MacQueen - Edwards

[Calum MacQueen]

Rex5

[Jonathan Edwards]

[pgn]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3
d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 Nb6[/pgn]

Spoiler here>> 11...Nb6 is the only move I can find in the position. Bb7 is met with Qf3 - this is a lovely move for white, pinning my Knight to the bishop. As far as I have considered I would have to play c6. c6 is an alternative to Nb6 and is indeed played in the Marshall. However, with the pawn on h3 we want the bishop on the a8-h1 diagonal and c6 doesn't allow this.

OK, onto Calum's next move. I said before that this move is critical and I still think it is.

If white goes for an immediate 12. d4 then black responds with 12...c5 and material becomes equal - and black has a lead in development. I know that he will not go for this option.

My hunch is that he will go for 12. d3. Of course his decision is what setup to play to stop c5-c4 and trapping his bishop. d3, Nc3 is possible however it means I acquire the bishop pair after exchanging on a4 - this is something which I don't think he will want. If 12. d3 c5 I think his best play is to go 13. c3. This is the sole reason I chose not to play this at Hastings. I really struggle to see where my play comes from. Might be time to have another look at it, but for now I just hope he doesn't go for this setup.

After 12. d3 c5 he can also go 13. Nc3 (as said before) which leads to 13...Bd6 14. Re2! (he won't find that, surely he will just go Re1?) or he can even go 13. Be3. Be3 is the move I really hopes he goes for. It's quite a MacQueen move... trying to be clever. After 13. Be3 Nd7! black wins the exchange for two pawns. Winning chances for both sides so that's what I hope for.
<<Spoiler here

[Calum MacQueen]

[pgn]1. e4 e5?! 2. Nf3 Nc6?! 3. Bb5 a6?! 4. Ba4 Nf6?! 5. O-O b5?! 6. Bb3 Be7?! 7. Re1 O-O?! 8. h3 d5?! 9. exd5 Nxd5?! 10. Nxe5 Nxe5?! 11. Rxe5 Nb6?! 12. Nc3!![/pgn]

Spoiler-------> Nb6 eh? That doesn't look very good. How is he going to get an attack with that there??? Now my bishop is really good and I've still got c3 for my knight. So first thing is I assmue d4 is a good move but after Qh4 he's attacking my pawn so I might not have a Qf3 moment. I think setting up something like d3-Nc3-Ne4 looks sensible here. He might get a Bb7 in soon though and Qf3 runs into Rb8-Bb7. Even then I've got f5/g4 for my queen. That said, I presume I'm just winning this now somehow.

12. d3 looks good. It's also a shame that 12.d3 Qh4 13. Qf3 Rb8 14. Qxf7 doesn't work as after Rxf7 15. Re8 black has Bf8. I can try land a knight on e4 to pester his bishop then do it? Okay, this is really cheap though. 12. Nc3 Qh4 13. Ne4 Bxh3 14. Nxd6 is good for white as if he takes the knight back he's totally lost because he needs that bishop for counterplay and if 14...Bxg2 I can safely take that back, there is no perpetual as my Qd1 controls g4. AHHHHHHHHHH WAIT. Is 14...Bg4 good then? with the idea of 15.f3 Bxf3! when he has a perpetual if 16.gxf3 and the Re1 hangs if Qxf3? Sly. Ohh lol. 14.Nxd6 is obviously mince, just take the h3 bishop first then d6. I like this idea of N-e4. Nc3 it is.

Ooops. Only just noticed all these variations are missing Bd6 and Re1. Sorry guys.

<------Spoiler

[Jonathan Edwards]

[pgn]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3
d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 Nb6 12. Nc3?! c5![/pgn]

Spoiler here>> Slightly embarrassed that I didn't even think of 12. Nc3 as a move order. Nc3 is the type of move Sreeves would make on the basis that it's "principled" - i.e. White doesn't have a pawn on c3 like in the Marshall so white should develop his knight to c3. Luckily enough it doesn't change anything! After 12...c5 he is now almost forced to go d3 and I'm happy with how things will proceed, for now.

I have to say relieved he didn't play the d3, c3 setup as I was really struggling for ideas.

Two lines I envisage are: 13. d3 Bd6 14. Re1 c4 15. dxc4 bxc4 16.Ba4 Nxa4 17.Nxa4 Bb7 - and black has the bishop pair with threats such as Qc7-c6.

