Another angle on Position 3- b3 attacking our queen

Regarding Position 3: FIDE Master Jeff Kastner (Thu Jul 8 01:57:06) posts:

After 10.Nde2 Qe6!? 11. Nd5 Qxe4 12. Nc7+ Kd7 13. Nxa1 Qxc4 14. Nb6+ 
axb6, 

Position 3: "Knight caused double pawns" position

and now if 15.b3!?, 
Position 36
what is Black's best continuation? Is it 
15...Qd5, 
Position 37
eg 16.Bb2 Qxd1 Rfxd1 b5, 
Position 38
with roughly equal play in the endgame?

The obvious move is 15...Qh4, 
Position 39
(intending 16...Ng4, which threatens 
17...Qxh2 mate or 17...Bxa1), but then 16. h3 
Position 40
with the idea of Bb2, 
or better yet Be3, followed by Rc1. After 16. h3 Ne4 17.Rb1 Ra8 18.a4 
followed by Be3, 
Position 41
and Black is not having as much fun as in the 
previous Krush/Henley analysis. So, we've got some more homework to 
do, gang! ...Jeff Kastner

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GM Henley's reply

(Repeated: Position 41)

And now I think 18...e6, with a policy of centralizing, for example: 
A) 19.Bb2 Bxb2 20.Rxb2 Rd8, with a fight (although 20...d5?! 
looks premature, for example 21.b4 Qf6 22.Rc2, 
with advantage for White: 22...Nxb4? 23.Rc4!! Oops!) 
B) 19.Be3 Nc5, fighting to use the knights and pawns to control 
the center squares. 
At early glance, 15.b3 looks like White's strongest continuation 
- these middlegames are quite unclear. 
Yes, there is some more work to do. 
I think this unfolding process may give the readers 
here the magnitude of effort put into a Kasparov novelty 
by the man himself :-) 

It's interesting that no serious analysis on 10...0-0 
has yet appeared on the BBS 
- a simple "it's the book move, and we need to castle" 
doesn't cut it - there are also serious decisions 
to be made immediately there, 
as Black must find a way to overcome White's edge after 
10...0-0 11.f3. 
Life would have been just a little bit simpler with 
6...g6! :-) 

Ron P.S. 
I have a steak dinner bet with Paul Hodges 
(Irina's manager) that Kasparov will NOT play 10.Nde2.

 

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