Move 12
 

Their move 12.a4 takes the b5 square for themselves, on which I guess they might hope to plant a knight or bishop, and gives up the b3 and b4 squares from which we can profit at some point later after we increase our pressure down the b file with our heavy pieces. That's how I see it at the moment, anyway.

So, what to do now? Our plan was to play ...Ba6 and exchange this bishop. Another plan is to play ...Ne8 and ...Nc7 to exchange whatever piece (their bishop or their c3 knight) comes to b5. We do, I think, need to contest b5 one way and another because if they plant an unassailable piece there then they have blocked the b file and we can't get play down there.

So my two suggestions at the moment are 12...Ba6 and 12...Ne8.

What do you both think?

I also think those are only moves to choose from. As white in response to Ba6 I would play Nc4 hoping for an exchange.

Let's say 12 .. Ba6 since you've been preparing to do that.
Then it might go 13. Nc4 .. Qc2 14. BxB .. RxB and then what?
Alternately perhaps we can get a bit aggressive:
12 .. Ba6 13. Nc4 .. Qb4 !?
Attacks N on c4 and through that P on e4, both vulnerable
if the B's get exchanged. Any drawbacks to this attack at this time?

[QUOTE=davar55;399414]Let's say 12 .. Ba6 since you've been preparing to do that.
Then it might go 13. Nc4 .. Qc2 14. BxB .. RxB and then what?
Alternately perhaps we can get a bit aggressive:
12 .. Ba6 13. Nc4 .. Qb4 !?
Attacks N on c4 and through that P on e4, both vulnerable
if the B's get exchanged. Any drawbacks to this attack at this time?[/QUOTE]
Your first line is impossible because after 12...Ba6 13.Nc4 Qc7 the diagonal is blocked for the exchange of bishops.
But your second suggestion 12...Ba6 13.Nc4 Qb4!? is very interesting. I had not noticed the possibility before. On first glance it looks to me as if they are forced to retreat again with 14.Nd2. (Not 14.Na3 Nxe4, or 14.Qd3 Ne5.)

If 13...Qb4 does indeed refute their move 13.Nc4, then I definitely like 12...Ba6 now. A likely continuation might be 12...Ba6 13.Bxa6 Qxa6 14.Nb5 Rfc8 followed by ...Ne8 and ...Nc7 to challenge their knight on b5 and then later set our sights on their weak point at b2 enhanced by the open lines from g7 and b8/b7/b6.
EDIT: In that last line they can only temporarily establish a knight on b5 because we can manoeuvre both of our knights in turn to c7 to exchange each one off. For example, 12...Ba6 13.Bxa6 Qxa6 14.Nb5 Rfc8 15.Nc4 Ne8 16.Nca3 Nc7 17.Rb1 Nxb5 18.Nxb5 Nb6 19.Bg5 Kf8 20.f4 Rab8 21.Qg4 Na8 22.Rf3 Nc7. We can, I think, defend adequately on the kingside, their attack being less dangerous without knights on the board, and our play down the b file is ready to get off the ground.

It does seem that 12... Ba6 is the better move all around, we either gain a better position or exchange material on our terms to gain an advantage in terms of attacking. Let's hammer it another 24 hours to examine all the other possible moves white may respond with.

[QUOTE=WMHalsdorf;399459]It does seem that 12... Ba6 is the better move all around, we either gain a better position or exchange material on our terms to gain an advantage in terms of attacking. Let's hammer it another 24 hours to examine all the other possible moves white may respond with.[/QUOTE]
Yes. They certainly have other possibilities. One is an immediate 13.Nb5, leaving us with the option of exchanging on b5 or amassing the knight support to c7 first. Or they might ignore the f1-a6 diagonal completely with a move which just continues their own plans, such as 13.Rb1, or 13.Kh1 (preparing an advance of the f pawn), or 13.f4 immediately, or 13.Re1. All of these leave us with the option of playing 13...Bxe2 or continuing with our knight manoeuvres and/or b file occupation. None of their possible replies to 12...Ba6 leaves me particularly worried at the moment.

Even after looking at some of the less likly moves available for white I see nothing wrong with Ba6

I see we moved 12. .. Ba6, with which I concur.

[QUOTE=davar55;399670]I see we moved 12. .. Ba6, with which I concur.[/QUOTE]
Good to know you concur.

There's always a risk with this set-up that a move could be played before all members of the team are happy with it. That occurred in the previous game rather spectacularly (I wasn't in the team in question, WMH was). So I wonder if we need to hash out some sort of protocol for when the move ought to be made.

Our captain WMHalsdorf did give a sort of 24-hour warning before playing it more than 24 hours later without any objection being voiced. It's always tricky to know when silence from team members should be interpreted as agreement. Sometimes, of course, individual team members might not be around for a few days.

Does anyone have any comments about how we are reaching agreement on when to move, and any suggestions for how we could do it better?