I just checked with Fritz and 11...Bf6 seem to do better. 12.Nxe4 may not be the correct continuation for this like I mentioned before due to a Bxb2 down somewhere in the line. It must be 12.cxd5 or 12.Nxd5. White has the initiative in any case, and 90% of the games are in favor of white in the database afer 11.Nf5. I would think then this is a line decided in favor of White! You should be familiar with some more ideas arising out of 12.cxd5 and 12.Nxd5 after 11...Bf6 to drive home the advantage for white though.

Btw, I didn't find any games for 11...g6!!

So the rationale must be, Black cannot afford to lose the dark square bishop in exchange for a Knight with g6 committed.

Now, moving forward from 11...g6 up until 20.f3 where Krish introduced this interesting move, the moves played by everyone looks to be the best.

On 13th move I thought of 13...Nxc3 over 13...Re8 for black, but, it is going to be a different game and I'm not sure if this line has more chances of drawing than 13...Re8. May be, Kalten can tell us why he decided against 13...Nxc3.

17...Nb4 by Kalten must be the best choice under the circumstances.

Some of my during the game notes below (in brown):

17. a3 and 17.Bh3 doesn't work very well. Analysis later.

so 17.e3. Though it blocks the bishop (the bishop is safe for anyway), it defends that pawn without requiring extra force deployment.

After 17.e3



Black options are 17...Nb4, 17...Nf6, 17...Qe6.

17...Nf6 18.Qd6! (I think, idea Bg5) 18...Ng4 (18...Ne4 19.Qc7! with multiple threats +/-; 18...Qxd6 19.Rxd6 Ne4 20.Bxe4! Rxe4 21.Rfd1! +/- for example 21...Rxc4 22.Rxd7 Rc8 23.R1d6 winning. quite a few winning or tieing up lines are there.) 19.Bf4 h5? (19...Nce5 may be) 20.h3 Nf6 21.Bxc6 +- winning.

17...Nb4 18.Qb7 only move, good move 18...d6 more or less forced. 19.Qxe7 Rxe7 20.a3 Nc6 21.Rd3 and if 21...Na5 22.b3 etc. and if 21...Ne5 22.Bxe4

17...Qe6 18.Bxe4 Qxe4 19. Bg5 Rc8 (19...Qxd5 20.Rxd5 Nd7 21.Rd6! +/-) 20.b3 and white should get d7 and a7 pawn for a2 pawn.

For 17...a6 and 17...a5 white can try the 18.Bxe4 idea.

What do you guys think? Any other interesting ideas/lines during this opening phase?

Okay, continuing on my lecture we already saw for 22.Rf2. And 23...d5 was a blunder obviously.

After 23...d5



24.Bg5! Re6 25.Bh3 (good move I think) 25...Rd6 26.cxd5 simply pockets a pawn while keeping the double B's. And 24...Kg7 loses the pawn too.

Krish brought some balance into the game with 24.cxd5? And so whatever we played from here after 24.cxd5 up until 27.e4 looks to be the correct continuation.

Below were my thoughts during the d5 capture. A lengthy line, but hey, it shouldn't be that hard to go level 20 or 22 or whatever. But that line was not working to white's advantage. I'll add some more lines for 27...Nf6 later.

24...Rxd5 (24...Nxd5 obviously loses) 25.Rxd5 Nxd5 26.b4! Nb7 only move (26...cxb4?? 27.Rc8+ Re8 28.Rxe8+ #; 26...Nb3? 27.e4 Nd4 28.Rc4 Nf6 29.bxc5 +/-) 27.e4! (27.f4? Nxe3! 28.Re2 Nd6 and black can manage in many ways. 28.Rd2 doesn't help either.) 27...Nf6 (27...Nc7 doesn't look good) 28.Bg5 Kg7 (28...Re6? e5! +/- should be clear plus to whatever black responds) 29.f4 h6 30.Bh4 (30.Bxf6 Kxf6 31.e5+ Ke6 32.Bxb7 Rxb7 33.bxc5 Rc7 34.c6 Kd5 35.Rd2+ Kxc6 36.Rc2+ Kd7 37.Rxc7 Kxc7 38.Kf2 Kc6 39.Ke3 Kc5 fizzles out probably. ) 30...Rd7 and white should have chances with double B. If 31.e5 Ng5 is kind of tricky with multiple ideas like Nxe5, Rook back rank check etc.

Krish's 27...Nc7 may be better than 27...Nf6. Because now Knight is trying to come to d4 via e6. I am not sure how white should proceed here. Be3 with a threat on taking c5 while controlling d4 is one plan for white. Another plan might be to just ignore the d4 control and to proceed with the idea of f4-5-6.

Here is the position after 27.e4



Anyhow, the game goes 27...Nc7 28.Be3 Ne6 and Kalten follows it up with what I think to be the correct attacking plan for white with 29.f4!

After 29.f4



Here, 29...cxb4 from Sam, who was doing exceptional well, really, with his moves thus far, could be a mistake for two reasons. It opens up the c-file for white rook but more than that it allows an immediate for white attack with f5!! f5 looked brilliant to me which I thought RB missed out. Okay somewhat speculative, but hadn't recorded my thoughts at that time since I didn't fully calculate it. There were some dangers associated with that attack and I wasn't sure 100%. I will try to recollect and come up with the lines I had in mind.

Meanwhile, some lines on black's 29th turn, mainly keeping on the back of the mind of the f5 push from white.

Some options here are 29...f6, 29...Nd6, 29...a5 and 29...Kg7. And 29...cxb4 and 29...f5 that leaves a lasting weakness I believe can be left out.

29...f6! looks good. if 30.f5 gxf5 31.exf5 Ng7 and go loot the f5-pawn! and if 32.g4 then h5 would probably be better than taking Bishop with Rxe3. and if 32.Bxb7 then Rxb7 probably better than taking Bishop with Rxe3.

29...Nd6 30.bxc5 bxc5 (30...Nxc5? loses pawn to 31.Bxc5 bxc5 32.e5 and if 32...Nb7 33.Bxb7 Rxb7 34.Rxc5 and rook ending with pawn plus should win for white.) 31.g4 Nb5 32.a5 {32.f5 interesting sacing a-pawn} Nd4 33.Rd2 etc. If black were to lose the isolated c-pawn the game is gone, so I'm not very sure about this line.

29...a5 30.f5 threatening f6 would leave black in a bind. f5-should be stopped.

29...Kg7 30.f5 Nd4 31.Bxd4 cxd4 and pawn is not falling easily but not sure about in the long term.

Sorry guys, bit busy. I'll add more analysis soon.