In this post, I am going to reinforce the concept of the comparison method to select between variations. The first time that I introduce you to this topic was in exercise no.3. That example was also useful for other aspects, while this one is better to understand the finesses of this method.
In the position above, Black is dominating the position because of material advantage (he is a pawn up) and positional advantages (bishop pairs, the superiority of the bishop limiting the knight). Ideally, Black would love to play the intuitive 1…Bb3 attacking the knight, and later winning the b4-pawn. All my students went for this move, but they missed White’s correct response suggesting the mild 2.Qe2, which means that they are not paranoid enough!
When I played this position, I started with a positional evaluation, went for a natural move that my evaluation was suggesting to me, and then used calculation and prophylactic thinking together. When you analyse, your task is to try finding the best moves for your opponent as if you were playing with his colour. In fact, 1…Bb3 does not work because of the brilliant 2.bxc5! Bxc2 3.c6 Bd3 4.c7 and if now Black captures the queen, White promotes with the check and wins the bishop back 4…Bxb5 5.c8=D+ Kg7 6.Qxc3+. Ideally, Black has still a pawn more, but he does not have any initiative, and we have an endgame with opposite-coloured bishops, which is likely to be just a dead draw.
However, in the initial position White is passive and Black does not need to force events like the variations we just saw. Instead, he should think why the line he has just analysed did not work. The reason is very concrete: White saved himself thanks to the promotion with check. This little revelation can turn into a great Eureka moment. Black can just threat Bb3 by playing the powerful, prophylactic move 1…Kg7!? The idea is easy: if you compare Bb3 before with the in g8 and now with the king in g7, you immediately see the difference.
In this particular case, we have the luxury of using this method because Black is dominating the position and White has nothing active to do. Do not underestimate the power of letting your opponent with no moves. Here, White panicked and played 2.Nd4? hoping that I would exchange pieces. Instead, after the simple 2…a6! 3.Qxb6 cxd4 Black is a piece up and went to win the game later.
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