Unity Chess Club
Alisa Galliamova 2505 Sergei Rublevsky 2665 St Petersburg ch-RUS 1998 Black to move
The rook on the half-open b-file is firing into the air, but Black finds a way to make it useful:
From here, the rook can be brought not only to d5, but if necessary also to the kingside, because the white king is insufficiently protected by its pieces.
Faced with the unexpected, White misses the best defensive resource: 19.Qe4!, getting away from the attack from the black rook, and freeing the diagonal for her bishop. Then, there could follow 19...Nd3 20.Bd4, and here Black could choose between 20...Rd5, 20...Be5 and 20...Nc5 – admittedly, in each case Black’s initiative is fairly insignificant, and White should hold the balance.
A rare case where the knight is stronger than the bishop in an open position. Why is this? Firstly, the knight is entrenched on an outpost deep in White’s camp, whereas the bishop is unstably placed, and secondly, Black’s major pieces are much more active.
More tenacious was 24.Kh1, although with the move 24...h6!, Black ensures himself the square g5 for his rook. Incidentally, b3 hangs.