Unlock Your Genius August 2009 (Problems)

by Tony Kosten , France, Monday, September 14, 2009, 15:58 (5936 days ago) @ dlwyatt

? The only possible improvement I managed to spot was right at the end,
? where you played 30... Kd6. I think White's situation improved quite a
? bit when he was able to play Nd2 and trade off your strong c4 knight.

Maybe, but, on the other hand, surely I want to exchange his knight and leave a good knight v bad bishop position?

? The worst piece Black has right now is obviously the a7 rook, but I'm not
? sure yet what to do about it. Some ideas I have looked at are Raa8-d8,
? followed by Kc7 and maybe Ne7-f5 (pressure d4), Raa8 followed by h6 (open
? a kingside file, but this gets rid of white's weak f4 pawn, which is
? probably not a good trade), or Kc7-b6 followed by moving the a7 rook
? somewhere along the 7th (possibly d7 with similar plans as when it was on
? d8). I'm not sure any of those ideas is correct or enough to progress the
? position yet.

Yes, the rook is misplaced, and, in fact, most of Black's difficulties stem from not having any open files for his rooks. Perhaps we can find a way to open a file somewhere?

Other than that I regretted not having played ...h5 somewhere at the beginning of the endgame (move 24, say) to keep a hold on the kingside light squares and stop White gaining space there. Also, I don't know if playing ...c6 and ...b5 was such a good idea as it weakens my dark squares and obliges me to keep defending c6.