In this game, black moves the knight back on move 24 which the computer agrees with. Where is this knight trying to go?
I may be wrong but I think it's to allow the king access to the center.
I thought that may be it, but it seems a bit foolhardy with a rook and bishop still in play right?
The way I see it, the knight on f6 is simply out of play because of the pawns on g2 and f3 controlling all of its forward moves. Moreover, on Nh5, white plays g3 and it's the same story. So in this position, your rook is in the perfect spot (working laterally and vertically on an open file), while your knight and king aren't playing. It makes sense to move the knight for that reason alone.
I believe Ne8 was played with the idea of Nc7 into d5. From there, the knight has a lot more flexibility and forward jumping spots than on f6. Moreover, Kf6 would be natural and good to protect your doubled pawns. Unfortunately for black in this game, it seems his ideas are just too slow - white keeps dictating play the rest of the game.
I believe Ne8 was played with the idea of Nc7 into d5. From there, the knight has a lot more flexibility and forward jumping spots than on f6. Moreover, Kf6 would be natural and good to protect your doubled pawns. Unfortunately for black in this game, it seems his ideas are just too slow - white keeps dictating play the rest of the game.
First question is why to look for a knight move at this position rather than some other move ?
I think moving knight free the f6 square for king. After king come f6 to protect e5 pawn then black rook is free to move forward. For example Rook d4 - h4 is a possible idea which create some threat. Since currently rook is guarding the e5 pawn it does not have much freedom to move. Also the knight do not have any good job or target from f6. So at this position best thing to do is trying to improve the position of knight,king and rook. For that knight need to move somewhere.
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Then the next question is where to move the knight to free f6. Possible squares are h5, g8,e8 and d7.
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Black need to bring his knight to queen side quickly as white would try to gain more space in the queen side due to his queen side pawn majority and current placement of king and other pieces. So black need his knight at queen side to fight against such plans.
h5 square seems not much good. after Nh5 white has the move g3 to cover f4 square. So black knight will have to find a path through g7-f5 or g7-e8. This is quite slow. At the initial position at move 24 White already get some advantage due to better pawn structure and activity level of pieces. If maneuvering of knight and king got slowed then white get enough time to easily extend the advantage. For example while black move Kf6, Ng7-f5 white got enough time to freely play moves like Kd2 , c4 , kc3 etc . Black do not get enough time to fight against such plans.
Ng8 also quite slow. But seems better than h5. Knight can come to e7 & King to f6 in next moves and then depend on white plays Knight can try to go to c6-d4 or to d5 after moving rook somewhere.
at a glance Nd7 seems the best move as it bring Knight to queen side quickly. However in this position Nd7 block the path of rook through d file. After Nd7 white can get the advantage of blocked d file by playing Be4. Black will have to move Rook to b5 to keep b7 pawn. (If Knight did not block the d file black had Rd7 option). Moving rook to b5 will give up the control of open d file to white. White can then play Rd1 immediately or he can first play b4 with the idea of next c4 move to further restrict the activity of black rook. ( b4 also prevent Nc5 move which attack Bishop )
So the remaining square e8 is the best choice for Knight.
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In the game black had made several mistakes after Ne8 move.
I think moving knight free the f6 square for king. After king come f6 to protect e5 pawn then black rook is free to move forward. For example Rook d4 - h4 is a possible idea which create some threat. Since currently rook is guarding the e5 pawn it does not have much freedom to move. Also the knight do not have any good job or target from f6. So at this position best thing to do is trying to improve the position of knight,king and rook. For that knight need to move somewhere.
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Then the next question is where to move the knight to free f6. Possible squares are h5, g8,e8 and d7.
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Black need to bring his knight to queen side quickly as white would try to gain more space in the queen side due to his queen side pawn majority and current placement of king and other pieces. So black need his knight at queen side to fight against such plans.
h5 square seems not much good. after Nh5 white has the move g3 to cover f4 square. So black knight will have to find a path through g7-f5 or g7-e8. This is quite slow. At the initial position at move 24 White already get some advantage due to better pawn structure and activity level of pieces. If maneuvering of knight and king got slowed then white get enough time to easily extend the advantage. For example while black move Kf6, Ng7-f5 white got enough time to freely play moves like Kd2 , c4 , kc3 etc . Black do not get enough time to fight against such plans.
Ng8 also quite slow. But seems better than h5. Knight can come to e7 & King to f6 in next moves and then depend on white plays Knight can try to go to c6-d4 or to d5 after moving rook somewhere.
at a glance Nd7 seems the best move as it bring Knight to queen side quickly. However in this position Nd7 block the path of rook through d file. After Nd7 white can get the advantage of blocked d file by playing Be4. Black will have to move Rook to b5 to keep b7 pawn. (If Knight did not block the d file black had Rd7 option). Moving rook to b5 will give up the control of open d file to white. White can then play Rd1 immediately or he can first play b4 with the idea of next c4 move to further restrict the activity of black rook. ( b4 also prevent Nc5 move which attack Bishop )
So the remaining square e8 is the best choice for Knight.
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In the game black had made several mistakes after Ne8 move.
These are such good answers! Thanks guys
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