Originally posted by pdunne 12. Nd2? Ng4 13.Bf3? Ne3 ...
In any case, the N belongs on f3, and the last thing White wants to do is trade his light-squared B.
hmm... I guess Nc4 would have had to be played first so indeed it doesn't work but trading the bishop is not bad as long as its for blacks light bishop. The bishop is a terrible thing in that position its screaming, "Just shoot me!"
but maybe there is a way to make whites pieces better with Nd1 and c4. It doesn't look so good at first but it either closes the game up or eases up the position. Nd1 makes an exchange on f4 open up the long light squared diagonal and even though c4 weakens the d pawn if black takes en passant white takes back with the pawn and can possibly advance later... Maybe its not so good but its probably unexpected and It would sure be a learning experience.
Originally posted by tomtom232 12.Nd2 doesn't seem so bad for example
12.Nd2 Ng4 13.Bf3 with the plan of trading the bishop off and then planting the knight on c4 but I'm equally perplexed by 13.Nb1/
I was going to append this to GP's post, but yours is a better fit.
I think Nbd2 is fine, but in the game position with black not yet castled, the "normal" idea is to play a4 and then Nc4 with pressure on e5 while opening the diagonal for white's queen bishop. KID players would recognize the formation immediately, and it makes black's castling delay somewhat problematic.
That's is where I thought the Knight was heading, c4 after a4 to stop it
getting kicked with...b5. A standard KID plan.
Moving the King's Knight to the home of the Queen's Knight (b1)
and undeveloping is asking for trouble, and he got it.
1. g3 d5 2. Nf3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. O-O e5 5. d3 f6 {This is essentially a King's Indian Defense, Saemisch variation in reverse.} 6. Nbd2 {There is an interesting bit of trivia here. This game was played at the U.S Amateur Team East, and my friend Sue Gibson and I had just spent part of the morning playing over some games in GM Joe Gallagher's book THE SAEMISCH KINGS'S INDIAN where black plays ...Nbd7. This proved to be a rare opportunity to immediately apply the theory, with an extra tempo in hand because I was white!} Be6 7. c4 d4 {This effectively makes it a Benoni in reverse.} 8. a3 Qd7 9. Rb1 a5 10. Ne4 Bh3 {#The Saemisch variation is slow enough for white; it's risky to proceed as black with an uncastled king. The Saemisch setup is essentially a St. George Attack against the fianchetto. Since a flank attack is best met by a counterattack in the center, white's move is easy to predict.} 11. e3 h5 12. exd4 cxd4 13. Bd2 h4 14. b4 axb4 15. axb4 hxg3 16. fxg3 {Vacating the f2 square for the rook, a factor which will be important later.} Bxg2 17. Kxg2 Nh6 {Black's knight would be powerful on g4, so I make sure it never gets there.} 18. Bxh6 Rxh6 19. Rf2 $1 {A strong move that shuts down black's attack, and prepares to double rooks on the b-file.} Nxb4 $6 {When my opponent grabbed this pawn, I thought for a second that I might have missed something. It turns out to be a poisonous pawn for him after all.} 20. Rfb2 $16 {#White has the advantage because his pieces are better posted, and black's king is exposed. Black will lose material in the form of his b-pawn or in the form of pieces, since 21. c5! puts him "on the spot". It was worthconsidering 20. ... Ra2.} b5 21. Rxb4 Bxb4 22. Rxb4 Ra2+ 23. Kg1 f5 {The white knights prove to be very coordinated here. It was worth trying 23. ... bc.} 24. Neg5 e4 25. dxe4 fxe4 26. Nxe4 d3 27. cxb5 Qa7+ 28. Kh1 Qe3 29. Ned2 {#Black's brief flurry of play has been contained, and now white's passed b-pawn becomes significant.} Kd8 30. Rd4+ Kc8 31. Qc1+ Kb8 $4 {Black had to play 31. ... Rc2 here. The move played walks into a mating net. He resigned before white had a chance to reply. It is a mate in 9: 32. Rd8+ Kb7 33. Rd7+ Kb6 34. Qc7+ Kxb5 35. Qc4+ Kb6 36. Qb4+ Ka6 37. Qb7+ Ka5 38. Rd5+ Qc5 39. Rxc5+ Ka4 40. Qb3 mate.} 1-0