Is it Worth Suffering for a Pawn?
How much should you suffer for a Pawn?
I entered a theoretical line in a Panov Botvinnik Caro Kann and could have been made to suffer much more.
Post analysis of this game helped me explore theoretical positions where I have learnt Black's best course of action may be
- Prepare his King to come under attack after the exchange of Bishops at d7
- King to hide at f8 or g8
- h8 Rook to be activated via ... h5 and ... Rh6
- Look for counter attacking moves to keep White from the initiative
- Seek active play with Queen and Rook along c-file
- Consider wisely any weakening to the artificial castled Kingside
- Be prepared to sacrifice exchanges for material imbalance
- Be careful of White's potentially dangerous c-pawn
This Opening position from a Panov Botvinnik Caro Kann as Black is worth exploring.
Black has captured a pawn at d4 at the expense of completing his development.
Here White played 12. Qa4+ which simply encourages the Knight to return to c6.
Critical is 12. Nxd4 Qxd4 13. Bb5+ Bd7 14. 0-0 from which I'll investigate a number of games from this position.
Can Black Defend after Forced Weakening?
This would have forced 17. ... f5 and I was worried the weakening of my Kingside would give too much compensation.
In postmortem, Black I believe can consolidate using his Queen to cover the holes.
CounterAttack through Clearance
With mutual attacks on the White Knight and Black Bishop, I only considered the retreat 25. ... Bc8.
However, I missed the possibility of a clearance with 25. ... f4! 26. gf Bg4
This is not the first time I've not considered clearance sacrifices, and it's a tactical topic I'll have to work on more.
My Game Annotations and Analysis
Thematic Games
