 |
| Materially there is not much in it - Black has rook and two pawns for a pair of minor pieces - but how should White proceed? |
*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
The game went 23.Bc4+ Kh8 24.Re1?, apparently putting pressure on the passed pawn. But after 24...e3 25.Nf3 Re4 White loses a piece.
Instead White should have blockaded the passed pawn.
Normally this would call for withdrawing the dark-square bishop, but here 24.Be3? runs into 24...Rcd8 25.Qc3 Rd3!
So necessary was 24.Qe3, which Stockfish16 and Komodo14.1 reckon would have been even stronger the previous move.
LESSON: Aron Nimzowitsch warned that passed pawns have a "lust to expand," and the danger of that happening can be just as great in a middlegame as in an ending.
Isn't White's first inaccurate move 23.Bc4+? 23.Be3 is playable, although it may not be as good as 23.Qe3.
ReplyDeleteAfter 23.Be3 Rcd8, White can play either 24.Qc4+ or 24.Qc3 and if then 24...Rd3 25.Qxc7 is good for White.
The bishop is better left on e2 because it obstructs the queen on c4.
Yes, you may well be right. It only goes to reinforce the idea that 'lusty' passed pawns should be blockaded asap.
Delete