Team X Chess thread (1 Viewer)

[Sand]

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.

So f5, Bxb3, axb3, Be7 (or Nc6, but that is much, much worse), Nd5 He still gets the outpost and causes all kinds of havoc.

Or f5, Bxb3, axb3, Nd7, Nd5, Qc6, Nb6, O-O-O and we can at least ouster him from d5. But do we gain an advantage here? For all that scrambling at least with Qb2 we get a pawn for the trouble.

BTW, O is under 23 hours for their black move. Slow MFers.

 

[pizzatyme]

F it! Qb2! (Although I still prefer e5)

Let's do it! All hail the Queen!

 

[pizzatyme]

For the record I have now deferred EVERY time.

 

[nysfl2]

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.

I think if we go Qb2, they go Ra2. We retreat to Qa3, and they respond Rb3. We can get out, but the position looks pretty ugly at that point.

 

[Sand]

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.

I think if we go Qb2, they go Ra2. We retreat to Qa3, and they respond Rb3. We can get out, but the position looks pretty ugly at that .

Looking through things pretty heavily I think Qa3 allows for a lot of wiggle room and puts us in a not too bad spot. With a pawn.

We have 2 votes Qb2. Do I hear a third?

 

[pizzatyme]

White

They moved!!!! Nc6

 

[pizzatyme]

White

Plenary of options here:

d5

Nd5

dxe5

Anyone have a preference? I like mine in order above.

 

[nysfl2]

d5 looks better than Nd5 to me, even though it's going to result in a pretty closed game. I think I'd slot dxe5 between the two.

 

[Sand]

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.

I think if we go Qb2, they go Ra2. We retreat to Qa3, and they respond Rb3. We can get out, but the position looks pretty ugly at that point.

Qb2

Rb1 Qa3

Rb3 Qa5

Be2 Be7

O-O Nc6

or

Qb2

Rb1 Qa3

Rb3 Qa5

Bxf6 gxf6

Be2 Be7

O-O e5

Nf5 Be6

etc.

I can't find a catastrophic line. Or even one that is incredibly deleterious.

 

[nysfl2]

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.

I think if we go Qb2, they go Ra2. We retreat to Qa3, and they respond Rb3. We can get out, but the position looks pretty ugly at that .

Looking through things pretty heavily I think Qa3 allows for a lot of wiggle room and puts us in a not too bad spot. With a pawn.

We have 2 votes Qb2. Do I hear a third?

Black

I'll defer and agree with Qb2.

Like I said, I'm a sucker for free pieces.

 

[pizzatyme]

I can't find the meaning to deleterious!

 

[Sand]

d5 looks better than Nd5 to me, even though it's going to result in a pretty closed game. I think I'd slot dxe5 between the two.

Add in candidate moves O-O and h3. But, honestly, for the next few moves I really like:

d5 Ne7 (no choice - a5 is a deathtrap)

h3 Nh6 (again no choice).

O-O Be7 (?)

b4 and continue with a queen side pawn storm

We have just locked black into a little box with little room to go anywhere. Completely neutralized the king side knight in h6.

 

[Sand]

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.

I think if we go Qb2, they go Ra2. We retreat to Qa3, and they respond Rb3. We can get out, but the position looks pretty ugly at that .

Looking through things pretty heavily I think Qa3 allows for a lot of wiggle room and puts us in a not too bad spot. With a pawn.

We have 2 votes Qb2. Do I hear a third?

Black

I'll defer and agree with Qb2.

Like I said, I'm a sucker for free pieces.

Qb2 - done!

 

[pizzatyme]

White

I prefer h3 now as I review it. It opens the game and we can still get in dxe5 after forcing the N back.

 

[Sand]

White

I prefer h3 now as I review it. It opens the game and we can still get in dxe5 after forcing the N back.

Why h3 over d5? Ok, so:

h3 exd4

Nxd4 Ng4e5

We've just opened their position up. What line do you see with h3 that leads to something better than e5?

BTW, we've overtaken Team O in post count. They jabber before the game, we take over when it's time to discuss tactics and strategy.

 

[pizzatyme]

You mean dxe5 or d5?

I like h3 as it dictates the action and forces Nh6.

Then we can decide our next move.

I see it like this:

h3. Nh6

dxe5 Nxe5

Nxe5 dxe5

O-O

We leave the Q exchange as an option. If the move Be6 we counter with b3. At this point we have effectively blockaded the B on g7 and his other B is pretty weak as well.

 

[Sand]

You mean dxe5 or d5?

I like h3 as it dictates the action and forces Nh6.

Then we can decide our next move.

I see it like this:

h3. Nh6

dxe5 Nxe5

Nxe5 dxe5

O-O

We leave the Q exchange as an option. If the move Be6 we counter with b3. At this point we have effectively blockaded the B on g7 and his other B is pretty weak as well.

d5

As white I don't see the need to dangle that Q exchange out there. We have the tempo and advantage - why give them the opportunity to head straight to endgame. I tend to like e5, then h3 because it has two mandatory moves that we can anticipate pretty readily. h3 first allows for that variant I put in above where the king side knight escapes.

