The Resilient French - Does 24…g5 Really Work for Black?

In my previous article I left it where I (as black) had just played 24…g5?! I said I didn’t think it worked for me and there was a simple plan of 24…Rb8 that was much better. Well, having looked a little closer I’m no longer sure that 24…g5?! is as bad as I used to think; however, I still think 24…Rb8 was the right move to play because it is a promising plan involving no risk to black.

We start from the first diagrammed position.

Here I have just played 24…g5?!

Now the obvious threat is to play 25…g4 forking white’s queen and rook, so white can’t just ignore this. My thinking was that after (say) 25.Qg2 g4 26.Bf2 Kh8 27.Rh5 (see second diagram)

white’s rook is trapped and must drop off sooner or later. Note that there are other lines in which the white rook ends up on h5, and I thought the same applied in all of them. The question is, how is black to actually round up and capture the rook, when it on h5? I now think black actually can’t achieve this.

I (as black) need to find a way to attack the rook, and it seems I have two pieces that can do this: my queen and my light squared bishop. However, white can just play Ng3 defending the rook, and it’s no good attacking it with the queen! Also, my light squared bishop is defending my pawn on f5, and even if I bring my queen’s rook over to defend it, white can again play Nc3; this means the moment my light squared bishop leaves its current diagonal, white can just take my f5 pawn with his rook. In addition, white also has the resource Bh4, exchanging off my dark squared bishop to allow the white rook onto h4.

Conclusion: the tactics behind my …g5 thrust do not work!