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I'm playing a game against a chess computer as white, my move: enter image description here

I'm struggling to work out what I should try to do. I am up a pawn. I've managed to force the black king to move so it couldn't castle and the rook on h8 is stuck. My pawn on c3 is looking vulnerable.

Where do I go next, what should I be thinking about to press the advantage into a win?

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  • Start consolidating your position: get your rooks behind the c and d-pawns and start moving them upwards. You probably want to double protect your c-pawn in order to get your knight out of the way (e.g. Qd3... Rac1). Dec 10, 2021 at 19:43
  • Queen to f3 means black cannot advance with his queen or either knight without moving them laterally first. I'm not a very good player but that much seems clear.
    – wberry
    Dec 11, 2021 at 0:09
  • "Couldn't castle" is less of a thing than you apparently think; one move and Black's rooks are connected, another one and you may lose control of the open e-file.
    – Arlen
    Dec 11, 2021 at 20:04
  • Please add the FEN for the position in plain text.
    – Rosie F
    Dec 12, 2021 at 14:09

1 Answer 1

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Your advantage is smaller than you think. After Kg7 Black is safe and has joined rooks. The pressure on the c file is annoying and ties up your knights. My first move, almost without thinking, is Qf3, which protects c3 once and stops Nd5 for the moment. After that, Rfc1 (a4 is weak too). Black should consider Qc6 to fight d5 free at all costs - if you come to Ne3 too, you can think of advancing the c-pawn to c4, followed by a5. His Nd7 stands lousy BTW. Example variant done in my head: 1.Qf3 Qc6 2.Qxc6 Rxc6 3.Rfc1 Nd5 4.Ra3 Kg7 5.Ne3 N7f6 6.Nxd5 Nxd5 7.c4 Re8 8.Kf2 += with a comfortable endgame, but Black will fight on (especially if being an engine :-)

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