White 09

[LaurV]

[QUOTE=bsquared;353128]The whole point of Nd1 was to play c3, right?[/QUOTE]
well, actually the goal was not to push c3, but to forbid them to place that horse in the middle. c3 was just one way, but there was a horse there on the way, which needed retreated. I didn't like Nd1, nor c3, and I also don't like a3... Well, c'est la guerre... IMHO, once we retreated that horse we already lost the battle on the queen's flank, and we should concentrate to win the center. Moving a3 now is like falling in their trap (I don't think there is one, and I don't have any possibility to analyze now, but that is how it feels). Still, a3 might be better than c3 (c3 seems quite wrong now, in fact) but does not fulfill the goal of pushing back their attack in d4.

My vote:
Nf3 - 5 (the most aggressive, weighting on d4 too)
Ne2 - 3 (weighting on d4, but not so aggressive, in fact our secondary goal should be to get that horse out from d1, and the only good place is e3, now busy by the bishop, but that bishop will be soon exchanged, either in h6, if they move the horse to f6, or in d4 if they attack the center, so, to fulfill this goal the horses are much stronger in e3-f3 than in e3-e2, that is why I like Nf3 much better!)
a3 - 2
c3 - 1
f4 - 1 (well, f4 might worth considering, but it is a bit too late for it now, it would anyhow be good to prepare for Nf3, behind the pawns wall; Nf3 is indeed "the key" move now, in my opinion, either we do it right now, or in the next 2-3 moves. Also, we need to move that horse to prepare castling, getting stronger on king's flank. To remind you: my feeling is that after retreating that Nd1 and advance of b5, we somehow lost the battle on the queen's side...).

Now the vote is for a3, so we will play a3. I fear something like 9.a3 Nf6 10. Bh6 Bxh6 11.Qxh6 Nd4, where we don't have too much to play... Or... Do we?.. Hmmm...

[LaurV]

So, I will post a3, otherwise we are getting out of time again.

Today was very nice and sunny in Waldkirch (most of the day). The line 9.a3 Nf6 10. Bh6 Bxh6 11.Qxh6 Nd4, does not seems too bad after all... We can't do too much there, but neither the black...

I will go a bit shopping now... Seems like my job is almost done and finishing tomorrow what's left, I will return to Thailand on Saturday... This was lucky and I learned a lot of things from the German engineers here... The bad part is that I only had internet in the hotel (they are a bit paranoid with the internet access, there is no wireless in the company, and to connect to their internal net is impossible without special approvals... of course as the work we did did not require internet access, we gave up in requesting it). Otherwise a very solid company, with nice and well qualified people, clean offices... I would enjoy working there for sure!