Move 39
 

Bb4 seems best here. We will lose our g pawn, but will be able to protect our h pawn. :ermm:

Yes. White threatens Be6 or Bd1 now, winning the a pawn. If we allow that I see little hope of stopping their passed a pawn whose queening square is controlled by their bishop. Sacrificing a piece for that pawn leaves us a rook down.

Apart from 39...Bb4, the only other two moves I see which allow us to keep the a pawn are 39...Bd8 (but this fails to protect our h pawn), and an initial 39...Bc5+ before playing ...Bb4 but that merely presents them with an extra tempo to bring their king into play.

I agree with 39...Bb4.

I'm awake at 0230 local here getting ready to go to the airport to fly to New York, so my thoughts may be scrambled, but how about considering h5?

I will look more at this move tomorrow since I will be flying with my 11 month old granddaughter and I doubt I will have time on the flight to analyse this move.

[QUOTE=richs;379289]I'm awake at 0230 local here getting ready to go to the airport to fly to New York, so my thoughts may be scrambled, but how about considering h5?

I will look more at this move tomorrow since I will be flying with my 11 month old granddaughter and I doubt I will have time on the flight to analyse this move.[/QUOTE]
Do you have time to write down your motivation for the move ...h5, Rich? It just looks silly to me at the moment. Tell us what you're thinking about!

EDIT: What do you intend after 39...h5 40.Bd1 N-any 41.Rxa5?

I obviously haven't thought it through fully but I was hoping attacking their bishop may give us another way to go.

Have a good flight, Rich. Hope you get time to log in occasionally from New York.

From Thursday I'll be much less reachable too, but I'll try to get here occasionally.

Upon reasoned reflection, here's an h5 line:

39 ... h5
40 Rxa5 Nc5
41 Be2 Kf7
42 Bc4+ Kf6
43 Kf2 we lose our a pawn but end up in a balanced drawing position

How about:

39 ... Nc5
40 Rxg6 Nxa4
41 Rxh6 Kf7
42 Bh5+ Kg7
43 Rg6+ Kf8 we lose our g and h pawns but with drawing possibilites by repeated moves

Have to head off now but will look further at Bb4.

I don't really understand either of your lines, Rich.

In the first one, if 39...h5 40.Rxa5 we have the choice of taking bishop or rook, the latter especially being clearly winning for us. I think if 39...h5 then simply 40.Bd1 N-any 41.Rxa5 is more to the point. This is what they are threatening now, and 39...h5 does nothing about the threat as far as I can see.

And on 39...Nc5 simply 40.Rxa5.

In my opinion the key to our position is to hold our a pawn. If we lose that then their passed a pawn marches to victory, I think costing us a piece to stop it, leaving us a rook down and a hopelessly lost game.

That's why I think we need to play 39...Bb4 safeguarding our a pawn. We lose our g pawn but that is, in my opinion, not so clearly losing for us.

Just so you know:

I'm now about to enter a 10-day stage when I will be here very rarely, or in a worst case scenario not at all.

If I'm not heard from again before we move, my vote currently goes to 39...Bb4. I would also support 39...Bc5+ if that gets a majority.

I note from the absences thread that David should be returning in about a day. Hopefully David's views will add to the general clarity.

Thinking a move ahead... I have seen this scenario:

39...Bb4
40.Rxg6 Nc5
41.Rxh6 Nxa4

Now if we can shepherd our pawn to promotion, maybe with our King backing up play, could we win? :smile:

I haven't had time to look at Bb4 with all my family activities on vaction, but I know my analyses of the other two lines have been rushed so I am ok with Bb4.