Not Regarded to Be A Very Good Move (Part 2)

 

[continued from the previous post]

perrypawnpusher - Serega40

Italian opning rapid players, Chess.com, 2025

15.c5 

I looked at the somewhat better 15.Qb3, but decided upon the text move in order to fix Black's pawns on the same color squares as his Bishop.

15...c6 16.f3 Ng6 17.fxe4 Bxe4 

Black has improved the placement of his Bishop, but the game is still even.

Remove the Queens, Rooks and Knights, and there is a standard, drawn, Bishops-of-opposite-colors endgame.

An opposite-colored-Bishops middlegame often tilts toward the player with the more aggressively placed Bishop - which is the reason for my next move, to get my Queen out.

18.Qg4 Qe7 19.Bg5 Qe8 20.Rfe1 

20...h6 21.Nxe4 dxe4 22.Rxe4 Qf7 23.Be3 Qf5 

Black is thinking about splitting the point, too.

White's extra pawn is backward on an open file, and is on a dark square, helping create a "bad" Bishop vs a "good" Knight. 

24.Qxf5 Rxf5 25.Rf1 Raf8 

After the game, Stockfish 17.1 suggested that Black's Rook hop onto the d5 square, later exchanging places with the Knight to sustain the blockade: 25...Rd5 26.Kf2 Rd7 27.Ke2 Ne7 28.Bf4 Rf8 29.Be5 Rxf1 30.Kxf1 Nd5. White would technically be a bit better, and a master could probably grind out a win, but at our level of club play, it probably wouldn't change things. 

26.Rxf5 Rxf5 27.Rg4 Kf7 28.Re4

Here, my opponent offered a draw, and I accepted.

All in all, I think I prefer the Jerome.