 |
| White has just played 8.Bc1-d2 |
*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
White is a pawn up, and is slightly ahead in development in that White has four pieces developed (queen, bishop and two knights), while Black has two (bishop and knight), but has also castled.
If left undisturbed, White will, next move, castle long, after which he will have no worries.
Black's obvious move to delay castling is ...Re8+, but there is also ...Ng4 to be considered, which indirectly delays castling by threatening the triple fork ...Nf2 (if White has castled, the knight would hit the queen and both rooks).
I chose 8...Ng4?, and was rewarded by the sequence 9.Ne4?? Bf5, after which, as I showed in my annotations to the game, Black has a large advantage.
However, while Ne4 was a blunder, turning a winning position into a losing one. according to Stockfish18 and Dragon1, the idea is correct.
But the right way to implement it is with 9.Ng5, threatening checkmate. Black can defend against the threat by 9...g6, or 9...Re8+ 10.Be2 g6, but in each case there follows ...Nce4, when White simultaneously defends f2 and attacks c5.
LESSON: when you have two moves that seem to answer an important need in the opening, but one of the moves involves moving an already developed piece, while the other move develops an extra piece, you must be absolutely certain the former move is significantly better as you are not helping your development.
