Abundance of possibilities (Part 1/2)

After the previous game in Swedish league, I wrote that I will analyse that game on this blog in depth, but the game showed more complicate than I thought in the beginning.
I don´t like to make superficial analysis with computer lines and some usual empty phrases, which can give a game a colour so it looks like that a job is done, but it is not.
Instead, I shall show two positions from my practise which I already analysed in depth, and later used in the training sessions.
For this time I will show the position which is from my two years old game.


Before I move to the positions, I will make some remarks about my training recently.
In about a week I shall play the tournament in Cannes, and after that tournament number of Elo games played by me in 2013 will be 29.
After that number of games I will be able to draw some conclusions.

Now, we can look after the complicated positions which are excluded from my games and this technique is one of the best training methods that I know.
Our interest is much higher if we are personally involved in the games which we are looking, and if we can analyse it beyond the calculation horizon during the games, than the effect is only higher.

What I mean with this can be seen in the following position.
This is the position from the game:

Zlobec Srdjan 2153 - Bejtovic Jasmin 2413 
Bosna Open 2011 Sarajevo

It was the long game with a lot of fight, and my opponent just played:

43. Nc2

...hitting my pawn on b4.
It is not easy to protect this pawn, but there is a threat of Be3 as well.


After the game, this position drew a lot of attention of spectators, and between them there were some GMs and IMs.
The opinions were divided.
Some of them thought that White´s position is stable enough and that the weakness of b4 pawn is the most important element of the position.
Some of them thought that Black´s pieces are nailed with a lot of energy and that Black should stand better.
As usual, the truth is something in between.
I spent a lot of time analysing this position and I can share my opinions which are not conclusive and I have no doubt that this is not the final word about this position.

43...Qd8!

I played this move on intuitive basis.
It does not means that I tried to guess the best move, as some of my Swedish colleagues thinks.
I knew it that I need to remove my queen from Be3 and this is the way how I can defend my pawn on b4 indirectly.
There is also the big threat in the position, so let´s imagine that black is on move now:

If Black is on move, what should he play?

44...d5!!

It is impossible to take with e-pawn because of Bf5, but what is the point if White just takes with a c-pawn?

45. cxd5, Bc8!

Yes, Black is trying to win a queen with Ba6.
Notice that White can not save it by removing the king on g1, because Ba6 would trap the queen!

This is the reason why White have to play.

46. Nxb4

...but than, Black wins two minor pieces for the rook with:

46...Rxf2+
47. Kxf2, Qb6+

This position is far from clear.
Black has an advantage but how big it is, it´s not clear.

Now when we know what is the threat and what is the tactical possibility for Black that protects the b-pawn, we can look further at the game.

White lost his nerves and played.

44. c5?
44...Qc8!

White is just loosing his c-pawn and his position is almost lost.
He played:

45. c6, Qxc6
46. Nxb4, Rxf2+
47. Kxf2, Qc5+
48. Kf1, Qxb4

This position is winning for Black and I won after some interesting points later in the game.


It is obvious that White had something on his mind when he played 44. c5? .
He tried to renew the possibility of Nxb4 by closing the diagonal b6-f2 so that Black can not take on f2 with a check on b6.
He anticipated that Black can play:

44...d5?

...and his point was that he can take on b4 in that moment.

45. Nxb4

However, the things are far from clear even it this position.

45...Rxf2+
46. Kxf2, Qa5
47. Qc3, d4

...and now there are two possibilities:

A. )

48. Qa1 ?, Be3+
49. Kg3, Qd8! ( 49...Bf4+ 50. Kf2, Be3+ = )
50. Qb2, Qg5+
51. Kh2, Bf4+
52. Kg1, Qg3

...and Black has winning attack.

53. Nd3, Qh2+
54. Kf1, Be3
55. Nf2

...and now:

55... Bd7 !  -+

B.)

48. Qe1!, Be3+
49. Kf1, Qc5
50. Nd3

This is the best what White could get after 44. c5? in the case that Black gone directly in the variation which was White´s idea.
The computer engine Houdini 3 indicates that this position is about equal (some very tiny plus for Black).

I can not agree with this evaluation, as I think that in practise it is extremely hard to play with White, and that Black is much better here.
Just imagine what would happen if Black after some preparatory moves plays f7-f5 and with exchange on e4 opens f-file.

How to extend your analysis and make a difference between the games analysed for the newspapers and the real work on the games?

The game that I just showed for the readers (or the part of the game) is analysed in that way that I identified the points when the game was decided and identified some of the ideas of my opponent.
What I did after that is that I analysed it carefully and checked my analysis with a computer.

This is good, but far from enough.

This game is exception in a way that it had one or two more equally critical position earlier which can be seen by u number of moves (we are in the critical position around move 45 which is extremely high), but for the sake of clarifying the point, we can assume that this was the most critical moment in the game.
Many authors would just put question mark on White´s 44th move and maybe indicate one or two options which could be better, and it can be said that the position is unclear.
It is very true, but for the analytical mind, it is not enough.
In order to get to the real truth about chances in the position on the diagram in introduction we need to analyse White candidates more carefully and to see how serious are Black chances.

We are back to the position in which Black just played 43...Qd8! .

We identified what is the Black´s threat.
Now we have to list out White candidates:

44. Ra1  In order to get rid of this active rook(s) on the a-file
44. Nxb4 goes right into Black´s trap
44. Be3 In order to exchange on the Black´s bishops and later on attack the pawn on b4.

If there are more candidates, it will be reviled in the second part.

Before we look further, I need to point one thing.
We should not be deceived by the result of the game!
It means, that in this position White plays for an advantage, so Black should not avoid the continuations which leads to a draw.
This is very common mistake on the lower levels.
You can find a draw for White and thought that you finished your job.
Not really!
The result of the game has nothing to do with this position, and here White plays for an advantage, and Black´s 43...Qd8 was nice and cunning resource in a defence.
It turned out to be too cunning for White and after already seen blunder Black won.
What we shall do now is to prove if White has an advantage in the position or not.

A.)

44. Ra1, Rb2
45. Qxd6!?, Qxd6
46. Rxa8, Qf8
47. Rdd8, Qxd8
48. Rxd8+, Kg7
49. Nxb4, Rxb3
50. Nd5, Rb1+  with perpetual check

B.)

44. Nxb4 ?, Rxf2+
45. Kxf2, Qb6+
46. Kf1, Qxb4  and Black is better.


In the next part, analysis of 44. Be3 and searching for additional candidates.......