Originally posted by DivGradCurl
GP, I don't think 14.c3 was such a bad move... You'll have to forgive me for my barbarian thinking, but all other things being equal, I'd say the color with the central pawn has the advantage. White's opening betrayed her and she's trying to back-track to equality...
All she needed to do was play 17.Ra2 and her concept works:
[fen]r2r2k1/1pp1qppp/p ness. If she wanted something more from the opening she should have played a main line.
I like your plan, but I think it merely somewhat mitigates white's 14th move rather than justify it. Even if white does manage to force through d4 and liquidate her weakness, she is probably facing the poorer side of a "bishop vs knight with pawns on both sides of the board" ending.
I think the assumption "other things being equal" is accurate, but does not apply here- black has a good bishop, no weaknesses, and a clear plan of attack in the form of the weak d-pawn.
And of course both sides each have one center pawn.
On balance, I think white's 14th move made her position worse, not better, and the fact that white would have to play several moves to mitigate it is not a good sign.
Edit: I think GP and I made the same error- if we think 14. c3 is inferior, we are obligated to indicate an improvement. My first considerations would be 14. Re1 and Qe1- the former move indirectly pressurizes the black e-pawn and x-rays the black queen, while the latter also eyeballs the e-pawn and allows a queenside deployment along the d1-a4 diagonal if the opportunity arises.
This is one of those positions where it is drawish unless one player creates a weakness that the other one can exploit. These games aren't won so much as they are lost, and the other guy (or gal) gets the point.
I think that white could incorporate a plan with c3 followed by d4, but usually the player lines everything else up, and plays c3 immediately before d4.
30 Sep '10 19:221 edit
Chess Olympiad
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