Here's the position, with the white queen threatened by a pawn:

r1bq1rk1/pp2bppp/3p1n2/2pN2B1/2BQP3/8/PPP2PPP/R3K2R w KQ c6 0 10

In the actual game White's queen went to safety but Crafty says
otherwise.

10. Qc3
({12:-4.71} 10. Qc3 Nxd5 11. Bxe7 Nxe7 12. O-O-O Bg4
13. Rd2 Qd7 14. f3 Be6 15. Rhd1 Bxc4 16. Qxc4 $19)
({12:+0.89} 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. Nxf6+ gxf6 12. Qd3 f5
13. Qg3+ Kh8 14. O-O-O fxe4 15. Rxd6 Qe7 16. Rhd1 f6 $16)

Crafty says that Black would rather take my Bishop at 10 than my
Queen? Why?

Thanks.

Greg in Cincinnati

In article ,
Greg Teets wrote:

Here's the position, with the white queen threatened by a pawn:

r1bq1rk1/pp2bppp/3p1n2/2pN2B1/2BQP3/8/PPP2PPP/R3K2R w KQ c6 0 10

In the actual game White's queen went to safety but Crafty says
otherwise.

10. Qc3
({12:-4.71} 10. Qc3 Nxd5 11. Bxe7 Nxe7 12. O-O-O Bg4
13. Rd2 Qd7 14. f3 Be6 15. Rhd1 Bxc4 16. Qxc4 $19)
({12:+0.89} 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. Nxf6+ gxf6 12. Qd3 f5
13. Qg3+ Kh8 14. O-O-O fxe4 15. Rxd6 Qe7 16. Rhd1 f6 $16)

Crafty says that Black would rather take my Bishop at 10 than my
Queen? Why?


Because black gets the queen back anyway, with advantage:

10. Bxf6 cxd4? 11.Nxe7+

Now:

11. ... Qxe7 12.Bxe7 leaves white up a piece so

11. ... Kh8 12.Ng6+ fg (hg drops the f-pawn) 13.Bxd8 Rxd8 and black has
two doubled pawns and a poorly-placed king. Black will lose the d4-pawn
pawn to Ra1-d1xd4.

Play might continue

14.Rd1 Re8 15.f3 Be6 (black has to free his king) 16.Bxe6 Rxe6 17.Rxd4
where white follows up by Ke2 and Rhd1. Blacks rooks are stuck in
defensive positions and white has the simple plan of advancing and
trading his c-pawn for the d-pawn, turning white's e-pawn into a monster
protected passed pawn. (Note how in this plan, the white gets a pin on
the d-file and may even find himself winning the d-pawn outright!)

Black might be better off trying to get his rooks active, since pawns
are going to start falling off anyway:

14.Rd1 b5?! hoping for 15. Bxb5 Rb8 but 15.Bd5 puts a stop to that.
White doesn't need the b-pawn to win, and shouldn't give black the open
file.

On Sat, 27 Mar 2004 14:39:41 -0800, Ron
wrote:

In article ,
Greg Teets wrote:

Here's the position, with the white queen threatened by a pawn:

r1bq1rk1/pp2bppp/3p1n2/2pN2B1/2BQP3/8/PPP2PPP/R3K2R w KQ c6 0 10

In the actual game White's queen went to safety but Crafty says
otherwise.

10. Qc3
({12:-4.71} 10. Qc3 Nxd5 11. Bxe7 Nxe7 12. O-O-O Bg4
13. Rd2 Qd7 14. f3 Be6 15. Rhd1 Bxc4 16. Qxc4 $19)
({12:+0.89} 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. Nxf6+ gxf6 12. Qd3 f5
13. Qg3+ Kh8 14. O-O-O fxe4 15. Rxd6 Qe7 16. Rhd1 f6 $16)

Crafty says that Black would rather take my Bishop at 10 than my
Queen? Why?


Because black gets the queen back anyway, with advantage:

10. Bxf6 cxd4? 11.Nxe7+

Now:

11. ... Qxe7 12.Bxe7 leaves white up a piece so

11. ... Kh8 12.Ng6+ fg (hg drops the f-pawn) 13.Bxd8 Rxd8 and black has
two doubled pawns and a poorly-placed king. Black will lose the d4-pawn
pawn to Ra1-d1xd4.

Play might continue

14.Rd1 Re8 15.f3 Be6 (black has to free his king) 16.Bxe6 Rxe6 17.Rxd4
where white follows up by Ke2 and Rhd1. Blacks rooks are stuck in
defensive positions and white has the simple plan of advancing and
trading his c-pawn for the d-pawn, turning white's e-pawn into a monster
protected passed pawn. (Note how in this plan, the white gets a pin on
the d-file and may even find himself winning the d-pawn outright!)

Black might be better off trying to get his rooks active, since pawns
are going to start falling off anyway:

14.Rd1 b5?! hoping for 15. Bxb5 Rb8 but 15.Bd5 puts a stop to that.
White doesn't need the b-pawn to win, and shouldn't give black the open
file.

None of that shows up in Crafty's analysis, though. Based on the line
that Crafty shows why is that a better move?

Thanks.

None of that shows up in Crafty's analysis, though. Based on the line
that Crafty shows why is that a better move?

Thanks.

I hit 'send' way too fast on this one. Obviously, Crafty rejected
this line, so I didn't see it. I got too locked in on what I was
looking at and had a brain lock.

Thanks for straightening me out.

Greg

None of that shows up in Crafty's analysis, though. Based on the line
that Crafty shows why is that a better move?

Thanks.

I hit 'send' way too fast on this one. Obviously, Crafty rejected
this line, so I didn't see it. I got too locked in on what I was
looking at and had a brain lock.

Thanks for straightening me out.

Greg