Lessons From York

IN round one I was on the black side of a Maróczy Bind, which reached the following position after White's 15th move.

White has just played 15.b3 in Aaron Rich (2134) - Spanton (1936)

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White enjoys the space advantage that traditionally comes with a Maróczy Bind, and is not saddled with a bad light-square bishop, as often happens.

Black needs to break the bind, usually by getting in ...f5, ...d5 or, most common, ...b5.

Here White has the d5 square firmly under control, while 15...f5? is weakening, and can be met by 16.Rfe1 with a positionally won game, according to Stockfish17 and Dragon1.

That leaves playing for ...b5.

A sensible way to start is 15...a6, but another decent move is 15...Rac8, putting indirect pressure on the knight.

I preferred 15...Rfc8, with the same idea of pressurising c3, while at the same time leaving the queen's rook to support ...a5-a4 (after probably first playing ...Qb4).

However my move, while not bad, runs counter to the following Maróczy Bind rule-of-thumb.

LESSON: the black king's rook is often needed for defence on the kingside in the event of White playing f4 (in the game, 16.f4 was indeed played), so it is as well to leave it on f8 until, and unless, White spends a tempo on the typical Maróczy Bind reinforcing-move f3.