Here is a series of analysis as it "evolved".
Here is Tony quote
"
3) No one has mentioned the surprising 22. Rb2! yet, which I think is the best move. The point is that now 22...d5 23. exd5 Nd6 24. c5! Nb5?? just loses to 25. Nxb5, since 25...Bxc3 isn't check anymore! Whoops! I have been going back and forth with a friend over ICC exchanging analysis in a very similar position without h4 and h5 inserted. Unfortunately the ideas I found for Black in that position aren't usable here, since the insertion of h4 and ...h5 makes a difference. I haven't found a good line here for Black, although maybe I just haven't looked hard enough! "
Resigning Soon
"This probably is white's best continuation now that you mention it.
I've looked at 20...Ne8 21.Rb1 Rc8 22.Rb2 d5 23.exd5 Nd6 24.c5 Qxc5 25.Qxc5 Rxc5 26.Rc1 Kh7 or ...Rxd5 among other moves. So we have a pawn for the exchange, can we draw? I think as long as we have the bishops we can, white still has plenty of targets for us to hit (h4,f3,c2, and h2).
I can't find an improvement over 22...d5 in any case."
Tony "Recently I've taken a look at 23...Qxc4 as a better option. It seems to me that if we're going to trade queens, this way keeps the initative a little bit more since he has to do something about the pinned d4-knight. Also, since we've already taken the c4 pawn, maybe c7 is a better square for the knight here. I don't know though, I'm uneasy about trading queens down a whole chess set."
Resigning Soon "23...Qxc4 24.Qxc4 Rxc4 25.Rd1 Nc7 does seem a bit better, not sure though. I like the lines that don't allow c3 for white."
That's where the analysis ended. It also wouln't hurt to look at move 20's analysis of other white moves. The ideas may come in handy.
It would be interesting to see what people have to say regarding the following two lines, which seem to me to be close in value:
22...d5 23. exd5 Nd6 24. c5 Qxc5 25. Qxc5 Rxc5
and
22...d5 23. exd5 Qxc4 24. Qxc4 Rxc4 25. Rd1 Nc7
I can't decide which one is better as of now. Maybe we need to flesh out the lines further (duh), and decide then.
Originally posted by ptoblerI'm sure someone will point out an issue with 22...Be6 but it looks good to me, I'm struggling to see what d5 will achieve other than getting our knight active - capturing the c-pawn with the bisop would be preferable in keeping the queens on the board?
After my first look, 22...Be6 looks brilliant! The move to make