The line I'm worried about is 13. d3 Bd6 14. Re2 c4 15. dxc4 bxc4 16. Rd2! ... bxc3 Rxd6 bxc2 Rxd8 cxd1 Rxd1 and I'm a pawn down in the endgame. Not what I want.

Therefore, if Re2, I can't go c4.

EDIT: After Re1, the more I think about it... the more I like Bc7 followed by Qd6. I really am failing to see how white can cope with the threat of Qh2+. The obvious Ne4 fails due to c4 winning the bishop. I think white is in trouble if 13. d3 Bd6 14. Re1 Bc7.
<<Spoiler here

[Calum MacQueen]

[pgn]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 Nb6 12. Nc3 c5 13. a3[/pgn]

Spoiler--> That was really stupid. One of those times where you make a move and realise pretty quickly it was bad. Totally failed to ask myself what the point of Nb6 was. Now he's threatening to win a bishop with c4 and d3 doesn't help anything as the knight controls a4 as well.
13. a3 might be my only move here but it looks a little soft. 13. Ne5 Bd6 14. Nxb6 Bex5 15. Nxa8 c4 is bad for white because two bits are trapped.

sigh, Nc3 was awful probably. Really stupid I didn't even consider c5.

a4 might be better but I feel somehow it's a little loose. I'll go a3.

[Jonathan Edwards]

[pgn]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3
d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 Nb6 12. Nc3 c5 13. a3 c4[/pgn]

Spoiler here>>

I don't understand 13. a3. I think this could be winning for black now... certainly, there's a large initiative. After 14. Ba2 Bc7 and not sure how he's going to defend. A resource like Ne4 is a little questionable here as a quick f5 is available and the light-squared bishop is cut off from the defence.

EDIT: WOOOOOO JUST REALISED HE IS ABSOLUTELY TONKED.

14. Ba2 Bf6!!! After Re1, Bxc3 and his bishop is rendered dead. If bxc3 I can go Na4 and clamp down further on his position. If dxc3... exchange queens and take the open file possibly. Either way, his bishop is stuck to a2 and b1. This could be all over... Maybe there's a nice way of him freeing the bishop, but I hope not!

<<Spoiler here

[Calum MacQueen]

Ba2

[Jonathan Edwards]

[pgn]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3
d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 Nb6 12. Nc3 c5 13. a3 c4 14. Ba2 Bf6[/pgn]

Spoiler here>>

Surely I am missing something obvious. Mr DullandBoring would love this move... "oh Kramnik would play this, it's amazinggggg!!!!"

<<Spoiler here

[Calum MacQueen]

[pgn]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 Nb6 12. Nc3 c5 13. a3 c4 14. Ba2 Bf6 15. Re1 *[/pgn]

Spoiler------> This has gone AWFULLY. I could swear I was a pawn up for nothing 2/3 moves ago? Maybe I'm just rubbish. Nah, I'll blame this on 1.e4 (actually probably is Nc3's fault. I'm going to lose to Jonny online. This is awful, he's never going to shut up about it.

Ok, let's actually talk about the game. I'm a pawn up. But that's the only thing I've got going here. He'll play Bb7 Qg5/h4 and mate me. Thought he was going Bd6 as well but that's also really well placed on f6. One thing I've got to watch for is a well timed Bxc3 when my light bishop can't develop ever. I probably need to play b3 to try get it back so I should think about Re1 to defend my queen so it doesn't hang after Bxc3 dxc3. This is going to be a tough one to save but luckily he's not very good. Sigh. With a heavy heart Re1. <-------Spoiler

[Jonathan Edwards]

[pgn]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3
d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 Nb6 12. Nc3 c5 13. a3 c4 14. Ba2 Bf6 15. Re1 Bxc3[/pgn]

Spoiler here>>
I'm sure MacQueen must be worried... if he loses this game I'll never let it rest!!

OK I've calculated a few lines here... all seem fine for black. I think it becomes very difficult for white. He more or less has to give the pawn back in order to give his bishop some freedom - completing development is much easier for black here.

If dxc3: Bf5 perhaps. Na4 is always a really useful resource for me here.

If bxc3: Na4 immediately. And his only break is now d3, which I can meet with Be6.

<<Spoiler here