Help to understand why position is winning for Black

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Avatar of alexeyfeigin

Helllo!

I am ~1200. I recently played a 3|2 game with Black

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/63169153847?tab=analysis

(The game itself is not that important, but may provide some context.)

After analysing with the engine later, I found a variation which I did not go into because I did not realise how good it is for Black (-2.4). It's White to move here:


My question is, how do you evaluate this position?

Black is a pawn up, which at my level is about is a slight advantage. I do not see any immediate threats Black is making. The extra pawn is a hanging pawn; Black has the bishop pair.

Can you clearly see that this is almost winning for Black? Is it obvious? Are there positional features here I should be looking for?

Avatar of AlphaTeam

You are missing a tactic I believe. Bg2 is the winning move. It forks the knight and rook. I believe best response for white is to play Kf2 and allowing the bishop for a rook trade. Any other move loses the knight or rook for nothing I believe. 

Avatar of alexeyfeigin

It is White to move. He has Rg1, Kf2 or Kh4.

Avatar of alexeyfeigin

I guess I should have been explicit and said Black has the threat of Bg2, which can easily be defended as far as I can tell.

Avatar of tygxc

A solid pawn up and the bishop's pair should suffice to win.

Avatar of alexeyfeigin

Thanks. Any advice on how I should use the bishop pair in this position? Where are they best placed? What pawn breaks should I be going for?

Avatar of tygxc

@6

The plan to win with an extra pawn is to create a passed pawn and queen it. In this case ...f5 and ...e4.
The most valuable bishop is the unopposed one: Bf8. This should be activated ...Bg7. Then the rooks should be centralised Rf8 and Re8 to prepare ...f5 and ...e4. The king can go to d7 or can castle O-O-O.

Avatar of RemovedUsername333

The position is better for black because the pieces have more attacks. If you consider the following: 

Ne6, Bd5 Nxf2

Avatar of alexeyfeigin
Thank you to everyone, for your responses.

Here is a position from the game, which is similar to the one I posted, evaluated similarly by the engine (-2.6). It is a little earlier on in the variation.

Black to move:
 

The queens will get traded and we will reach a position similar to what I posted.

Here is the position immediately before White offered a queen trade.

White to move:

This is evaluated at about (0.5), edge for White.

Is it the case that the queens neutralise the other advantages black has? How does a human think about this?

Avatar of tygxc

@11
"Is it the case that the queens neutralise the other advantages black has?"
++ Yes. With queens it is harder to convert the pawn and/or the bishop's pair.
With queens on the board Kd7 is insecure.

"How does a human think about this?"
++ If you are ahead in material, then trade pieces, not pawns.
If you are behind in material, then trade pawns, not pieces.

Avatar of alexeyfeigin

Thanks!

And with the queens off, should I be trying to create the passed pawn and queen it right away or seek to trade some pieces first?