ok, then then I trust that chess.com will know when and my vote goes to Rc3.

Is this game still on? Other people who have thoughts on the next move?

I'm sorry my computer has been acting up on  me so its in safe mode. I'm not sure if houdini will play like normal if i use him on this hardware, so we can either continue with mine while he may play differently i dont know, or we can use someone else. What do you think will be best?

No problem, no rush :) I just hope more people want to vote. Man vs Machine awesome! But we need more votes and ideas.

OK GUYS, SORRY ABOUT THE DELAY MY COMPUTER HAS BEEN ACTING BAD. HOUDINI PLAYS QXC7, VOTING NOW OPEN

is anybody still following this?

I am :) 

Rc3

Fellas we need an overall strategic plan before we look for moves. Whites general overall plan should be to expand on the K-side with the break f5. The pawn structure tells us this. To do this he needs to solidify the Q-side & re-route the f3 N to perhaps d3. His R lift was good as it fits in with the pawn structure (& therefore the strategic plan). I can see the logic behind putting the R on the  c-file but what happens after black moves the Q? Does it fit in with the PLAN & help the other pieces accomplish their goals? I can also see doubling with the Q&R but there are no penetrations points. Black can always close down the file if it gets too precarious with Nc6. White should work to get rid of the black B. trading his bad one for it would be ideal. Although black does have potentially weak squares on b5, b6, & c5, for long range consideration. If he ever tries playing b6 to kick out a piece on c5 the he will suffer from a weak white square complex on the whole Q-side. But those are just considerations to include with his stategic goal of playing for the f5 pawn break. Perhaps he can entertain the idea of both? Just lone opinion. Ne1

& if theres a worry about giving up the file to black then white can also play Bc3 while he maneuvers his forces elsewhere. & blacks N on b4 is stronger than the f3 one so I wouldnt worry about a trade when it arrives on d3. But certainly NOT trading bad B for the b4 N because it will weaken the a4 pawn if black retakes with the P & when white tries b3 to protect it he also weakens c3 just like if black plays b6. But Rc3 followed by Nc5 really DOES look tempting................

i see what you mean dafonzzz, however Rc3 extends the range of the bishop and claims the open file which, while it may not be useful now, may be useful later, along with preventing the queen from having it. These minor bonuses themselves may not be much, but the fact that we can get them with tempo since the queen will have to move is a bonus. So I think Rc3 followed by Ne1 is better

hmm.... I want to install houdini 1.5 but I can't figure out how to. When I've tried before I got a black screen that seems as though it wants me to enter a command. I was told to download something else along with it, winboard or something, but nothing came of it afterwards. I couldn't get houdini to load or play. Got any ideas?

If you figure this out, please post it. I have tried installing the Houdini 1.5 and the Winboard UCI, but I can't seem to get them to work very well. I can get the board to pop up, but I can't seem to get access to the control options.

i dont like winboard, i used arena and then got houdini. But i like the fritz interface best

So if I have fritz already that will be good enough to get houdini to work? I've got fritz 11

yeah you can put most engines on the fritz GUI thats what i do

Is fritz free to download online if so how to get them to interface?

i think you can get the GUI but the engine is commercial

Rc3

I think the best move against Houdini is human pulls plug. Houdini resigns since it is not able to continue without power :P