Ok so I’m quite new to chess but I’m getting the hang of the game and I saw something you might want to take a look concerning the 960 game between Topalov vs Wesley as I noticed something that I thought I want hear your guys take on this. At 28:13 the commentators start lambasting Topalov for his cxb4 move but to me that was a good move as I’m pretty sure Topalov should’ve gone for Nc6+ as his next move after Wesley played the move Nd5 (and strangely enough that possibility wasn’t even mentioned by the commentators). It opens up the diagonal for the bishop at a1 and it will also open up an attack at d7 with the pawn on c6 after he knight is exchanged with Bxc6 then bxc6, and from here dxc6 cant be played because of the pin on the knight after e4 i played. Black can play d6 to avoid the d7 threat but then simply go I think (perhaps a daring move Rd4 to protect from the Ne3 threat, as if Ne3 is played you can then play queen c5, capitalising on the fact that the pawn is pinned and can’t take the queen. From here it looks nasty for black. Topalov’s queenside castling was frowned upon, but in this case it would serve well in the attack as the c6 pawn is protected by the queen, so in my books it was sensible to have the queen on the c2 square to offer that protection, though if played incorrectly it could result in some nasty discoveries. So the attack from the c6 and the rook on d1 once the knight is forced to move couldn’t turn the game to white’s favour.
Anither logical progression from here after Bxc6, bxc6, Black could move the knight to protect the d7 pawn (Nb6) if he doesn't want to play d6, but I think d6 is bes move as the knight on d5 can pose some dangers on white’s camp. This seems logical to me but then again I might be wrong and want to know your guys’ take on this, yet to me it wasn’t so strange that three GMs sit there and not even bring that up and while I was thinking this was great for Topalov, they all criticised cxb5 move in unison which seems pretty bizarre to me and I got pretty annoyed as I was like yeah Topalov is gonna do a c6 break which is why I thought the cxb5 was a great move to begin with. yet that didn’t happen and he played d4 instead which lost the initiative and the attack. youtu.be/ioP-GV5HqxE
so move order: cxb5, Nd5, Nc6+, Bxc6, bxc6, d6, Rd4, Ne3, Qc5 and from here threaten Rxd6+, Bxd6, Qxd6+ as the black queen can’t get in between a due to the c6 pawn(!) and if the king moves to e8 then simply follow up with Bxg7 as after Rg8 Bf6 threatens mate at e7 and (above all) Bf6 stops the black queen from getting involved by covering the d8 square. This is the threat, but as the king can move to e8 prophylactically, then simply after Ke8 u can take a2, ie Qxa2. Overall a very good position for white. Am I at a loss here or do u guys follow my thinking here?
If after Nc6+ he decides to not take but simply go Ke8 then White is simply up the exchange after Nxb8. Qxb8 can be met with Qd3, stopping Ne3 and now the knight has to move back to b6 to defend the d7 pawn (as now both the queen and rock are eyeing this piece) and after that Nb6 move, then white wins by playing Bxg7 which can even be followed up Qxh7 if the rook tries to harass the bishop with Rg8. So as I see it, black has to take the Knight on c6 and that gives white the advantage
Anither logical progression from here after Bxc6, bxc6, Black could move the knight to protect the d7 pawn (Nb6) if he doesn't want to play d6, but I think d6 is bes move as the knight on d5 can pose some dangers on white’s camp. This seems logical to me but then again I might be wrong and want to know your guys’ take on this, yet to me it wasn’t so strange that three GMs sit there and not even bring that up and while I was thinking this was great for Topalov, they all criticised cxb5 move in unison which seems pretty bizarre to me and I got pretty annoyed as I was like yeah Topalov is gonna do a c6 break which is why I thought the cxb5 was a great move to begin with. yet that didn’t happen and he played d4 instead which lost the initiative and the attack. youtu.be/ioP-GV5HqxE
so move order: cxb5, Nd5, Nc6+, Bxc6, bxc6, d6, Rd4, Ne3, Qc5 and from here threaten Rxd6+, Bxd6, Qxd6+ as the black queen can’t get in between a due to the c6 pawn(!) and if the king moves to e8 then simply follow up with Bxg7 as after Rg8 Bf6 threatens mate at e7 and (above all) Bf6 stops the black queen from getting involved by covering the d8 square. This is the threat, but as the king can move to e8 prophylactically, then simply after Ke8 u can take a2, ie Qxa2. Overall a very good position for white. Am I at a loss here or do u guys follow my thinking here?
If after Nc6+ he decides to not take but simply go Ke8 then White is simply up the exchange after Nxb8. Qxb8 can be met with Qd3, stopping Ne3 and now the knight has to move back to b6 to defend the d7 pawn (as now both the queen and rock are eyeing this piece) and after that Nb6 move, then white wins by playing Bxg7 which can even be followed up Qxh7 if the rook tries to harass the bishop with Rg8. So as I see it, black has to take the Knight on c6 and that gives white the advantage