Unity Chess Club
Rainer Buhmann-Ruud Janssen Germany Bundesliga 2015 Does 10.h4 make sense when Black replies 10…0-0?
Yes! White just marches with the h-pawn to activate the h1-rook.
A) 11…Nxh5 12.Rxh5 gxh5 13.Ng5 f5 14.Ne6 Qe7 15.Nxf8 Qxf8 wins back material and leaves White slightly better;
B) 11…gxh5 12.Nh4; or 12.e3, yielding a big positional plus;
C) 11…Qe7 12.hxg6 fxg6!? 13.e3 ♗xf1 14.♔xf1 ♘bd7?! 15.♘g5, and White had the initiative in Wagner-Pavlovic, Berlin Wch rapid 2015.
B) 11…gxh5 12.Nh4; or 12.e3, yielding a big positional plus;
C) 11…Qe7 12.hxg6 fxg6!? 13.e3 ♗xf1 14.♔xf1 ♘bd7?! 15.♘g5, and White had the initiative in Wagner-Pavlovic, Berlin Wch rapid 2015.
Undermining White’s stronghold on e5, opening up the diagonal for the dark-squared bishop, while the g-file may prove useful as well on occasion. What more do you want from one move?
And here Nikolic failed to find the only defense against the threat 26…Rd4!: 26.Rxd8 Rxd8 27.Qh4.
Unity Chess Club
Ivan Cheparinov-Daniil Dubov Turkey 2014 White to move
23.e5! dxe5 24.f5! e4 25.fxg6 fxg6 26.cxb5
26.0-0-0 looks like the normal follow-up. After 26…Nxg5 27.hxg5 Black is practically forced to play 27…Nh7, leaving White with a clear plus. Now the game becomes tense again, until Black overlooks an immediately decisive blow.
26…axb5 27.Bxb5 Nxg5 28.hxg5 Ng4 29.0-0-0 Nf2 30.Bxe8 Qxe8 31.Bc3 Nxh1 32.Rxh1 Ba6? 33.Ng4! Be7 34.Rxh5