Yes, you are 99% sure in this position that your Knight should develop to f6.
Although the other moves are perfectly good, they are a little more ‘committal’ (e.g. …e7-e6 blocks the bishop on c8 and …c5xd4 frees up the c3 square for me after I recapture.)
The ‘sharp’ play comes after continuations like:
- … c5xd4
- c3xd4 Nb8-c6
- Nf1-f3 e7-e5
- Nb1-c3 Bf8-b4
- Bc1-d2 Bb4xc3
- Bd2xc3 e5-e4
- Nf3-e5 Nc6xe5
- d4xe5 Ng8-e7
which by the way is all ‘book’! :eek:
In general.
Once the Queens have been exchanged, the chance of being checkmated drops dramatically.
Now in the ending (you’re not there yet, but you’re well on the way), the King is a useful piece. And it takes a few moves to ‘uncastle’ (i.e. after OO and reaching an ending … Rf1-d1, Kg1-f1, Kf1-e2).
**Glee SiXSwordS
- e2-e4 c7-c5
- c2-c3 d7-d5
- e4xd5 Qd8xd5
- d2-d4 e7-e6
- Ng1-f3**
White develops a piece, controls the centre and gets closer to castling. Easy peasy!