Unlock Your Genius - January 2009 (Problems)

by Tony Kosten , France, Thursday, March 26, 2009, 00:26 (5866 days ago) @ tapestry

? I wonder if you have the time would you be able to say a few words about
? the couple of moves that led up to the initial position, as it'll be
? interesting to know why the pieces were on the squares that they were.

Sure, the opening moves were 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 Ne4 5. Qc2 f5 (a sort of 'Dutch/Nimzo-Indian') 6. g3 O-O 7. Bg2 d6 8. O-O Bxc3 9. bxc3 Nc6 10. d5 Ne7 11. Nd4 exd5 12. cxd5 Nxd5 13. Bb2 Qe8 14. c4 Nb4 15. Qb3 a5 16. a3 Nc5 17. Qd1 (17 Qc3 draws) 17...Nba6 18. Nb5 Be6 19. Rc1 Qg6 20. Nd4 Bd7 21. Bc3 a4 22. e3 Ne4 23. Bb2 Nac5 24. Ne2.
As you can see I managed to move my knights from c5 and a6 to the somewhat better squares on e4 and c5, fix the a3-pawn, and position my queen and bishop. Probably I should have continued improving my pieces!