IMO, this is a closed game right now so let's close those ####ers in. Once we have them penned in let's start the b4, a4 storm.

 

[nysfl2]

I agree with sand that exd4 is a more likely response to h3 than Nh6. If we trade knights then, our pawn structure is ugly. Otherwise, their knight ends up in e5.

 

[nysfl2]

Just went through sand's full line on d5. Looks much, much better than h3.

 

[pizzatyme]

Agreed. I missed the exd4 line above. d5 then h3 is much better. Too much tunnel vision for me last night.

 

[Sand]

Agreed. I missed the exd4 line above. d5 then h3 is much better. Too much tunnel vision for me last night.

d5 - done.

Oh, as a side note I expect once we get in the convoluted mid-game that we'll be deferring to you much more. I have found in my Pizza-drubbings that this is where you tend to excel.

 

[pizzatyme]

Black

Qa3 is required. Have you made this move?

 

[Sand]

Black

Qa3 is required. Have you made this move?

Just saw they moved. I will move Qa3. Will update the thread moves later. I am stuck in a meeting so updates today will be sparse.

Edit: Updated the posts to reflect our current position. We are currently waiting in both games.

 

[Sand]

O has moved in both games.

In our white game he has moved, as expected, Ne7. I say we continue with the pressure, as planned, and move h3. I think this one should be a rubber stamp from a couple folks and we move on.

Our black, game, on the other hand, has become much more interesting. O has taken a very interesting line and moved e5. We have pretty much moved off of book here - time for us to be able to crush these guys. I will be looking at this tonight - I guess there are four main responses I can see here: dxe5, Nd7, Nd5, and maybe h6. More to come.

 

[nysfl2]

White

Yes on the h3

Need to look at the black game - not what I expected.

 

[Sand]

White

Yes on the h3

Need to look at the black game - not what I expected.

Pizza already agreed to d5 then h3, so I am making that move. The other game will be requiring a lot of thought!

 

[pizzatyme]

h3 is good as expected.

Black,

I think I like Nd5 best at first run through. If they take the N it really opens things up and they leave the a pawn in peril.

a6 is no good to me as BxN leads to us losing a pawn.

Ne7 is not only passive it also block in the bishop.

dxe5 looks like trouble to me as it gives a mate threat that we'll have to deal with.

 

[Sand]

h3 is good as expected.

Black,

I think I like Nd5 best at first run through. If they take the N it really opens things up and they leave the a pawn in peril.

a6 is no good to me as BxN leads to us losing a pawn.

Ne7 is not only passive it also block in the bishop.

dxe5 looks like trouble to me as it gives a mate threat that we'll have to deal with.

I agree on a6 - I don't see that one being viable. On first blush I like both dxe5 and particularly Ne7 (the knight will come back out in short order). I'd like to see your line on why dxe5 doesn't work well. It looks ok to me. I'll dig into Nd5, haven't looked at it very close. First blush looks ok, but my first blush still goes back to Ne7.

 

[nysfl2]

Black

Ng4 should be on the table. If they take the pawn, we get our black bishop into play. If they continue an attack on the knight, we go dxe5, then either trade knights or use the knight to take the pawn back on d5 if they go there.

It's similar to Nd5 - just depends on which knight position we like better.

 

[pizzatyme]

dxe5

BxN. gxf6

fxe5. fxe5 and we're left with stacked pawns and a very unprotected King. The can begin to attack pawns while developing pieces that also lean to attacking the King.

Nd5 avoids that.

Nd5

Bc4?

exd6?

Nxd5?

Nf3?

Rb3?

I don't see any line for them that leads to a clear advantage.

Nd5 facilitates

Rb3. Qa5 keeping pressure on the Nc3

while also threatening the a pawn

 

[nysfl2]

Agree that h6 is out.

dxe5 fxe5

Nd5 Nxd5

exd5

does set up a mate risk with the bishop and queen at d8. Easy enough to stop in the short term, but we'd probably want to castle pretty quickly after that.

 

[pizzatyme]

Ng4 scares the hell out of me but maybe I'm missing something...

Ng4

h3. dxe5? Looks like it looses the N after

Nf3 which leaves mate in 1 which we have to protect against and then

hxg4

No??

 

[nysfl2]

Nd5 line:

A simple Nxd5 forces us into stacked pawns in the middle of the board. Don't really like that exchange.

 

[nysfl2]

Ng4 scares the hell out of me but maybe I'm missing something...

Ng4

h3. dxe5? Looks like it looses the N after

Nf3 which leaves mate in 1 which we have to protect against and then

hxg4

No??

We could respond to the mate in 1 with f6, but that probably winds up with our knight trapped back at h6.

I think we can probably toss that idea, though.

Nd7 is starting to look better and better.

 

[nysfl2]

Nd7 line:

exd6 Bxd6

Rb3 Qa5

nxe6

If we take the knight, they go Qxd6, and have us by the short hairs. If we move the bishop, he goes Nc7, and gets our rook.

