Chessmaster vs RHP

Wow, a lot of quick replies there whilst I wrote mine. I still don't like g5 because CM won't play Rxe4, I think en passant is more likely.

I like micarr's suggestion, I am always too lax in getting my Queen into action in my own games but I like the look of it, it gives the Queen a lot of pieces to defend at once but I think it looks pretty sound, judging by micarr's rating I think we should maybe go with him 😉

I really think we need to look very carefully at g5. Its surprisingly good.

As I've already stated Rxe4 loses to qd3

Other candidate moves are:

19. Rf2 (I've looked at that above)
19. Rg4
19. fxg6 e.p.

Lets start with Rg4

19. Rg4 Bd3! 20. Qd4 Qxd4 21. exd4 f6! 22. h4 h5 23. Rg3 g4

whites bishops are still locked and useless and any freeing move such as b4 to activate the dark square bishop can be met with Nc4 threatening to swap off "knight on the rim".

Now onto fxg6 e.p.

19. fxg6 e.p. fxg6 And whats the threat? White has only the queen and kings rook out!

20. Rxf8 Qxf8 Threatening to land on f1 again. So not that.

20. Qc3 (aiming to break with d3?) Qb6 (with a pin on the e4 pawn!)
21. g3 Rxf4 22. gxf4

I really think g5 is our best option.

..g5 will be a good move, but with proper timing. white is totally tied down so there is no reason to rush lever moves. why not take 1 more move to clamp down on b3 and protect e4. it feels like many lines lead to white playing f6. after the diagonal is closed we can attack the kingside with ..g5
..Qd5 looks the most solid. it importantly holds b3, leaving only ..d3 to bring the dark bishop out. this gives us a passed pawn in most lines. i realize most of these statements follow wut micarr said. i read his posts first and did not intentionally say everything over again but it all makes sense.

I also like Qd5. It's a solid move, does not unneccesarily weaken our kingside, connects the 2 rooks, keeps a clamp on b3, centralizes the queen.

What more could you ask for from 1 move. I also like the futher idea of maybe Nb3 in the further getting the knight of the rim. Qd5 supports this idea also.

Why are you guys so quickly dismissing g5? What is the problem with it? I only see advantages.

Originally posted by exigentsky
Why are you guys so quickly dismissing g5? What is the problem with it? I only see advantages.

We can also play g5 later on anyway.

Originally posted by RahimK
Honestly I didn't even consider such a move. I believe in developing pieces rather then pushing more pawns.

Get your pieces out and then attack. Like the chess saying goes, "Help your pieces help you. Develop them."

The points others and I mentioned about Qd5 are all good. To me g5 just leaves to many options available to white and plus it doesn't help us develop and weakens the kingside.

That's why I'm going with Qd5.

Before voting, I would recommend looking at the position after 18. ... g5?! 19. fxgep:

Originally posted by Tengu
I really think we need to look very carefully at g5. Its surprisingly good.

As I've already stated Rxe4 loses to qd3

Other candidate moves are:

19. Rf2 (I've looked at that above)
19. Rg4
19. fxg6 e.p.

Lets start with Rg4

19. Rg4 Bd3! 20. Qd4 Qxd4 21. exd4 f6! 22. h4 h5 23. Rg3 g4

whites bishops are still locked and useless and any freein ...[text shortened]... (with a pin on the e4 pawn!)
21. g3 Rxf4 22. gxf4

I really think g5 is our best option.

Originally posted by RahimK
What about:

19.Rg4 Bd3 20.Rxe4 (just a thought) Nc6 21.Qa5 Bxe4 22.Qxe4

This line is the most probable I think:

19.fxg6 e.p. fxg6 Not sure. Every move for White looks bad.

20.Bc2 Rxf4 21.exf4 Qd5

20.b3 Rxf4 21.exf4 Qf6 22.Rb1 Bd3 23.Bb2 Qxf4

g5 looks tempting, that's for sure. I'm sure we are missing something though. Is there any other decent moves after 19...fxg6?

I agree g5 is direct. It is aggressive. It fights for space. I personally like it. It suits my style and the way I want to play.

Qd5 just doesnt do anything for me. What exactly does our queen do from d5 that it doesnt do from d8?

Exigentsky is right in my view so my vote stays with g5. I will, of course, cede to the majority!!

Originally posted by exigentsky
For 18. ...g5 19. Rg4, I think f6 would probably be better than Bd3, so I won't continue the analysis.

After 18..g5 19. fxg6 fxg6 20. Rxf8+ Qxf8 21. d3 Bxd3 I really think we have a positional advantage. (just look at the bishop on c1)

Originally posted by Tengu
I agree g5 is direct. It is aggressive. It fights for space. I personally like it. It suits my style and the way I want to play.

Qd5 just doesnt do anything for me. What exactly does our queen do from d5 that it doesnt do from d8?

Exigentsky is right in my view so my vote stays with g5. I will, of course, cede to the majority!!