07 Jan '22 19:48>
In Najdorf-Stahlberg (Zurich Candidates, 1953), the following position was reached after 19. Rfd1.
To prevent the possibility of 20. Nd6, which would hit both b7 and f7, Black played 19...Nc8. In his book on the tournament (translated by Oscar D. Freedman), David Bronstein suggests 19...Nfd5, and if 20. e4, then 20...Nf4.
In the position reached by 19...Nfd5, the following "chess movie" gives a sample continuation starting with 20. e4, with comments interwoven.
In the above line, the following position was reached after 23. Rb1:
The next chess movie starts with 23. Rb1 and diverges with Black's reply.
This seems to refute 22. Rc3, which was played in the following position:
Now we'll examine a continuation starting with 22. Rc2 instead of 22. Rc3.
Here again is the position after 19...Nfd5.
White needs to improve over 20. e4, which weakened the f4-square without compensation.
20. a4 would carry the threat of 21. a5, the consequence of which is depicted in the next chess movie.
One way avoid this is to play 20...g6, expelling the darned knight. A possible continuation (starting with 20. a4 g6) is given in the following chess movie.
Returning to the position after 19...Nfd5,
20. a4 seems strong.
But only after doing a lot of this analysis did it dawn on me that the simple 20. Rd4 would threaten to double on the d-file and would prevent ...Nb4. Stahlberg's 19...Nc8, although passive, maintained a rook in the d-file and therefore seems better than the "more active" 19...Nfd5.
(A list of the threads I've initiated at this forum is available at http://www.davidlevinchess.com/chess/RHP_my_threads.htm .)
To prevent the possibility of 20. Nd6, which would hit both b7 and f7, Black played 19...Nc8. In his book on the tournament (translated by Oscar D. Freedman), David Bronstein suggests 19...Nfd5, and if 20. e4, then 20...Nf4.
In the position reached by 19...Nfd5, the following "chess movie" gives a sample continuation starting with 20. e4, with comments interwoven.
In the above line, the following position was reached after 23. Rb1:
The next chess movie starts with 23. Rb1 and diverges with Black's reply.
This seems to refute 22. Rc3, which was played in the following position:
Now we'll examine a continuation starting with 22. Rc2 instead of 22. Rc3.
Here again is the position after 19...Nfd5.
White needs to improve over 20. e4, which weakened the f4-square without compensation.
20. a4 would carry the threat of 21. a5, the consequence of which is depicted in the next chess movie.
One way avoid this is to play 20...g6, expelling the darned knight. A possible continuation (starting with 20. a4 g6) is given in the following chess movie.
Returning to the position after 19...Nfd5,
20. a4 seems strong.
But only after doing a lot of this analysis did it dawn on me that the simple 20. Rd4 would threaten to double on the d-file and would prevent ...Nb4. Stahlberg's 19...Nc8, although passive, maintained a rook in the d-file and therefore seems better than the "more active" 19...Nfd5.
(A list of the threads I've initiated at this forum is available at http://www.davidlevinchess.com/chess/RHP_my_threads.htm .)