Ugh.

 

[pizzatyme]

Agree that h6 is out.

dxe5 fxe5

Nd5 Nxd5

exd5

does set up a mate risk with the bishop and queen at d8. Easy enough to stop in the short

term, but we'd probably want to castle pretty quickly after that.

After Nb5 i see:

Rb3 Qa5

Nxd5 Qxd5

Rd3 with extra pressure on the d8

 

[nysfl2]

Nd7 line:

exd6 Bxd6

Rb3 Qa5

nxe6

If we take the knight, they go Qxd6, and have us by the short hairs. If we move the bishop, he goes Nc7, and gets our rook.

Ugh.

Never mind - Qc5 is another safe escape for our queen there. That doesn't look nearly as bad, even if he follows with Na4.

 

[pizzatyme]

Nd5 line:

A simple Nxd5 forces us into stacked pawns in the middle of the board. Don't really like that

exchange.

Nd5

Nxd5 exd5

exd6 Qxa2 attacking the R

Rd1 Bxd6 and we win another pawn

 

[nysfl2]

Agree that h6 is out.

dxe5 fxe5

Nd5 Nxd5

exd5

does set up a mate risk with the bishop and queen at d8. Easy enough to stop in the short

term, but we'd probably want to castle pretty quickly after that.

After Nb5 i see:

Rb3 Qa5

Nxd5 Qxd5

Rd3 with extra pressure on the d8

Also possible. And I don't see a response that I like at that point.

 

[pizzatyme]

Agree that h6 is out.

dxe5 fxe5

Nd5 Nxd5

exd5

does set up a mate risk with the bishop and

queen at d8. Easy enough to stop in the short

term, but we'd probably want to castle pretty quickly after that.

After Nb5 i see:Rb3 Qa5

Nxd5 Qxd5

Rd3 with extra pressure on the d8

Also possible. And I don't see a response that I like at that point.

It's the reason I don't like dxe5 next.

 

[pizzatyme]

I'm back to Nd5

What's your next move?

 

[nysfl2]

I'm back to Nd5

What's your next move?

Didn't you lay out this line already?

Rb3 Qa5

Nxd5 Qxd5

Rd3 with extra pressure on the d8

This line might be improved by replacing Qa5 with Qc5 and then replacing Qxd5 with exd5. This doubles up our pawns, but that will probably be resolved very quickly. More importantly, it takes our queen out of the line of fire if they go Rd3.

 

[pizzatyme]

Yeah, I prefer Qc5 instead of Qa5 too if we don't want to exchange Qs.

I only liked Qa5 to attack the a pawn or if we want to exchange Queens. As Nd5 NxN QxQ KxQ exd5 seems playable for us leaving us in pretty good shape.

Run through that and give thoughts.

 

[Sand]

Nd5 line:

A simple Nxd5 forces us into stacked pawns in the middle of the board. Don't really like that exchange.

Nd5

Nxd5 exd5

Rb3 Qc5

Qe3 dxe5

Qxe5 world of hurt

Nd7 line:

exd6 Bxd6

Rb3 Qa5

nxe6

If we take the knight, they go Qxd6, and have us by the short hairs. If we move the bishop, he goes Nc7, and gets our rook.

Ugh.

No need to immediately take back. I'd move Nc5 to put pressure on the b3 spot and to protect e3 as we will want to move f6.

I'm still on either exd5 or Nd7.

More later.

 

[Sand]

In our white game O moved, shockingly, Nh6.

Lots of opportunities - O-O, g4, b4, Qd2.

 

[pizzatyme]

Black

Nd5

Nxd5. exd5

Rb3. Qxa2

R or Qe3 Be6 eliminates the pressure on the K

exd6 Ke7 and we win the pawn back

Nxe6? fxe6 we now take Bxe6 and g5, Nf6 and we are in great shape.

Play it out and give thoughts.

 

[pizzatyme]

In our white game O moved, shockingly, Nh6.

Lots of opportunities - O-O, g4, b4, Qd2.

I LOVE g4 here. If they go g5 I think we consider opening his K side with Nxg5 and exchange the N for the 2 king pawns and castle Q side and load up on his K.

 

[Sand]

In our white game O moved, shockingly, Nh6.

Lots of opportunities - O-O, g4, b4, Qd2.

I LOVE g4 here. If they go g5 I think we consider opening his K side with Nxg5 and exchange the N for the 2 king pawns and castle Q side and load up on his K.

I will analyze, but I love the concept of an opposite side castle. That makes for all kinds of mayhem.

In other news, our black game is really ####### complicated at this point. Nd5, exd4, and Nd7 all look pretty good, but the options are very complex.

 

[pizzatyme]

Complicated it is! You have my vote.

Ne7 looks ugly to me:

Ne7

Rb3. Qe5

Ne4 QxQ or Qxa2? Others?

Nxd6 looms or exd6 and then we're fighting a passed pawn.

No?

 

[pizzatyme]

Sand/others, poke holes in my line just above for Nd5.