The following imbalanced position is a really nice one. The pawn-structure(s) as well as the exchange make it somewhat difficult to judge and evaluate. Especially the knight on b4 and the bishop on b1 have a rather strange, yet almost fascinating "love-hate relationship": The position of the knight assures that the bishop can´t move, while at the same time he is unable to move due to the bishop. Likewise, the bishop is both (passively) trapped and (actively) trapping!
Yes, White exerts a vital pressure on f7, but Black can cope, whereas White cannot really reinforce this pressure. Even worse, as soon as White releases the pressure on the f-file, Black´s queen might enter the c-file.
White to move - but what/why/where/how?
So let´s get back to the above position.
Remember the once upon a time introduced concept of Wu Wei? (Of all the things I wrote within this blog, this concept is one of the rare things I never forgot and never had to remind myself of...) 👦
Well, sometimes it is not that much about what I can do to improve my position, but to first recognize that the other side is absolutely tied down and immobile! Whenever I see a Wu Wei position, the first thing coming into my mind is a king march. But within the above position, where could the king go to and, even more important, why? Not only couldn´t I answer these questions, but even after knowing the right plan, I have no clue how to make sure to come up with something similar in any of my future matches...😯
Let me try to get to the solution by asking some questions. (BTW: I was very tempted to try some sort of Socratic dialogue here, like Soltis does so well in his book "Grandmaster Secrets - Endings". But this would have made this post way too long...)
Which of White´s pieces is tied most and where would be a better post for it?
What is hindering that piece to move?
What could be done to overcome this hindrance?
And now giving a more concrete hint: Would it favour White to get the above mention "love-hate related" pair off the board?
If you got the point that a trade of knight versus bishop is good for White - ok (not too difficult).
If these questions guided you towards the bishop being better placed on g4 - pretty good (since at least I was stuck thinking that spotting g6 and h7 is aboslutely ok for the bishop; it is, but the lack of imagination is the point here).
NOW try to link the Wu Wei concept and the king march with the plan to either trade knight versus bishop or allow the bishop to get to g4. While at the same time not allowing Black´s queen to enter via the c-file.
If you are now able to see the White king on d2 and the rook an c3 - excellent!
(Then it is only a small step to start with Rf3, so that the king can start its crawl and the rook can land on c3.)
It is THIS combination of concepts and plans why I consider the above being one of the most difficult positions I ever posted.
For completeness sake: After Rc3, Black had to start shifting his queen on the 8th rank. This allowed White to launch a decisive attack on the h-file - via the move g4. (So, yes, White diverted from his original plan of getting his bishop to g4. But, hey, changing plans is part of the game.) At the right time, White shifted his rook to the h-file and finally was able to apply some tactics by hammering his bishop into g6: where neither a re-take with the h- nor f-pawn saved the day for Black. (And yes, the plan to control the c-file - without some fancy idea about where the bishop would be better placed - would have reached the target, too. )
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