Ufim 8.02+Mephisto London 030 vs. CCC Forum Chess960

[Steve B]

And with 7.5 Hrs To Go To Tc We Have

Ra7(Tano,Matthias)
Bf7(Gerold,Sven)

Another Split Decision Regards
Steve

[gerold]

I wish I'd opted for Ne4 for the previous move after all!
Doesn't Ra7 here lose the d-pawn anyway? If so, perhaps swapping off rooks along the c-file and having the bishop pair in the pawn down ending offers excellent chances for the draw?

I can't see Black losing the d pawn with either move.
The d pawn is very strong and is helping Black control
the middle 4 squares. No need to gave it away, We
have good position and control of the middle by keeping it.
With the Bf7 move black clears the way for the e pawn to
move to protect the d pawn if we have to. We need to
attack the White Rooks with the Black B to break up
the double white Rooks. After the Bf7 move of course.
I play to win not draw.

Best,

Gerold.

P.S. Black can trade a Rook later when it is to our advantage.

[Sven]

I wish I'd opted for Ne4 for the previous move after all!
Doesn't Ra7 here lose the d-pawn anyway? If so, perhaps swapping off rooks along the c-file and having the bishop pair in the pawn down ending offers excellent chances for the draw?

I can't see Black losing the d pawn with either move.
The d pawn is very strong and is helping Black control
the middle 4 squares. No need to gave it away, We
have good position and control of the middle by keeping it.
With the Bf7 move black clears the way for the e pawn to
move to protect the d pawn if we have to. We need to
attack the White Rooks with the Black B to break up
the double white Rooks. After the Bf7 move of course.
I play to win not draw.

Best,

Gerold.

P.S. Black can trade a Rook later when it is to our advantage.

My idea of playing Bf7 is not to defend d5 with e6 but to play e5 or g5 later on, where in the latter case Bf7 is directed against the response Nh5+.

Keeping our pawn d5 on the board for a long time is probably not a good idea since our bishop on white squares suffers a bit from that. As I already said, I have even considered to play d4 immediately (I think it does not lose material) but then we are in a tactical position.

So no change of my vote but I try to get better discipline into our Bf7 team here

Sven

[Graham Banks]

So what does Black play after .........Ra7; Rd1 for example? What is the point behind Ra7 except to get the rook off the f3a8 diagonal?

Alternatively.......Bf7: Rc6 is still tricky for us.

Still trying to decide. Any further thoughts?

[gerold]

So what does Black play after .........Ra7; Rd1 for example? What is the point behind Ra7 except to get the rook off the f3a8 diagonal?

Alternatively.......Bf7: Rc6 is still tricky for us.

Still trying to decide. Any further thoughts?

I don't think White will play Rc6. It would be nice if white did.

Rc6........a6a5,
..............a5a4 Giving us a good advantage on the Queen side.

Best,

Gerold.

[Graham Banks]

So what does Black play after .........Ra7; Rd1 for example? What is the point behind Ra7 except to get the rook off the f3a8 diagonal?

Alternatively.......Bf7: Rc6 is still tricky for us.

Still trying to decide. Any further thoughts?

I don't think White will play Rc6. It would be nice if white did.

Rc6........a6a5,
..............a5a4 Giving us a good advantage on the Queen side.

Best,

Gerold.

So you're okay with........Bf7; Rc6, a5; Rd1?

Cheers,
Graham.

[Matthias Gemuh]

27 ... Ra7

Matthias.

I switch to 27 ... Bf7

.

[Graham Banks]

I'll vote for Bf7 because it seems the lesser of two evils (and because I can't find anything better), but the line .....Bf7; Rc6 still concerns me.

[gerold]

So what does Black play after .........Ra7; Rd1 for example? What is the point behind Ra7 except to get the rook off the f3a8 diagonal?

Alternatively.......Bf7: Rc6 is still tricky for us.

Still trying to decide. Any further thoughts?

I don't think White will play Rc6. It would be nice if white did.

Rc6........a6a5,
..............a5a4 Giving us a good advantage on the Queen side.

Best,

Gerold.

So you're okay with........Bf7; Rc6, a5; Rd1?

Cheers,
Graham.

Yes!
If White played Rd1 we would have another strong move.

However i don't think White will reply with Rc6 after
Blacks Bf7. I think White's Knight is in a weak place now and
White will move Knight to the Queen side in the next couple
moves.

Best,

Gerold.

If there is a tie someone will have to break it. I will be gone for
the day.I will stay with Bf7 .

[Steve B]

So what does Black play after .........Ra7; Rd1 for example? What is the point behind Ra7 except to get the rook off the f3a8 diagonal?

Alternatively.......Bf7: Rc6 is still tricky for us.

Still trying to decide. Any further thoughts?

I don't think White will play Rc6. It would be nice if white did.

Rc6........a6a5,
..............a5a4 Giving us a good advantage on the Queen side.

Best,

Gerold.

So you're okay with........Bf7; Rc6, a5; Rd1?

Cheers,
Graham.

Yes!
If White played Rd1 we would have another strong move.

However i don't think White will reply with Rc6 after
Blacks Bf7. I think White's Knight is in a weak place now and
White will move Knight to the Queen side in the next couple
moves.

Best,

Gerold.

If there is a tie someone will have to break it. I will be gone for
the day.I will stay with Bf7 .

actually its Bf7 in a walk over

with the move switches we have
Bf7(Gerold,Sven,Matthias,Graham)
Ra7(Tano)

might as well wait the remaining 1.5 Hrs until we lock it in as the move
Steve