Black has an excellent position here: two bishops compared to white's clumsy knights on an open board, his rooks are better placed, black has a majority in the center and white's e pawn is really weak. Now white has some temporary tricks with the idea being that if 1. ...dxe white has any discovery with his knight he wants. But truth to be told there isn't a single discovered check which would ease white's position. White is in big trouble here. Here black actually has quite a few very promising ways to continue. I won't dwelve into particular detail on which continuation is best but if you chose one these moves: 1. ...dxe5 1. ...Rd8 1. ...Ke8 know that all these are very good options that secure black's advantage . Chess is a practical game, my decision was based on assumption that white's position will be very hard to play in practice.
So I chose the 4th option, the fancy looking:


1. ...Rxc3!?

In his excellent book HOW TO REASSESS YOUR CHESS WORKBOOK


I don't have much to add to his excellent observations and I wholeheartly recommend his book! The story on the 70 year old guy is pretty interesting as well
It is very true that we are often blinded by this point-count thing trying to find our way through this black and white jungle. But as one gets stronger positional factors are given more and more respect compared to material considerations. Also as a general rule it is easier to play with a positional advantage than with a material advantage! Material is just another positional factor.

Ok, after this rather lengthy introduction let's look at the game continuation. White is forced to recapture right?


2.bxc3

Let's discuss this for a while. Black has the two bishops, very very powerful pieces on an open board, black's rook will join the fun along the 4th rank and can even go to the queenside to attack white's horrible pawns, look at them, just look at the white queenside! It's completely horrible , it's destroyed. Those pawns will probably fall like a house of cards not to mention black's central pawn mass which will eventually give good central control and keep in mind that these are passed pawns supported by the bishops! Black will try to gradually push them up the board. Those can cause some serious headaches for white. Black also has ideas of h4 to trade of his h pawn and leave white with yet another weak pawn but black has to be careful with that not to allow the white rooks to get too much action. It's not material that counts here but piece play, white's pieces will find it very very hard to find good squares while black can just gradually build up.

Of course all this was based on a little calculation that any discovered check by the white knight after 2. ...dxe is no good for white. Let's have a look


2. ...dxe

Now in this position many of you of course see that after 3.Nf3+ white will temporarely regain the pawn and after 3. ...Ke8 4.Nxe5 4. ...Bxa3+ 5. Kb1. But what about 3.Nxb5+?

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5. Kb1

It seems that white is fine but trust me black has an excellent game here, in fact he is better in this position! This position is very hard for white to play, look at the black bishops! Slicing through the whole board both on white and dark diagonals and white the pawns still remain horrible while black can push his passed center pawns. Black's pieces are more active not to mention black has an extra pawn! So this was white's best chance

Unfortunately, in the game white played the hard to understand 3. Nb3+? :shocked: Maby he was very surprised by the exchange sac and thought he was just winning by playing any moves


3. Nb3+?

The game continued 3. ...Kc7! This doesn't allow 4.a4. What on earth is that supposed to do? You might ask. Well let's assume black centralises his bishop and blocks the check with 3. ...Bd5?! and white goes for 4.a4. Here is a diagram for you


analysis diagram

If the black bishop wouldn't be pinned black would obviously just capture on a4. Here however this would loose the proud bishop on d5 after c4. The line 4. a4 4. ...bxa 5. c4 5... axb 6. cxd 6. ...bxc is ok for black, however why open up files for the white rooks and trade all of white's weaknessess?



The other point why this is good for white is he could trade an unhealthy pawn ( weak, isolated ) into black's healthy one on b5 and leave black with a weak pawn. Something black certainly wants to avoid! Moreover white's rooks NEED open files thus another point of the pawn advance is clear: the a file is now open. Why allow this? Back to 3. ...Kc7!

4.Kb2 protecting the a pawn 4. ...f5 passed pawns must be pushed! This also takes good control of the centre. Look how strong the black pawns are, completely locking down the white rooks. Try to find a move for white here, it's not easy! Black controls the whole board! 5.Rge1 hitting the d pawn thus 5. ...Bd6


5. ...Bd6

I'll stop here. Black has a complete control of the game and the white pieces, look at them, they are pathetic , they simply don't have anything to do! Neither his knight or his rooks ( notice that there are no open files for his rooks! There are half-open ones but my center pawns are very very strong so his rooks are just bitting granite ) have good squares. He'll have to sit and wait while I will gradually improve my position. Later I brought my rook ( notice how active my rook will be on the 4th rank, he can join the fun in any part of the board and prevents white's a4 and c4 breaks, activity is very very important for rooks ) to the 4th rank and gradually strangled white to death by combining my central advance with threats on both wings


This was a very complicated example to explain and I'm sure some of you might not agree with me. So I would love to start a disccusion going if that's the case!
Thanks for your patience, I hope you enjoyed my lengthy explanations as much as I did trying to understand the mysteries of this ending. If you have any comments or feedback please send a PM or encouragement is what keeps us going!





Thanks to Josh for the grammar check. If you find any grammar mistakes, contact him!