veerus wrote:To me, there are no merits to Nxd2 when Kxd2 is available which provides the benefits stated above. Nxd2 takes away a powerful piece from the middle of the board, not to mention that after that, the only square that knight can go to after the capture is right back to f3 which is an unneccesary loss of tempo.
I agree with this, but I am generally uncomfortable with quick-anythings.
Because at this point it's almost certain that scum is on this... but apparently multiple townies too?
Re1 seems ok, but it doesn't address our weak and attacked knight or the pin of the knight on the rook. It is true that neither of those is an immediate threat, but it is a danger and weakness in our position.
Not a current threat: We have no reason to move our knight, it is currently protected and they have no way to immediately attack it again.
But, long term danger: If they can get pressure on our knight before we protect it again or break the pin, we could lose material.
So I think it is in our best interest to work towards breaking the pin and/or protecting the knight.
Options:
Bg2 - strengths: breaks pin on rook and protects knight; weaknesses: weak diagonal for the bishop and creates pin on currently unprotected bishop.
Be2 - strengths: protects knight, connects rook, frees h1 rook to move away from pin; weaknesses: does not break pin.
h4,Rh2,Rf2/e2 - strengths: begins advancing pawns for kingside attack, frees rook to second row, to allow to break pin and more easily double rooks; weaknesses: takes a long time, weakens pawn structure
As I said earlier, they can't immediately attack our knight, but they can add pressure quickly. They are two queen moves away from adding a second attacker and they could also play the risky, yet pressureful g5.
Before hearing any response, I'm leaning towards Bg2 or Be2 followed by Rf1
The a1 rook will be needed on c1 when black moves their rook to c8. My suggestion is to move the queen to e3 which THEN allows for Bd3 (which is a good move.. just not
now
).
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
-Fight Club
Lawrencelot wrote:I agree with AA that we should aim for removing the pin. I think Be2 is our best option.
It's better than Bg2 for removing the pin, but I'm not sure it's a necessary play right now. However, the threat of black moving g5, threatening g4 might actually mean we need to get rid of the pin ASAP.
Qe3 isn't bad. That might be better than Re1, but I'll have to look into it more.
Veerus, rather than Rc1 following Rc8, why not c3? It rips apart our pawn structure, but it also allows more mobility for that rook, which may otherwise be chilling at c1 for a while?
The Central Scrutinizer wrote:I like our queen where she is. A move to e3 doesn't seem advantageous to me.
Move: Re1
I had a whole post typed up explaining why I disagreed with Re1 and questioning you about it. Then in post preview of the move and subsequent responses, I decided that I liked it.
