Unlock your Genius April (General)

by tapestry , Hampshire, Sunday, April 20, 2008, 19:40 (6207 days ago) @ giorgio

I agree with giorgio about activating white's pieces and the general prinicple that if you want to play for a win try and avoid exchanging any of the pieces - unless by doing so I can create a weakness/advantage.

From white's perspective, the white rook needs to be moved to a more active square. Black's rook on the second rank suggests to me that white would need to play g2-g4 and Kg1-g2-g3 in order to move the king to a more active square.

Black's seems to be aiming for ...e6-e5, so the moves ...f7-f6, ...h6-h5, ...g5-g4 (to chase away the white knight) and then ...e6-e5 spring to mind. Black's f7 square is quite weak and can be attacked by both of white's remaining pieces.

My plan for white would be to play 1. Rc1. Black has several options now:

1...f6 2. Rc7 h5 3. Rb7 with the onus on black to try his chances with 3...g4.

1...Kg7 2.Rc7 (black is tied down to the defence of the f7 pawn.) 2...Kf6 (interposing 2...Ra1 3. Kh2 Ra2 4.Kg3 looks like it helps white as then I would be thinking of advancing the h pawn.) 3. Ne5 Bg6 4. g4 with the plan of advancing the king to g3. However, with black's pressure on the f2 pawn, I can't see a way of making further progress.

1...Ra7 (this seems quite passive but does relieve the pressure on the f7 pawn.) 2. g4 Be4 3. Kg2 (aiming for Kg3 and h3-h4) 3...f6 4. Kg3 Kg7 (I think that black can just sit back here and wait to see what white plays.) If white tries 5. h4, black can respond 5...Bxf3 6. Kxf3 gh. I'm not sure what happens here!

1...Bc2 2. Ne1 Bg6 and I'm not sure how white can make any progress. For example, 3. g4 Kg7 4. Kg2 h5 5. Nf3 Be4

I suspect that the position is probably drawn. However, after all that I wonder if 1. Rc1 is white's best bet as 1...Bc2 seems to be okay for black. I reckon the danger is more how white (or black) overreaches and loses the game rather than somebody winning the game.

Please do shoot holes in the above analysis!