Team X Chess thread (1 Viewer)

[pizzatyme]

Or h6

 

[pizzatyme]

Black,

Why not Qb6? If they do b3 we do Qb4. Pin the N plus likely force Qd2.

I prefer that or h6.

 

[Sand]

In our white game O has moved Ng6. Sorry guys, I fell out last night after a long week and went on a bike ride this morning. Will look at these in a bit and come up with some lines here.

Edit: For our white game I agree with Bg5. Let's put his queen out of position or make him close in that bishop.

 

[nysfl2]

Black,

Why not Qb6? If they do b3 we do Qb4. Pin the N plus likely force Qd2.

I prefer that or h6.

That line doesn't look too bad. The only thing we need to watch out for is that if he goes Bxf6 to take our knight, we have to stack our pawns to take the bishop back. We'll need to be looking to move Bf7 before he has a free move.

 

[Joe T]

agree Bg5 looks best for white. Will continue looking at it a little longer.

 

[pizzatyme]

Black,

Why not Qb6? If they do b3 we do Qb4. Pin the N plus likely force Qd2.

I prefer that or h6.

That line doesn't look too bad. The only thing we need to watch out for is that if he goes Bxf6 to take our knight, we have to stack our pawns to take the bishop back. We'll need to be looking to move Bf7 before he has a free move.

I think you mean Be7?I'm also not opposed to doubling pawns there as it opens the g file for our Rooks potentially.

 

[Sand]

Black,

Why not Qb6? If they do b3 we do Qb4. Pin the N plus likely force Qd2.

I prefer that or h6.

Poisoned pawn? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hmeRKAPJ9Y

 

[pizzatyme]

Thx for the video.

 

[nysfl2]

White

Bg5 looks good to me

 

[Sand]

White

Bg5 looks good to me

Done. We're going with that one.

Further thoughts on our Black would be good.

 

[Sand]

In our white game O has moved f4. H4 seems really the only choice.

Also, need to come to consensus in our black game pretty quick. Time is running.

 

[pizzatyme]

Sand, please check your notation in the thread. You have our white game as us moving Bg7. I believe that should be Bg5.

 

[pizzatyme]

In our white game O has moved f4. H4 seems really the only choice.

Also, need to come to consensus in our black

game pretty quick. Time is running.

I'm lost here. In our white game, I had us for 8.Bg5 so I don't see a move for them to f4?!

 

[pizzatyme]

Black,

What are we down to?

Qb6 or Be7? I thought we had 2 votes for the former. Someone please chime in.

 

[Sand]

Sand, please check your notation in the thread. You have our white game as us moving Bg7. I believe that should be Bg5.

Gah - I'm not having a good morning. Bg5 is the move that I made. They responded f6.

I'm lost here. In our white game, I had us for 8.Bg5 so I don't see a move for them to f4?!

I have fixed things up. The last moves for then in our white game was f6. In our black game they moved f4.

In our white game the move is f6 putting our bishop at risk. I think the only real move here is Bh4. Concur?

Black,

What are we down to?

Qb6 or Be7? I thought we had 2 votes for the former. Someone please chime in.

You and I are in for Qb6. Need a third from Joe or nysfl. This will certainly cause some eyebrows over there to raise.

The challenge for black is to overcome the positional disadvantage, because if he accepts the poisoned pawn he will be throwing the kitchen sink at our king to take advantage of his advantage development. If we can survive with the material advantage we'll likely come away with the victory (easy to say).

 

[pizzatyme]

I concur on Bh4. It what I was hoping for.

 

[Joe T]

I love Qb6 as black. Will be a fun game.

 

[Sand]

Bh4 and Qb6, done!

Bone up on your poisoned pawn tactics, as we are going to need them.

 

[nysfl2]

Bh4 and Qb6, done!

Bone up on your poisoned pawn tactics, as we are going to need them.

 

[pizzatyme]

Team O is slow. That is all.

 

[pizzatyme]

My guess is that they're trying to decide if they should just resign now or play it out for the lesson they're about to receive!

 

[Sand]

My guess is that they're trying to decide if they should just resign now or play it out for the lesson they're about to receive!

Otello has hit 100 posts in there. Damn.

Anyway, in our white game I'm very interested to see if they move Nh6 or do something like h6. I worry a bit about a king side pawn storm. If he drops back I like our chances a lot. We can trade off pawns, trade queens, and take control of the middle fairly readily.

 

[pizzatyme]

If he pushes K side pawns, I think we consider castling Q side and open up his K side for a bloody massacre.

 

[Joe T]

I will be on the road the next couple of days, but will try to check in and give an opinion at least once a day (hopefully more). But things seem to have slowed down anyway.

