Posts
This represents only about two hours or so of analysis, so there are likely some things that I missed. I would certainly be interested in hearing your comments if you see something I missed.
What I find fascinating about games like this is that it shows that Experts make plenty of mistakes, and it shows that it's possible to make mistakes when playing Experts and survive.
Overall Troy is a far better player than I am now, but for whatever reason I just seem to play him tough.
This was in the fourth (of six) rounds of the Southwest Club Championship. After this game I have 2.5 points.
...Ba7 seemed a bit strange, as does 11.Qe1, normally in this set up white plays Re1 so that Nf1-e3 is possible, taking aim at the vulnerable f5 square (especially if h6 has been committed already as in the game). There was a rapid game that Carlsen played in 2011 I think as black in this line in the World Rapid Championship that would be worth some study if you haven't seen it already. Another point: In your analysis of 16...Nxc4 you say "17dxc4 Qe6 18b3 and black's d pawn becomes a liability," which is true but I think not complete enough. White also has positional liabilities (weakened QS, and lack of piece coordination atm) and I find it very hard to believe that white will be able to push sufficient pressure on the d6 point (e4 and c4 are both unavailable for the knight and the dsb can't even dream of putting pressure on d6). Meanwhile the black knight has the option of Nd7-c5 and if black organizes d5 his position is for choice. Eg: 18...g5 19.Bg3 and either Nh5 or g4 both look highly appealing for black. I would wager that black stands at least equal here. The rest of the game is very exciting and instructional.
ReplyDelete...Ba7 is theory. However, the normal move there is ...d6.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Bc4 idea, you are correct. I didn't look at this game super deep yet, I've only spent a couple of hours on it.
Troy actually pointed out the idea in our post mortem, but we didn't look at it deeply then, and I haven't looked at it deeply yet.
I'll have to pry into it to see if there is anything long term, but you are highly likely correct.