Over the board games

This doesn't have much point because we will end up playing a game :) but in that case go for Bd6, c6,Bc7, Qe7 or Qg4 if needed etc
But nothing has changed, black can prepare for e5, c5 breaks, exhange his darksquare bishop for a knight almost whenever he wants, play for b5 with queenside expansion... what can white do besides trying to find tricks to stop blacks plans?
stockfish gives sth like =+, maybe SF can hold this, but in a human game having such a passive position to defend can be very awkward

@MorningCoffee yeah sorry - just trying to get some ideas from a strong player :)

I think this is an area I need to improve on if I want to get better, particularly when playing Black. I play a lot of players at this sort of level (say 2000-2050), and I like to think my 'true' level is slightly better than this. But people at this level just don't make mistakes if they're not put under pressure.

So I often manage to get a pleasant position out of the opening, but I can't come up with a plan to apply pressure - so I try to force the play somehow and can easily drift into a drawn game (or even lose, particularly when I spend too long trying to work out a forcing plan).

In this case, and probably in other games, I see that I needed to realise that actually I don't need to force things - unless I do something stupid, White really can't do anything at all, and I hold all the long-term trumps. So I just enjoy and improve my position, and gradually apply more pressure. If he defends then he defends - but I give myself a much better chance to make him crack.

Here's another OTB game I played on Monday vs someone rated over 2000. Quite pleased with most of the game, though I missed a couple of nuances.

en.lichess.org/study/smISGikx/ARN2txaL

A lightly annotated game that I played on Monday - I had a small but persistent edge from the opening, and was pleased with the winning tactic.

A game from Monday - an opponent I've played before. Thought it went quite smoothly! lichess.org/study/smISGikx/ZmvHr8wx