What would you play?

What would you play in the following position:




I found a little tactic here, that I think is the best move in the position for white - what would you play here?

My first thought was Nc4 .. but i'm not sure that its better for white after Qc3 ..

Originally posted by cmsMaster
What would you play in the following position:

[fen]7r/2pk4/Q1n1pq2/2Pp1p1p/6pP/4P1P1/P2N2P1/1R4K1 w - - 0 30[/fen]


I found a little tactic here, that I think is the best move in the position for white - what would you play here?

Originally posted by Regicidal
nc4 threatens nd6 cxd6 rb7ch. If ...dxc4, then rd1ch

Originally posted by idioms
After 1. Nc4 Qc3 2. Nd6 Qxc5 white is lost though

Originally posted by Regicidal
what about if ...qc3, nb6ch?

I would probably play Nc4, after having weighted that move against Qd3. However, do not expect mor than about equal chances after Nc4 and either:
- dxc4 Rd1+ Ke7 Qxc6 Qe5, or
- Rb8

Originally posted by idioms
My first thought was Nc4 .. but i'm not sure that its better for white after Qc3 ..

Originally posted by GinoJ
I like your avatar.

Originally posted by idioms
Thanks .. I'm not sure that anyone else noticed 😉

Yeah, I decided on Nc4 as well - it seems just slightly better than Qd3. This move came just after I blundered a nice edge away.

Here's the game

[Event "Friendly Game, 10m + 0s"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2007.01.31"]
[Round "?"]
[White "CMSMaster"]
[Black "Valentino25"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D38"]
[Annotator "Johnson,Mike"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2007.01.31"]
[TimeControl "600"]

1. d4 {
I've been experimenting a bit with 1.d4 today, although I still prefer 1.e4 5}
d5 {2} 2. c4 {5} e6 {3} 3. Nc3 {3} Nf6 {7} 4. Nf3 {7} Bb4 {QGD Ragozin Defense,
seems to be pretty solid for both sides and is played with some regularity in
top level events. (i.e. Corus 2007) 2} 5. Bg5 {5} Bxc3+ $5 {
Not the book move, white seems to have a slight edge in this line. 4} 6. bxc3 {
2} h6 {1} 7. Bh4 {3} g5 {9} 8. Bg3 {2} Ne4 {Despite having an adanced knight
black is clearly losing in this line. White can look to trade knights with
Nd2, and black's pawn structure is a mess. 12} 9. Qc2 {7} f6 {33} 10. e3 {9} h5
{5} 11. h4 {21} g4 {19} 12. Nd2 {12} Nxg3 {5} 13. fxg3 {
White is even better with the intermediate Qg6+ 2} f5 $16 {5} 14. Bd3 {4} Qd6 {
14} 15. Nf1 {11} Nc6 {6} 16. c5 {19} Qd7 {14} 17. Nd2 {6} Qf7 {34} 18. O-O {4}
Bd7 {7} 19. Rab1 {11} O-O-O $4 {
A blunder, black castles on the wrong side, white has a strong attack now. 13}
20. Qb3 $18 {4} b6 {16} 21. cxb6 {2} axb6 {29} 22. Ba6+ {3} Kb8 {7} 23. c4 {22}
Bc8 {28} 24. Bxc8 {8} Kxc8 {5} 25. c5 {2} bxc5 {10} 26. Qb7+ {7} Kd7 {5} 27.
dxc5 $2 $11 {Nb3 allows white to continue with his vicious attack, this move
allows black to get a very equal position and very good drawing chances. 4} Rb8
{18} 28. Qa6 {13} Rxb1 {9} 29. Rxb1 {3} Qf6 {38} 30. Nc4 $5 {The best move in
the position, black cannot avoid giving back the knight. The position is
still equal at this point. 23} dxc4 {19} 31. Rd1+ {2} Ke7 {41} 32. Qxc6 $11 {3}
Qe5 {20} 33. Qd7+ {39} Kf6 {8} 34. Qd4 {20} Qxd4 {12} 35. exd4 {2} Rd8 {13} 36.
Kf2 {3} Ra8 {22} 37. Rd2 {19} Ra4 {15} 38. Rc2 {4} c3 {21} 39. Ke3 {9} e5 {22}
40. dxe5+ {5} Kxe5 {4} 41. Kd3 {14} Rd4+ {11} 42. Kxc3 {10} Kd5 {6} 43. c6 $5 {
. 45} Rc4+ {4} 44. Kb3 {3} Rxc6 $4 {
The point of c6, white now has a won king and pawn endgame. 6} 45. Rxc6 {2}
Kxc6 {2} 46. Kc4 {1} Kb6 {2} 47. Kb4 {13} c6 {3} 48. a4 {4} Kc7 {4} 49. Kc5 {1}
Kb7 {CMSMaster reconnected. 1} 50. a5 {2} Ka6 {2} 51. Kxc6 {1} Kxa5 {1} 52. Kd5
{1} Kb4 {0} 53. Ke5 {1} Kc3 {1} 54. Kxf5 {1} Kd3 {2} 55. Kg5 {0} Ke2 {1} 56.
Kxh5 {Time ' White wins on time, but the game is over anyway. 0} 1-0