Here is the position I found myself in after 10.Bb2. I decided to castle and things fell apart quickly after White's devastating 11.Na4. Black's seemingly secure position was an illusion as the Knight move demonstrated. After the Knight move:
- The Knight attacks Black's c5 pawn
- The Knight threatens to settle on Black's b6 square
- White's Black-squared Bishop threatens to take Black's Knight on c6 and expose Black's King
Black's c5 pawn is protected only by the Bishop so it cannot move to c7 to guard the b6 square. It is the Queen must move to either e8 or c7 to guard the b6 square. As it was, I moved the Queen to c7 and the White Bishop captured the Black Knight on f6. Here are the moves as they were played out:
What the Fritz analysis suggests as the best move for Black is 10...Nb4 with the following possible follow-up that doesn't quite achieve equality for Black but come closer to it than my bumbling attempt:
Even after castling and White's Knight move, it would have been better to play 10...Qe7 in order to recapture with the Queen, thus preventing the breakup of the pawn defence in front of the King and bringing the Queen to defence of the Kingside. Letting the White Knight settle on b6, if it chooses to, is not the end of the world. However, after 10...Qc7 and 11.Bxf6, it is the end of Black's world.
To me, White's position didn't look good. The white-square Bishop was sitting in front of the d pawn, preventing its advance. In fact, it was well-positioned and bearing down on Black's h pawn. The White Knight on c3 had been place there early, preventing the c pawn from advancing to c4 as it normally does in this sort of opening. As it turned out, the Knight's move to a4 later in the game proved my undoing.
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