Lessons From Bad Bertrich: Bound-less

MY round five game reached the following equal position in the late-middlegame.

White has just played 31.Rc2-b2 in Heikki Westerinen (GM 2205) - Spanton (1946)

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The position is completely equal, according to Stockfish17 and Dragon1, but as soon as I played 31...b5?, my opponent, who had sat impassively until this point, sort of half-shrugged, half-raised his eyebrows.

The point, which he saw instantly, is that trying to stabilise the queenside with one emphatic move only creates weaknesses along the c file.

After 32.Rc2 the engines reckon White had at least the upper hand.

LESSON: heroes often break free with one bound in adventure tales, but it rarely occurs on the chessboard.