Why not capturing in c6 with the bishop?
This is what you should have wondered in these last weeks, while you were trying to fall asleep in your bed. After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 Bd7 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.0-0 Be7 7.Re1 exd4 8.Nxd4 0-0, we have seen 9.Bxc6 (Tarrasch - Lasker 1908). After 9...bxc6 (Tarrasch - Steinitz, 1898), White was slightly better but he had to move his bishop to d3, as this was under attack. 9...Bxc6 led, in my opinion, to a better version, as the square d7 was available for manoeuvring Black's knight.
Would it be possible to maintain the advantage of both situations? Namely, leaving Black unable to exchange his bishop d7 and White not losing a tempo to move his bishop?
This is what 9.Nxc6 might do. Let's kill the suspense altogether; it is not the critical line for Black, but this move brings to a different playable position that is worth to study, as with White you may want to vary a bit for avoiding your opponent's home preparation.
The point is that 9...Bxc6 keeps the pawn structure intact. And White can now decide whether to return to the already seen path (10.Nxc6 bxc6), or if he wants to take advantage of the fact that Black left the square f5 uncontrolled and play 10.Nf5. Another aspect to consider is that this move lead to a positional imbalance (Knight + Bishop vs. Bishop Pair), which give you something to play for, despite the objective value of the move.
The game that we are going to see is fully of inaccuracies from both sides.
Black decided to capture back with 9...bxc6 (diagram), maintaining the bishop pair and asking White to prove that he has something good to do with his gained tempo.
White has indeed many alternatives to continue this position. I like 10.Qf3, with the idea to play Nf5, but also to slow down Black's d5, to wait a bit before developing my bishop c1 (to see what my opponent wants to do), and to free the square d1 for my other rook.
Schlechter opted for 10.b3 after which Black does not waste time and challenged the center with 10...d5 (diagram). This is pretty much a natural reaction, as Black would like to take advantage of his bishops by opening the centre.
White goes for 11.e5, as straightening Black's pawn structure does not make sense. 11...Ne8 (diagram). The more aggressive 11...Bb4 12.Bd2 Bxc3 13.Bxc3 Ne4 14.Ne4 was possible and approximately equal. Black would return the bishop pair but release tension and obtain a temporarily well placed knight in e4.
The arising position is interesting because of the natural imbalances. White has a better pawn structure and may try to fight against Black's weak square (positional advantage). Black has the bishop pair and a dynamic centre and could try to claim a dynamic advantage.
Think for 5 minutes how would you continue with White.
I believe that White should try to slow down Black's plan with 12.Nf3, with the idea of playing Na4 next and perhaps also Qd4 to control and occupy the square c5. Of course, Black has his own means to fight in this position, but I believe that this move would have been consistent with White's choice in the opening. Instead, he played 12.Bb2 (diagram).
Black replied "thank you" 12...c5 and the game continued with the natural follow-up 13.Nde2 c6 14.Ng3 Nc7 15.Qd3 (diagram). Now you should take 5 minutes, and decide how to continue with Black. My suggestion is to ask yourself how White intends to play the position below, and stop it. Think a bit.
Ideally, White needs the help of his f-pawn to start an attack, and he would be enthusiastic of playing f4-f5. Therefore, Black could have erased his hopes with the powerful 15...f5. After that, he would have had the time to reorganise his pieces (Ne6, Be8 in the first place).
Instead (as I said, there are many inaccuracies in this game), Black played 15...Qc8 and White managed to accomplish himself with 16.Nce2 Re8 17.f4 (diagram).
The game continued with 17...Bf8 18.f5 d4 19.Nf4 Nd5 (diagram).
20.Nxd5 cxd5 (probably 20.Qf3 maintaining the tension was more precise, but White was too lazy to calculate the consequences after 20...Bxf5). 21.Qf3 g6?
The evaluation went up and down until now, where the position was approximately equal. Steinitz's last move is incredibly reckless and should have been punished firmly. Schlechter played 22.fxg6 and the game ended up draw at move 66. Think about the position below for 5-10 minutes and let's see if you can do better.
White could have got the upper hand with a classical pawn-break pattern, 22.e6! fxe6 23.fxg6 hxg6 24.Qg4 Kh7 25.Qh4+ Kg8 26.Qg5 Kh7 27.Rf1 Re7 28.Rf4 (diagram). Black is not losing anything yet, but the position looks indefensible. White threats to bring the other rook into the attack with Raf1, as well as Rh4+ followed by Nh5. Basically, just a matter of time.
Now you finally know what might happen if White play 9.Bxc6. This should allow you to sleep better this week :)
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