![\"pawnsac](\"https:\/\/danamackenzie.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/pawnsac-1.jpg\")
<\/a>Position after 18. … Na5. White to move.<\/em><\/p>\nFEN: 2r2rk1\/4qpbp\/pn1p4\/npp1pPp1\/4P1P1\/2PPN1QP\/PP3BB1\/R4RK1 w – – 0 19<\/p>\n
Here Shredder (with its rating set at 2321) has just played 18. … Na5<\/strong>. I was not very impressed with this move, because I couldn’t see that it creates any real threats. The two\u00a0ideas for White that I had been setting up were 19. Nd5 and 19. h4, and I think either one of those moves would be okay here.<\/p>\n But one other thing caught my attention in this position: that “pocket” in Black’s position at f6. I didn’t know how long Shredder would allow it to stay there without closing it with … f6. Why not take the opportunity to move my own pawn there, freeing up the f5 square for my knight? Although I’m sacrificing a pawn, it seems pretty unlikely that Black’s backward f-pawn will ever amount to anything, and meanwhile I’ve gained a really great knight outpost. So I played 19. f6!?<\/strong><\/p>\n To be honest I don’t know if this is a good move or not. Both Shredder and Rybka think that it reduces White’s advantage from about half a pawn to zero. However, I think that I can say with some confidence that I wouldn’t have won the game without this move. You’ll see how the knight turns into a colossus over the next\u00a015 moves.<\/p>\n The game continued 19. … Qxf6 20. Nf5 Na4?!<\/strong><\/p>\n Already the computer’s play looks a little bit dubious to me. If I were playing Black, I would try to get my knights over to the kingside as quickly as possible. I would play 20. … Nc6 with the idea of … Ne7 and then either … Nxf5 or setting up an equivalent post on f4 with … Ng6-f4.<\/p>\n However, it turns out that this doesn’t quite work, so Black is in a little bit more trouble than I realized. If 20. … Nc6 21. Be3 Ne7 <\/span>White has the very strong move 22. h4!<\/span> If 22. … gh 23. Nxh4 <\/span>Black’s queen has only one square, 23. … Qe6<\/span>, and then 24. g5! <\/span>wins at least an exchange because of the threat of Bh3. Alternatively, if 22. … h6<\/span> White now has the cool move 23. Nxh6+!<\/span> when 23. … Qxh6 24. Bxg5<\/span> bags two pawns.<\/p>\n Shredder’s style always tends to be sharp and aggressive, but its insistence on trying to play on the queenside allowed me to develop my kingside initiative unimpeded. But first there\u00a0was the issue of what to do about the b-pawn. I played the simple and ugly 21. Rab1<\/strong>. Against the computer, you’ve just got to defend your loose buttons sometimes. The game continued 21. … Qe6 22. Be3 Bf6 23. Qf2 Bd8 24. h4 h6 25. hg hg 26. Qd2<\/strong> (diagram).<\/p>\n