Pushing the advantage

[Dan O'Dowd]

Hi,

I have a question about a specific position I got myself into at the British PM Open 2, where I had a large advantage. In the end I maintained this, and shamefully ducked out of the best continuation because of clock considerations - yes, in a Fischer cadence tournament! - but I wanted to see whether my positional sensibilities still need tinkering with



Black (me) to move against a 149, and it's all under control. Black has the outpost on d4, and if White captures, he will face ...exd4, with a space advantage for Black and the open e-file while White's King is unsafe.

I decided earlier in the game that ...Bc5 would allow b4 and that this was beneficial for White (since at the time the Knight was on c6), and I felt b4 was still something he could play, with a view to at least temporary safety on the Queenside. If White is going to castle Queenside, we want to open him up quickly. At the time I conceived of 13...a5, thinking this prepared ...b5, and a storm. After a while of analysis Fritz approved of this move, but I don't trust computers as much as I used to, so can I get thoughts from others?

As an afterthought, White continued with 14. Bxd4 exd4 15. g3 Rfe8+ 16. Be2 Qe7 17. Ne4 Rad8?! which may be good in itself but meant I was crossing across my own original plans.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Well, your original plans are only as good as the position they find themselves in.

(My first thought in this position is that I want to set up ...e4 as a possibility, so I'd look at 13...Bg6 with a view to playing 14...f5.)

[Roger de Coverly]

Well, your original plans are only as good as the position they find themselves in.

In that other thread, people were writing about the importance of plans. In a position where you're going to get mated down the g file ten moves later unless you do something to prevent it, it's important, but in a position with nothing particularly obvious, I'd suggest it's a case of playing logically move by move, keeping pieces on decent squares, watching for tactics and trying to retain or seize the initiative.

I wouldn't personally have spent much time going into depth over .. a5. It holds space on the queen side and makes playing Bc5 easier. Jack's idea of B f5- somewhere and f7-f5 might be better of course.