White to move. What is the best continuation for White?
3rk2r/2qnb2p/1pp1p1pn/5p2/p1bN1P2/2P1BNPP/PPQ3BK/R5R1 w k – 0 1
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1. Ne5 wins for white!
1. If Bd5
2. Bxd5 exd5
3. Ne6 Qc8
4. Nxd8 Bxd8
and white is exchange up with black position in shambles!
1. If Ba6
2. Nxe6 Qc8
3. Nxd8 Bxd8
4. Bxc6
and white will be rook up with black position in shambles!
1. If Nxe5
2. fxe5 Nf7
3. b3 axb3
4. axb3 Bd5
5. Bxd5 exd5
6. Ne6 Qc8
7. Nxd8 Qxd8
and white is exchange up with black position in shambles!
First, let me say- this is a good problem. You really should post more problems like this- ones where there aren’t immediately and clearly good, better, or best selections. This is how a lot of normal chess play is in reality. Lots of ambiguity to work through.
Two ideas jump out at me immediately-1.b3 and 1.Qxa4. If white could play Ne6 , white could win an exchange, so this leads me look to 1.b3 attacking black’s bishop that covers e6 (I am going to cover the more “obvious” idea of 1.Qa4 later). However, I can’t quite make this work the way I want because I can’t quite find a way to keep the bishop from getting to e4 with a tempo in hand.
1. b3 Bd5
I suppose black could exchange at b3 first, but I actually would rather give white the pawn just to keep the a-file closed. The extra pawn would be doubled anyway. Continuing:
2. c4 Be4
The flaw in my plan. The bishop is safe, attacks white’s queen, thus white has no time for Nxe6 right now. Continuing:
3. Qe2
I have looked at this for a while this morning. I don’t really see anything here better than Qe2. It keeps some latent pressure on the e6 square, and also keeps the bishop at g2 protected by a piece that can later eye c6 in some of the lines that might arise below. Continuing:
3. ……Nf8
I am torn here between Nf8 and Kf7 to protect e6, but I want to preserve the right to castle, though I can make a good argument for Kf7 here. Just unclear to me. Continuing:
4. Ne5
Trying to open lines up, and attacks c6 a second time. I don’t think black can really reply with Bxg2 now since the queen retakes and c6 is vulnerable. I think black has really only….
4. ……c5
5. Be4 fe4!
6. Ndc6 Rd6 (best???? Don’t know)
7. Ne7 Qe7 (preserving castle)
And, overall, I much prefer white here, but it is unclear whether the edge is more than about a half pawn or so. White can oppose on the d-file with either rook, and black has weak pawns everywhere, and much worse placed pieces.
Now, let’s look at 1.Qa4:
1. Qa4 b4 (what better?)
2. Qc2 c5
Trying to drive back that annoying knight. However, I think white does best to attack that bishop like above:
3. b3 Bd5
4. Nb5 Qb6
And white is now up a pawn, has a passed pawn, and much better pieces. All in all, I like 1.Qa4 better than 1.b3.
Now, while I was working through these, I found a better move than those two (opens line for g2 bishop to c6), I think. However, I expect others have found it already, and I will just comment on efforts if I see something they didn’t.
White ends up a pawn ahead after 1. Nd2 c5 2. N:c4 cd 3. B:d4 0-0 (the Rh8 was hanging) 4. Q:a4.
Coupled with the mighty B’s on the a8-h1 and a7-g1 diagonals and the backward pawn on e6, this would appear to be an easy win.
Now that some other comments have been posted, we can look at the moves of the knight at f3, as suggested by both Craig B and Harry.
For the most part, I agree with Harry’s lines where black has replied to 1.Ne5 with Bd5 or Ba6- very bad for black. I do have some reservations about the line where black exchanges the knights at e5. Harry suggested…
1. Ne5 Ne5
2. fe5 Nf7
3. b3 ab3
4. ab3 Bd5
5. Bd5 ed5
6. Ne6 Qc8
7. Nd8
However, I would put in Bd8 here (keeps the queen’s eye on e6 and his own pawn at c6), and black’s position, while tenuous, isn’t a shambles just yet:
7. …..Bd8
8. c4
I looked at this line earlier while playing around with the moves 1.Ne5/Nd2/Ng5, and while there are other options for white, I just can’t see them being better than c4 here. Continuing:
8. …..dc4
9. Qc4 Ne5
And, sure, white has the edge here. One might describe it as “upper hand”, but black has two pawns for the exchange. If there is a way to consolidate, he might well hold this.
All in all, in Harry’s line, I like 3.Bxc6 more than the push of the b-pawn:
1. Ne5 Ne5
2. fe5 Nf7
3. Bc6 Kf8
4. Qa4 Ne5
5. b3
And now the black bishop can’t retreat to d5 since white will take with his bishop and then play Ne6 forking the king and queen. I think black does best to play b5:
5. …..b5
6. Qa6 Nc6
7. Qc6 Qc6
8. Nc6 Bd5
9. Nd8 Bd8
Wins the exchange with no pawn compensation to black. Maybe better, but there are a lot of variations in the above that might not be as trivial as I think they are- I didn’t look terribly long.
In any case, Ne5 is the move I was talking about earlier, but since I wrote the first comment, I have had some time to consider Ng5. Still working through that one.
Here is some stray variation.
1.Ng5 Bxg5 2.fxg5 Nf7 3.Nxc6 Ra8 4.Bf4 Qc8 5.b3 axb3 6.axb3 Rxa1 7.Rxa1 Bd5 8.Bxd5 exd5 9.Qe2+ Kf8 10.Qe7+ Kg7 11.Be5+ Nxe5 12.Nxe5 Rf8 13.Qf6+ Kg8 14.Nxg6 hxg6 15.Qxg6+ Kh8 16.Ra4
Prof S.G. Bhat,
Interesting line, but I think at move 5, black still does better retreating with Bd5 than opening that a-file up. I admit, though, I never considered this line in 1.Ng5- mostly I decided early on that 2. …Nf7 is no good for black and have been trying some less obvious, riskier defenses out based on the comment LucyMarie made on this problem the first time it was posted. I will post that link below, and I think she had it right at that time.
1. Ng5 Bg5 (agree with)
2. fg5 Nf7 (don’t agree with)
3. Nc6 Ra8 (maybe look at Rc8???)
4. Bf4 Qc8 (only move now, I think)
5. b3 Bd5
And this has some of the features I discussed in my first comment about 1.b3 as a start. I think it is forced for a bit from here:
6. Bd5 ed5
7. Qe2 Kf8
And now, I will return to your idea about Qe7+:
8. Qe7 Kg8
And now, because white doesn’t control the a-file, there is no threat of Ra7. I think white is well up in this line after 2. …Nf7.
However, consider LucyMarie’s comment on the original posting. Without her comment in hand, I would never have considered those defensive tries by black.
Link