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16. exf6 Rxe3 17. Bxe3
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I decide to recapture with the bishop. fxe3 might be more appropriate since it also defends my pawn on f6, but after Bf5 that line is blocked anyway. |
  2 comments
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17... Bf5
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A very good move, finally developing the bishop and preventing white from seizing the b-file by playing Rb1. Definitely the best move in this position. |
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18. Rac1
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I decide to play Rac1 instead with the idea of playing c4 and eliminating the pawn on d5 before he can get his knight on c4, this doesn't really work as he can get it there if he really really wants to. However, this does cost him a little bit of time which I can use to reposition my rook on f1 and my questionable bishop on e3. |
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18... Na5 19. Bf4
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Targeting the c7 pawn and putting my bishop on a better square. |
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19... Nc4
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Getting a rather good knight, however it's a shame that the knight on c4 isn't actually attacking any of my pieces. All it does is restrict me a little bit and prevent c4, which is of course important, but I wouldn't go as far as saying that his knight is a monster knight. With this he also allows me to win the c7 pawn at the loss of 2 tempi. At this stage of the game, 2 tempi shouldn't hurt me too much, but it's definitely interesting. |
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20. Bxc7
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I'm a pawn grabber by nature, since this pawn is essentially free, I decide to capture it. |
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20... b6
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A strange move in my opinion. Maybe he hopes that I'll keep my bishop around there so he can eventually trap it, but that's hope chess as we'd call it. I'd be very interested to hear Reuben's reasoning behind this move. |
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21. Rfe1
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Developing my last major piece. It also allows me to ignore a move like Rc8 in the future, since if he were to take on c7, I can just play Re8 checkmate. You'd be surprised how many people fall for these kind of things over the board. |
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21... Nb2
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Aiming for the d3 square in an effort to regain the lost material with a fork on both rooks. |
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22. Re7
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Re7 is played to prevent the fork from happening, defend the bishop on c7 and indirectly take aim at the a7 pawn in an effort to keep his rook from getting active. |
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22... Nd3
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Nd3 is played regardless of there being no fork anymore as the knight is well placed on d3. |
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23. Rd1
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Getting the rook away from danger. If he were to attack it again via b2 then I can simply go to d2 and slowly work my way towards the open e-file. |
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23... Rc8
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Abandoning the a7 pawn since I have no way of capturing it anyway. The only way I can think of is by moving the bishop and then playing Rxa7, but that costs some time and he can play Rxc3 while that's happening. |
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24. Rd2
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I don't think the a7 pawn is as important as my c3 pawn as I really don't want to give Black any opportunity for counterplay so I decide to leave my bishop on c7 for the time being. Rd2 is played with the idea of playing Re2 which leads to checkmate after Re8+ Rxe8 Rxe8++. Of course that implies that Reuben doesn't take care of that threat in the future which he most likely will, but my rook is better placed on e2 regardless. |
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24... Nf4
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Giving up the knight in a moment of inattention. I notice this and offer Reuben a solution in the form of playing Bd6, after which he plays his knight to d3 once more and then I move my bishop back as if nothing ever happened. He, however declines this proposition. I suppose making mistakes like this and maybe look at how the opponent punishes these types of mistakes is educational in itself. I must say that I quite like the idea behind Nf4 though. The plan was probably to reroute the knight to e6 where it would target the bishop, close the e-file and seperate my rook on e7 from my other rook that wants to go to e2. It's a shame that it doesn't quite work here, but at least the thought process was pretty good. |
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25. Bxf4 h5
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Black ideally wants to play Rxc3 and try and get some counterplay in. However he can't do that quite yet because 25. Bxf4 Rxc3 gets met with 26. Re8 checkmate. Therefore he plays h5 first to create a flight square. Well spotted. |
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26. Rxa7
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I mentioned earlier that I thought the a7 pawn wasn't as important as the pawn on c3. I still have this opinion, however with an entire rook up, I'm confident in my ability to win any type of endgame and defend against his threats. Black simply doesn't have a lot of power left with solely his bishop and his rook. Of course, White still needs to pay attention to backrank checkmates at this point in the game, incase Rxc3 is played. However, that aside, I don't think that White has a lot to fear. |
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26... Rxc3 27. Re2
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Black can't give checkmate because my bishop is still covering the c1 square so I place my rook on the e-file with the idea of forcing my way in via 28.Ra8+ Kh7 29.Re8, preparing for checkmate. |
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27... Rd3
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Trying for the cheeky backrank checkmate. On a bad day I might overlook this, but not today sadly. |
1 comment
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28. Rd2
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Proposing a trade of rooks. Looking back on it, f3 is probably a better move, creating a flightsquare for my king on f2 and forever stopping the checkmate threat. |
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