Hello all,

I've spent a while hacking around at chess, not doing especially well at it, so have decided to study it in a bit more depth, read books, etc.

A book I'm reading at the moment is "Improve Your Chess in 7 Days", by Gary Lane. I am very confused by a game he describes on p53-55. In particular, after white makes his tenth move the board looks like this:



Gary Lane then goes on to say: "This is new territory for both players, but I was happy to have castled and proceeded with my development. In the long-term I will be able to generate play against the isolated d5 pawn, but more importantly my grandmaster opponent has no obvious way of disrupting my position at an early stage of the game."

However, I look at this board and I wonder what could possibly be wrong with this line for Black:

10. ..., b5;
11. Qb3, d4;
[White Q is almost trapped, white is being forced all over the place.]
12. Nd5

It seems to me that white's options from here are very poor. Black can do Ne7 and stack up more force on white's poor N. If white responds with Bg5 black can force the B away with a pawn.

I guess I have missed something really obvious, but Lane's confidence in the text seems misplaced, and I also don't understand why his opponent did 10. ..., Nge7 instead of b5. Can anyone help me understand this?

Thanks
Christo

[Edit: Maybe I'm just a more aggressive player? Also, to clarify: Gary Lane was playing White, thus the personal references in his commentary.]

You did miss something obvious.

10. ... b5 11.Qb3 d4 12.Bxc6+! wins easily.