World 6th move decision

We can play the routine castling move putting our King into safety. The plans associated with castling have been discussed in the World 8th move analysis.

We can play the very interesting Qe6!!?. Read on for discussion of the interesting tactical resource Qe6. This resource has been emphasised by Irina Krush.

The following board diagrams will be labeled to facilitate discussion on the main bulletin boards/ elsewhere

One of the appointed commentators, Irina Krush has emphasized the tactical possibility of Qe6 after (the above diagram),Bg7 Nde2 Qe6!?

This has the cunning idea that after Nd5, Qxe4, Nc7+ Kd7 Qc4 we have a lot of compensation in the following position:-

Certain posters have highlighted the possibility of Nb6+ by White, fracturing the black pawns rather than having the knight gobbled by our rook on h8. This would lead to the following position:-

Barnet chess club top players think this position has very good compensation for black. There is nothing left of White's bind, and we have 2 pawns for the exchange. Our king seems not to be safe, but in reality, degrees of "safeness" are determined by concrete resources. White would hard pressed to expose easily the weakness of our king in the center in this particular position.

From the "Qe6 resource position", there is the possibility of Nf4 discussed. Irina has pointed out:- (diagrams inserted to allow easy following)

Here Black can play 11...Qxc4, for example 12.Nfd5 0-0 13.b3 Qc5

, and 
if 14.Be3 (14.Na4 Qa5 15.Bd2 Qd8 maintaining an extra pawn for 
Black), Black has the beautiful queen sacrifice 14...Nxd5!! and now:

A) 15.Nxd5 Qa3 16.Rc1

(16.Bc1 Qa6! 17.Nc7 Qa5 18.Nxa8 Bxa1 19.Bd2 
Qxa2, and Black wins) 16...Qxa2 17.Rxc6 bxc6 18.Nxe7+ Kh8, is winning 
for Black;

Position 6: "Queen sacrifice!"

15.exd5 Qxc3 16.Rc1 Qb2 17.Rc2 (17.dxc6 bxc6, is good for Black) 
17...Qa3 18.dxc6 bxc6, with a clear plus for Black;

Position 6: "Queen sacrifice!"

15.Bxc5 Nxc3 16.Qe1 dxc5 17.Rc1 Nxa2 18.Rxc5 Rfd8, with a clear 
advantage for Black (three minor pieces and a pawn plus lots of 
control against a queen).

Now returning to a line I analyzed last week with my trainers GM 
Giorgi Kacheshvili and GM Ron Henley:

10.Nde2 Qe6 11.Nd5 (11.Qb3 gives White nothing after either 11...0-0 
or 11...Rc8) 11...Qxe4 (forced, as the less direct 11...Rc8 allows 
12.f3 and White may consolidate his space) 12.Nc7+ Kd7 13.Nxa8 Qxc4 
14.Nb6+ axb6

(Repeated) Position 3: "Knight caused double pawns" position

Position 3: "Pressure compensation" position

- we are leaning towards the very actice 15...Ra8 
(15...Nd5 is also OK). White's queenside is pressured, Black's king 
is safe as there are no pawn breaks to attack it, and Black has the 
more active pieces. Giorgi and Ron concur with me that Black has the 
more pleasant prospects. The endgames look good for Black. At this 
time, after 9.Nxd4 Bg7 10.Nde2, I plan to recommend a move I have 
worked on for over a week - the novelty 10...Qe6.  

More to come, after 9.Nxd4 Bg7 10.Nde2 is played...

Irina

Qe6 is a very interesting tactical resource at our disposal. It is hoped that the above labeled diagrams will assist World team analysis!

The simple alternative to Qe6 is castling. This would lead to a more positional way of playing by simply maneuvering around to support the breakout with d5, as discussed on the World's 8th move analysis page.