about Bg5?
16. Bg5, Bb7 17. Bxe7, Qxe5 18. Qxe5, Bxe5 19. Bxf8, Kxf8 20. Rd6 - winning the exchange and controlling the open d file, so I think black has to take the bishop exchange.
16. Bg5, Bxg5 17. Rd6, Qa4 18. Nxg5, Qf5 (Qxa2, Rxb6 looks great for white) and I'm not quite sure what to make of this line. Black still needs to develop his bishop but white's knight isn't nearly as well placed on f3 as it was on e4. Still, white is threatening Rxb6 so black needs to figure that out, so I think this is it.
Giving up the exchange gives White some compensation, but Black still ends up a little better. Certainly White has no clear advantage, let alone a winning position.
I will write up my evaluation and way of planning in another post, but I can already confirm that Pindicator got the major positional points right.
Here is the solution for steps 1-3 (analysis, planning, candidate moves):
Step 1 Analysis: The first step consists of analyzing the position. I like to use Silman's trusted way of checking all imbalances.
a) Material
Material is equal.
b) Minor pieces
The only difference is that Black has the bishop pair, which would be considered a small advantage in the long term, but here Black's light squared bishop is still passive, so I would assess this as equal at the moment.
c) Pawn structure
The pawn structure is equal, no side has any doubled or isolated pawns.
d) Space
White has a space advantage in the center due to his pawn on e5, while Black has a little more space on the queenside. As a general rule it's easier to play on the area of the board where you have a space advantage because you have more room to maneuver your pieces.
e) Important files
Obviously, the open d-file is the most important file on the board. At the moment White controls this file and should do everything in his power to keep it that way (usually by doubling or tripling on the file).
f) Important weak squares:
The d6-square is very weak (no Black pawn can attack that square anymore), so if possible White would like to utilize that square.
g) Development
White is a little ahead in development since Black still needs to develop his light-squared bishop.
h) initiative
White doesn't need to defend against anything so he has the initiative at the moment, but can lose it quickly.
i) King safety
At the moment both Kings are fairly secure behind their pawn shelter. Neither side can immediately start a decisive kingside attack.
Step 2 Planning:
Since you should always play to your strengths, finding a plan is not that difficult once you did a correct analysis.
- White wants to keep total control of the only open file. This is done by putting all his major pieces on the file.
- White wants to use the d6 square. As I have explained in Jkaen's last game the usual way of gaining total control of a weak square is to get rid of the pieces that could possible defend it. In our case that is Black's dark squared bishop on e7 which defends d6 at the moment.
- White has the initiative and a small lead in development, so he needs to make use of these two imbalances NOW before they disappear.
So in short: Control file, use weak square, play forcing moves and don't waste time.
Step 3: Candidate moves.
Looking at the position, the move White really would like to play is Rd6. Why? It prepares to make room for other pieces on the open file, it makes use of the weak d6 square and it attacks the Queen, thereby gaining important time and keeping the initiative. See how this move would support all our imbalances from a) and help us to futher our plan from b)?
Unfortunately, after 15. Rd6 Black could simply take the rook with his Bishop on e7.
But that should not keep you from following your plan. Chess is often a battle of will, you must do everything in your power to make your plan work.
So the bishop on e7 is spoiling our plan, what do we do? Get rid of it! Is there a move that prepares to take the bishop off the board? Absolutely, it's Bg5, offering the trade of Black's important defensive piece. A quick look shows that after 15. Bg5 Bxg5 16. Rd6! Black has to move his Queen away.
The game this was played in was:
Biyasis, Peter (2395) - Hug, Werner (2445) [1973] 15. Bg5 Bxg5 16. Rd6 Qc7 17. Nxg5 Bb7 18. Qd3 doubling on the open file and threatening mate on h7 g6 19. Rd1! tripling on the open file - how easy it is to play with a clear plan! Now Black can never regain control of the d-file since Rd8 would just drop a rook.
19...Bd5 trying to close the file
20. c4 White reopens the file immediately Bc6
21. Qh3 threatening mate again. See how only after obtaining total positional control you can attack the king, but not just because you feel like it. h5
22. and now the final blow with Nxe6! and Black resigned.
4. Calculation of variations
In case you want some exercise in calculation you need to look at the following lines and make sure White gets an advantage in all of these:
-15. Bg5 Bb7
-15. Bg5 Qc7
-15. Bg5 f6
I won't post the solution to these yet, see if you can figure out White's best responses on your own.
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![[Image: m4b7.jpg]](http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/407/m4b7.jpg/)
![[Image: leis.jpg]](http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/543/leis.jpg/)