 

[UniAlias]

Sorry guys.. Was out of town the last four days and catching up at work has kept me busy. I'll do the best I can to try to get up to speed but I'm not sure I'll be able to help much.

 

[nysfl2]

No move yet? Those guys must check in less frequently than I do.

 

[pizzatyme]

Black

They moved Qd2 inviting the poisoned pawn on b2.

 

[nysfl2]

Fair warning - I'm a sucker for taking offered pieces.

It looks like we're going to have to waste a few moves while they chase our queen around if we take the pawn, and they wind up with a much more developed position at the end of it. Leaning towards it not being worth it.

 

[nysfl2]

Be7 looks good here. Protect the knight, so we don't have to double up the pawns, and set up for the castle.

Less desirable to accomplish the same would be Nd7.

 

[Sand]

Black

They moved Qd2 inviting the poisoned pawn on b2.

I'm happy with either Qb2 or Nc6. Nc6 will make them move a bit to continue while we develop. Qb2 is the poison.

 

[Sand]

Sorry guys.. Was out of town the last four days and catching up at work has kept me busy. I'll do the best I can to try to get up to speed but I'm not sure I'll be able to help much.

Here and here. Now you're caught up. We're only 8 moves into each. Slog into them and let us know what you think.

 

[nysfl2]

Black

They moved Qd2 inviting the poisoned pawn on b2.

I'm happy with either Qb2 or Nc6. Nc6 will make them move a bit to continue while we develop. Qb2 is the poison.

If we go Nc6, I'd expect them to go Bxf6. Assuming we take the bishop with our pawn, we don't really have a good place to castle to.

 

[nysfl2]

My order of preference:

Be7

Nc6

Qb2

Whatever we do, we need to consider what our response is if they go Na4 on their next move, attacking our queen (well, not on Qb2). Be7, we'll have to retreat. Nc6, we can either retreat, or start a queen and knight exchange.

 

[pizzatyme]

Black

If we go Be7 I can see them going e5 and then forcing a pawn exchange and then we must move the N. Then they exchange Bishops and we have to take with the King. That looks ugly.

I prefer e5 as it forces a pawn exchange and if he takes the BxN, then I'm not too worried about not castling. We force his N to retreat to b3 or he loses a pawn (without the poison).

Something like:

e5

BxN. gxf6

fxe5 dxe5

Nb3

I like this as it stunts white's development and leaves us with many options.

Now he has an isolated pawn and we have doubled pawns and weak castling options but as I've said, I'm okay not castling at this point.

I'm a risk taker, so I just throw this out for discussion.

Discuss...

 

[Sand]

Black

If we go Be7 I can see them going e5 and then forcing a pawn exchange and then we must move the N. Then they exchange Bishops and we have to take with the King. That looks ugly.

I prefer e5 as it forces a pawn exchange and if he takes the BxN, then I'm not too worried about not castling. We force his N to retreat to b3 or he loses a pawn (without the poison).

Something like:

e5

BxN. gxf6

fxe5 dxe5

Nb3

I like this as it stunts white's development and leaves us with many options.

Now he has an isolated pawn and we have doubled pawns and weak castling options but as I've said, I'm okay not castling at this point.

I'm a risk taker, so I just throw this out for discussion.

Discuss...

The backward pawn on d6 will be the center of their attack. Once they go O-O-O how do we adequately defend this?

I don't hate e5, but find it inferior to other options. We have put the Q out on the wing and committed her to an extent. In order of preference I like

Qb2

Nc6

Be7

If we don't take Qb2 essentially it is a blunder on our part. Not a big one, but the Q is out of position now. If we go Be7 I see

Bxc6 Bxc6

O-O-O e5

fxd5 dxe5

Nf5 O-O

Be2 Nc6

I'd prefer to see Nc6 then Be7 if possible.

This leaves us in ok shape, but well behind in development. With Qb2 we're still behind in development, but have the material advantage. Better than e5. Likely worse than Nc6.

 

[pizzatyme]

Sand, run me through how you see it playing out after we do e5?

I also think Qb6 does more than pressure the b pawn. It effectively keep them from castling King side and I wouldn't be wanting to castle Q side either as black could quickly open a Q side attack.

I see e5 forcing a pawn exchange and therefore there is no d6 pawn left as you mentioned.

If instead of trading pawns after e5, they go Nc3, then we do Nc6 which develops a piece and protects the e pawn. We can continue from there by bring out the queenside bishop and castling Q side.

Run it through. I'm going to go through what you proposed and see how I'd play it now if I were white.

 

[Sand]

Sand, run me through how you see it playing out after we do e5?

e5

Bxf6 gxf6

fxe5 fxe5 or dxe5. Either one leaves a relatively unprotected pawn and a poor pawn structure for the K to hide.

