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27. Kg2
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Cagily giving nothing away, and keeping it tight. Around now I was thinking that this game was going to end in a draw. I felt that I could hold, but that winning chances for Black were approximately nil. |
  3 comments
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27... Rg8
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Probing, but also with the idea of bringing the rook to the 5th rank (...Rg5), where it can probe more effectively by moving along the rank unimpeded by his own pawns and pieces. |
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28. Re4
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White has a similar idea, by the look! |
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28... Rg5 29. f4
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Had White played 29.Rh4, I had intended 29...h5. Normally when defending with pawn(s) minus, I prefer to keep them right back on their own rank or maybe 'up one', where they are strongest and most easily defended. But I felt that in this game that won't do. The h-pawn will be used to try and break up White's K-side, or at least make them easier to blockade. That will require its exchange it the right moment. As it transpired, the career of the Black h-pawn was to take an unexpected turn, later on. |
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29... Rc5
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Attacking c2, the weak spot... |
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30. Rd2
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Good: defending from an active post. White is still presenting few targets for Black to aim at. For the moment, White is engaged in a close-order advance whilst Black tries to snipe at any target that presents itself. Can White bash a way through? |
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30... Rh5
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h2 is not much of a target in itself, but I simply didn't like the look of ...Rc6. For the moment Black's minor pieces are busy closing off the central files, so choices remain limited. |
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31. Rde2
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Instead, the plausible-looking 31.g4 ... was met by 31...Nxf4ch! If then 32.Rxf4(??) Bxf4 and, one way or another, Black wins a piece. Not even the pin by 33.Rf2 will do in view of ...Rxh2ch. White would have to play something like 32.Kh1 (instead of Rxf4), when after 32...Rc5, Black keeps the pawn. However, Kf3 was possible. |
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31... Ng7
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The knight had to move, of course, but why here, and not ...Nc5? No reason, that I can see now: c5 would have been a much better square for the knight. Fortunately I haven't much damaged Black's position. All the same, it starts to look as though White is making progress. |
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32. c4
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Closing up the Q-side and transforming the weakness at c2 into a strength at c4. But there are downsides to this. Is a bit harder (though not impossible, as you will see) for White to induce a serious weakness in Black's Q-side, which right now is very strong. That tends to localise White's attack to the centre and K-side, where Black is well enough placed to meet it. |
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32... Rf5
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Discouraging g4. |
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33. Kf3 h5
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Black tries to hamper the g4 advance. Normally I prefer to keep the pawns back when I am defending with pawn(s) minus, to make them harder to attack. That policy should probably have held good here, as well. But I was looking to stymie White's majority once and for all if I could. |
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34. h3
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Good move, Black can no longer hold up White's K-side. |
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34... Kf7
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Making room for the rook to retreat. The c5-square does not look at all like a salubrious accommodation for the rook, so I make another square available.. |
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35. g4 Rf6
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That the immediate exchange by Black would have left White with two joined passed pawns unopposed by enemy pawns is less an issue than another file opening up that would probably be of more use to White. This retreat is intended instead to induce the g-pawn to advance. |
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36. g5
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There was no real likelihood of White taking on h5, which would have suited Black on account of the split pawns. |
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36... Rg6 37. h4
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? - During the game I felt sure this was a mistake, and the Gameknot Analysis Engine agrees. The pawn become a weakness that Black's handier pieces, the knight in particular, can just about reach. A new phase begins, with Black making a serious bid for the initiative. |
4 comments
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37... Nf5
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Immediately driving one rook into a passive position, as the h-pawn has to be defended. During the sequel, the knight will conduct hit and run raids hither and thither, using this square as his base of operations. |
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38. Rh2 Rg8
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Pulling the rook back into reserve. Black will be shifting his attention to the centre, and, given the weak point at b3, the Q-side as well. The threats won't amount to much, but, by inducing a reaction, enable Black to make some sort of progress. Such at least was the hope. |
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39. Rh3
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I am supposing White wanted to get the rook off the bishop's diagonal, and h1 placed the rooks a knight-fork apart (a possible ...Ng3 attacking both). But the rook is also placed so as to defend the b3-pawn should it come under attack by the knight at c5 or d4. For the moment, meanwhile, White's passed pawns are going nowhere. |
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(2340)