What to do in "unclear" (to the player) positions?

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K_Brown

Up until this point I have been following the idea of cramping black's position and have succeeded I think, but here is where things get unclear for me (after 13.0-0 being the last move that I'm pretty sure on during my calculations)..

 

 

 

I am planning on an eventual f4 thrust after castling and trying to break through with the pawns. First I will probably try to breakthrough the queenside and then switch back to the kingside using my superior mobility. The thing is that it is where my plans seem to get real weak and I can't seem to calculate accurate responses to my moves or a clear way to proceed that I can deem non-weakening. I really want to push c5 but have no idea when that would be in good timing and other ideas are just as foggy. I would also strongly consider 13.Be3 as well but after 13..c5 I'm not sure how to proceed with my plan as it seems that black's position is getting better after those moves or practically whatever I play seems to relieve tension.

I guess 10.Qc2 was a weaker move (10.0-0 was probably better) but it brings up a question:

What do you do in these situations?

 


Sidenote: I think my ability to calculate where my rooks belong is weak. Any suggestions on study material?

K_Brown

My opponent was Play Magnus and the app played some subpar moves and I managed to be okay and break through on the kingside but this position was curious to me as I felt like I was playing somewhat aimlessly right here. I liked my pawn structure and piece activity and didn't really see any major threats that I was worried about at all. I was really tempted to just play 13.Qb1 but I "know" that isn't the preferred move here so I was trying to find something else. 13.0-0 was the objectively best move to me but left things unclear in my calculations as did 13.Qb1 .. it really is a peculiar position to me. I also think that I try to have too many options. For instance, I was kind of hesitant to play 13.0-0 because the eventual advancement of the h-pawn might be strong in some lines. In the current position it didn't seem like good timing to try to develop the rooks since they look splendid to me. the a-file could open (which I was also factoring in pushing the a-pawn later, especially since his rook is on b8 and the a-pawn is hanging) or black could accept a further cramped position.

After castling, the rook supports the f4 push even though I think it would have a future on h1 as well but king safety is a factor.

13..c5 and 13..b5 (depending on what I play of course) were the moves I didn't want black to play but I'm not sure white has a clear way to discourage/prevent these moves.

I guess this is a time that I have to try something and trust my calculation with the biggest takeaway seemingly being that 10.0-0 is probably the better try for me.

K_Brown

I'm still critiquing my piece coordination heavily. I try to make realistic threats and I often make quieter threats that I calculate as being strong potential threats after (a) certain line(s) that I am looking to play.

I have noticed, at least I think, that most of the annotated master games seem to support/prepare all their threats somehow which seems to flow so smoothly. I am trying to emulate this but I've got a long ways to go.

K_Brown

It seems that in my practice of trying to keep multiple "potential plans" has been rather weak and has lead me into making bad moves. 

I like the idea of picking a plan that should work. The biggest thing I see ,as someone pointed out, was the weak d-pawn but I didn't devote enough time into it during the game because I couldnt see enough benefit for it. I think this is a time where calculation got in the way of playing according to plan. I do this a lot actually. I calculate in positions where calculating doesn't do much good and I should probably just play according to a plan based on the weaknesses and other imbalances.

It might be that I'm falling for what I would think to be a common mistake in weaker players. I feel like I need to calculate everything. I don't really know how to play a plan without depending on calculating heavily though...

Perhaps I just didn't calculate deep enough though as it seems I get some okay ideas every time I come back to this position now. I think I might of not been in my best analytical mindset but I'm sure there is more to it than that...

K_Brown

Ruling ideas out is definitely something that I need to work on since most of the ideas I have and whether they will work or not seems really subjective at my level.