 

[pizzatyme]

I think Qb2 leads to:

Nb3. Nc6?

e5. And then it looks ugly for our development.

As long as they leave Qb2 as an option, I think we leave it there and zag where they expect us to zig. I think they are expecting it, let's piss 'em off.

 

[Sand]

I think Qb2 leads to:

Nb3. Nc6?

e5. And then it looks ugly for our development.

As long as they leave Qb2 as an option, I think we leave it there and zag where they expect us to zig. I think they are expecting it, let's piss 'em off.

No thoughts on my e5 line? If not Qb2, I still like Nc6, then Be7.

 

[pizzatyme]

I just saw you post there.

If I'm playing black, I'm good with it playing out as you notated after e5. I think exchanging his B for the N works in our favor.

Afterwards fxe5, I would then follow with Nc6, f5 (to either exchange pawns or continue to f4), and proceed with a K side attack. We can castle Q side and their pawns are in the way of the rooks. However, if they castle Q side we have open files to attack with our Rooks.

Again, I don't see much room for his Knights and I'd be happy exchanging perceived pawn

structure weakness to get that Bishop off the board.

$0.02 ?

 

[Sand]

I still like the development Nc6 provides.

Nc6

Na5 Qc7

O-O-O Be7

Actually, not sure they go Na5, but I'd like to see it as it is a major weakening move for them. In the position above we threaten both the Na5 and the e4 pawn. Our development is still just one tempo behind theirs (typical for black).

Now that I've looked at Be7, I dislike that move a great deal. Once they move e5 we're in a pickle. So now my list is:

Nc6

e5

Qb2

 

[pizzatyme]

Black

Nc6

Bxf6 gxf6

OOO Where do we go from here?

 

[Sand]

Black

Nc6

Bxf6 gxf6

OOO Where do we go from here?

Nc6

Bxf6 gxf6

OOO Bd7 then O-O-O or something similar

Ok, I'm back to looking at e5. What does white do if we move e5?

fxe5

Nf5

Bxf6 (which we'd go gxf6, O-O-O, Ba6 and pin the pawn)

Anything else?

Lots of permutations there. I will think on this and see if this has any glaring flaws. e5 will put us right off book, though, so at least it has that going for it.

 

[pizzatyme]

After e5, their Nf5 and we can do Qb2.

I think e5 forces Nb3. Otherwise, through exchanges, we end up controlling the black squares with the Q & B. Nf3 is possible but very passive for white and then we get in Nc6.

We want his dark Bishop off the board IMO.

 

[pizzatyme]

Off book is the new on book! ?

 

[nysfl2]

I think Qb2 leads to:

Nb3. Nc6?

e5. And then it looks ugly for our development.

As long as they leave Qb2 as an option, I think we leave it there and zag where they expect us to zig. I think they are expecting it, let's piss 'em off.

Only have a minute, but I think Qb2 leads to Rb1. Then, we're scrambling for our queen's life for a couple of moves while they develop.

 

[nysfl2]

After e5, their Nf5 and we can do Qb2.

I think e5 forces Nb3. Otherwise, through exchanges, we end up controlling the black squares with the Q & B. Nf3 is possible but very passive for white and then we get in Nc6.

We want his dark Bishop off the board IMO.

Qb2 works a lot better after e5, if we can chase their knight away from d4.

We may not have a good side to castle to if they go with a big swap in the middle of the board, but the position doesn't look too bad.

I'm good with either Kc6 or e5 if you don't like Be7.

 

[Sand]

I think Qb2 leads to:

Nb3. Nc6?

e5. And then it looks ugly for our development.

As long as they leave Qb2 as an option, I think we leave it there and zag where they expect us to zig. I think they are expecting it, let's piss 'em off.

Only have a minute, but I think Qb2 leads to Rb1. Then, we're scrambling for our queen's life for a couple of moves while they develop.

Yep - thus the poisoned pawn.

I have looked at the e5 move, and frankly, I hate it. Let's look at a line:

e5

Bxf6 gxf6

Nb3 Be7 (f6 and d6 are very vulnerable)

Nd5 Qc6

f5 #### Have us by the short and hairies

fxe5 is much better for us, but I don't think they will oblige.

I'm back to liking Qb2 - I think we can pull it off.

 

[pizzatyme]

Why do you feel it's necessary to go Be7 at that point?

I'd rather go Be6 there which protects d5 and threatens the N on b3. Even if they go f5, we just take the Knight on b3.

We then gain Nc6 then Nd5 and have it perched in the center of the board. Plus they have doubled b pawns.

Let's keep looking here....the meaning to life is somewhere in this mystery.

 

[pizzatyme]

I don't hate Qb2 BTW. I still think they'll go Nb3 to trap the Q to only escape to a3. I don't see that as being horrible.