The more I look to this move, the more I like it.

So, should I understand that there are no objections to [B]30...Rd1[/B] if nobody objected till now? Sm88? (I consider WMH voted for it, as it is his proposal).

Should I post it? (we already won this game anyhow).

[QUOTE=LaurV;342460]Should I post it? (we already won this game anyhow).[/QUOTE]

might as well

So... Ng1. Good. We expected Ng1. What to do now?

Now we either (1) defend the pawn, [COLOR=Green][B]Be5[/B][/COLOR], as discussed (which is in my opinion the best move, the advanced - and almost free - pawn is very important and valuable now: I see it either like a queen, either like a hero, taking a white knight or bishop with him if it dies on the way to become a queen! :razz:)

or either (2) we sacrifice the pawn to make them run away with the queen. What should the best move be, in this scenario?

The Be5 move is the best since it does more than protect the pawn. It indirectly covers h2 and in the event Nf3 it would go to c7 then to b6 while other moves can be meet with either Rc1 or Bd3.

Sure, I fully agree. That was discussed already.

I was (additionally) checking Rc1 and Bd3. Doing Bd3 in this position is bad, because after the queen takes the pawn we can't move Be5 to lock the queen (mate with Rh2 after check) because in this case they can mate us faster (Bd5, Qf8). So, this is bad, the bishops are "interlocked", we can move one of them, but not both. Also, pushing pawns is futile (a6 is totally wasting time, because they can't live the diagonal with the bishop to take b5 anyhow, and f3 is giving it to them for free).

Therefore, what is left (if we don't move Be5) is Rc1. In this case, they can't take the pawn. If 32.Qxf4, Rc2, queen must block and it is lost. If queen does not block and they play 33.Kh1, this is going fast to a mate, after Be5, he must go Qh4 to protect h2, and the queen is locked on the h column. The only question left is what they can do after 31...Rc1, [U][B]if they do not[/B][/U] take the pawn. It does not seems they can do much, and if I am not missing something, Rc1 may be same good as Be5, or even better. We don't know yet.

Anyhow, it does not matter too much on this stage of the game, both versions are winning for us, and if I do not find anything "brilliant" about Rc1 today, then I will post Be5 tomorrow (if no objections).

not sure I thought I saw a way to win but it has a flaw or 2.

[QUOTE=LaurV;342815]... if I do not find anything "brilliant" about Rc1 today, then I will post Be5 tomorrow (if no objections).[/QUOTE]
Sorry for the delay. I really got stuck yesterday evening with Rc1 Kh1 (I could not imagine that it is such a hard nut to crack) and I forgot to post the move.

So, Be5 it is...

[QUOTE=LaurV;343050]Sorry for the delay. I really got stuck yesterday evening with Rc1 Kh1 (I could not imagine that it is such a hard nut to crack) and I forgot to post the move.

So, Be5 it is...[/QUOTE]

they responded with Nf3 and the bishop we just moved is now under attack.

It's a poisoned bishop. The best move now is Rc1.

[B]Rc1[/B] is a very good move, and it wins the game too.

However I like Bc7 better, I don't like to give that bishop away. If we do, we may have to play with a single rook against two free pawns, and winning that is very tricky.

I am talking about something like: 32...Rc1 33.Bxb5 Rc2 34.Bxc4 Kg7 35.Qxc2 Bxc2 36. Nxe5 Rxe5 37.h4, still winnable, but it can be tricky. There is also possible to have 32...Rc1 33. Bxb5 Rc2 34.Bxc4 Kg7 35.Nd2 and they may escape with the queen (or may not! @SM88: they can not take the bishop right now, that is why "it is poisoned", because of the mate in one move we have with the bishop Bh3).

You know, I always say that we win the game, I am very optimistic when I play a game, any game, it makes no sense to play knowing you will lose... but I can't evaluate the position up to the end (nobody can do that, nor big masters, neither the existent chess engines). I just play few moves in advance and "scale/weight" the advantage on the board. And [B]we have a lot of it now[/B], sooner or later they must exchange that queen for a rook to avoid the mate, and then, that's it.

I think we should keep the bishop for now, and as it makes no sense to move it back, the only moves are Bd6 or Bc7. Both are good threats, for a very strong attack on Bc5 or Bb6, but the last one is much better because it is defended by the pawn. Actually white can do nothing here, the horse is locked (because of mate, he may only put it in g1, which is bad). He may take a pawn, but we still have Bd3 to defend the second pawn and very strong attach in the same time. So, depending on their move, we can move Rc1 later (he can do nothing against Rc1, AND block the two bishops in the same time).

So, my pick is [B]Bc7[/B]. [edit: ps: Bc7 is also guarding d8, in case they escape with the queen in d2, d8+, after we go Rc1 and let the column d free, white king goes somewhere, etc :razz:]

Any opinion?

Between Rc1 and Bc7, Bc7 is the safer of the two and both lead to a win.