The Chess Mind

Yesterday I presented this position from the game Najer-Kornev, from the ongoing Russian High League tournament:



White to move played 20.Rb1, and asked if this natural move in fact missed anything. The answer is...available here.

Though the tournament would make an exceedingly strong national championship just about anywhere else, the Russian High League is only a qualifier for the real Russian Championship (aka the "Super-Final"). Even players like former FIDE world champion Alexander Khalifman, Alexey Dreev, Vadim Zvjaginsev and Vladimir Malakhov have to compete with many "ordinary" strong GMs for the few available spots in the final.

That said, although I've highlighted these stars of the game, this post will feature the game between two comparative sleepers, Evgeniy Najer and Alexei Kornev. After Black's 19th move, the following position arose:



Black's position looks precarious, but he is threatening the rook on a1. White played the natural 20.Rb1, saving the rook and counter-attacking the Black queen. Natural, yes, but is it good? Is he missing something?

The answer will come later today or tomorrow.