Team X Chess thread (1 Viewer)

[Sand]

Nxe5 isn't horrible as I see it. It wins another pawn and leads to an exchange of pieces.

Nex5

Bxe5 Qxe5

Nf3 Bc4+? either moves the K, Nfd2, or c3. If they go c3 we take with the Bishop and win another pawn.

Nxe5

Nf6+ Kd8

NxQ NxQ+

Rxd3 exd5 and we're up 3 pawns with the Qs off the board.

What is the disastrous move if we go Nxe5?

Nxe5

Nf6+ Kd8

NxQ+ screwed as we must take the knight and then lose the queen.

After looking I am liking the Be7 move. We have a big hole at f6. Next move if he moves Nf6 our only choice is NxN. This protects both d8 and f6 and allows for O-O. Not only that but it then attacks the pawn at e5 as our knight is now free to head there. This leads to a queen exchange and likely another pawn which is very good for us.

We don't have to take the N after NxQ. We can do NxQ+. But, as I said in my last post, it ultimately loses a pawn.

Regardless the Be7 move appears to be superior in every way. Develops a piece, allows the O-O development, protects two critical squares, and attacks the pawn. I can't find fault with it - the Nf6 move for them is problematic and our immediate threat. This also takes care of that.

 

[pizzatyme]

There's nothing wrong with Be7.

 

[Sand]

There's nothing wrong with Be7.

I can't find anything either. I've been looking. On that note:

White game one official vote for a4.

Black game one official vote for Be7.

We have about a day for the white game. More for black. Note my phone has died, so I can only make moves while at home from my Kindle.

 

[pizzatyme]

There's nothing wrong with Be7.

I can't find anything either. I've been looking. On that note:

White game one official vote for a4.

Black game one official vote for Be7.

We have about a day for the white game. More for black. Note my phone has died, so I can only make moves while at home from my Kindle.

I think myself and nsy have also voted for a4

And I'm good with either Nc6 or Be7

 

[Sand]

There's nothing wrong with Be7.

I can't find anything either. I've been looking. On that note:

White game one official vote for a4.

Black game one official vote for Be7.

We have about a day for the white game. More for black. Note my phone has died, so I can only make moves while at home from my Kindle.

I think myself and nsy have also voted for a4

Done.

 

[nysfl2]

Ugh

Be7 Nd6+

Doesn't look good for us. What's our response? Ke7?

 

[pizzatyme]

Ugh

Be7 Nd6+

Doesn't look good for us. What's our response? Ke7?

What's wrong with Bxd6?

exd6 Nc6

Nxc6 bxc6

Are you worried about the pawn on d6?

 

[nysfl2]

Ugh

Be7 Nd6+

Doesn't look good for us. What's our response? Ke7?

What's wrong with Bxd6?

exd6 Nc6

Nxc6 bxc6

Are you worried about the pawn on d6?

Doh - was looking at Bg7. Just ignore me.

 

[nysfl2]

Actually looking at Be7, I don't see any problems with it.

 

[pizzatyme]

Ugh

Be7 Nd6+

Doesn't look good for us. What's our response? Ke7?

What's wrong with Bxd6?

exd6 Nc6

Nxc6 bxc6

Are you worried about the pawn on d6?

Doh - was looking at Bg7. Just ignore me.

Honestly, while Be7 does do a lot of things, the only critical thing I see it does for us is give extra protection against Nf6. I feel like the N on d7 is doing just fine for us in that regard. So, we lose a tempo by Be7 if they follow with Nd6.

I still think b5 is viable here. it starts to put pressure on them to stop our pawn march and it also protects against c4 and closes out their c1 Bishop even more.

If they were to go Nc3 attacking the Q, this also give us a retreat to b7 for the Q.

Punch holes in it.

 

[pizzatyme]

I want to hold off on my Be7 vote until we at least look at b5.

 

[nysfl2]

Be7 Nd6

Bxd6 exd6

doesn't concern me at all. We can follow up with O-O and f5 in some order and threaten f4 to take the solitary pawn, or just be content that our king is finally in a much safer position. Making progress towards being able to castle is a big plus for Be7 in my eyes.

As far as b5 goes, I don't love getting our queen trapped back in the corner after:

b5 Nc3

Qb7

Kicking off a piece trade with:

b5 Nc3

Nc5

looks better, even though we take a bit of a hit in pawn structure after the trades.

My order still would be:

1. Nc6

2. Be7

3. b5

 

[pizzatyme]

I prefer Nc6 to Be7 as well. That's my official vote.

 

[Sand]

I prefer Nc6 to Be7 as well. That's my official vote.

Ok. So if we do move Nc6 I am about 95% sure they will move NxN. I certainly would. We can't take with the Q due to the threat of Nf6+ and not being able to take with the N (mate in 1). So then we are simply moving to ensure that we end up with a pretty fractured pawn structure. I didn't think we were under the type of pressure that forces this type of loss - and creating two solo pawns is a pretty decent degradation in our position. So given:

Nc6

Nxc6 bxc6

go - show me why this is superior to Be7.

 

[pizzatyme]

Nc6

NxN QxQ

cxe3? To connect pawns? bxc6

At this point, we've exchanged Qs & Ns. I'd be okay with the unconnected pawns here as we can now get our other minor pieces in play to advance the a pawn.

As for Be7, it's not bad, but if I'm them, I'd go c4 and chase the Q around a bit. They know we've stopped the mate threat and they can't trap the Q, so it's to their advantage to hold into their pieces to fight.

This is why Nc6 is preferred. I want to remove the Q as it makes our pawn advantage stronger.

 

[Sand]

Nc6

NxN QxQ

cxe3? To connect pawns? bxc6

At this point, we've exchanged Qs & Ns. I'd be okay with the unconnected pawns here as we can now get our other minor pieces in play to advance the a pawn.

As for Be7, it's not bad, but if I'm them, I'd go c4 and chase the Q around a bit. They know we've stopped the mate threat and they can't trap the Q, so it's to their advantage to hold into their pieces to fight.

This is why Nc6 is preferred. I want to remove the Q as it makes our pawn advantage stronger.

Allright - I'm sold. Nc6 it is.

 

[pizzatyme]

That was too easy. Now I'm concerned. LOL

 

[pizzatyme]

White

Anyone want to guess their next move?

I'd say between f5, g5, or Bxb5.

 

[Sand]

White

Anyone want to guess their next move?

I'd say between f5, g5, or Bxb5.

Bxb5

cxb5 Rc8

 

[spOOfy]

you sold me on Nc6 also.

i agree with sand that they will almost definitely go NxN

 

[nysfl2]

Nc6

NxN QxQ

cxe3? To connect pawns? bxc6

At this point, we've exchanged Qs & Ns. I'd be okay with the unconnected pawns here as we can now get our other minor pieces in play to advance the a pawn.

As for Be7, it's not bad, but if I'm them, I'd go c4 and chase the Q around a bit. They know we've stopped the mate threat and they can't trap the Q, so it's to their advantage to hold into their pieces to fight.

This is why Nc6 is preferred. I want to remove the Q as it makes our pawn advantage stronger.

This is almost my exact line of thinking on Nc6 - they sacrificed two pawns to get into their attacking position with their queen and knights, and this move almost singlehandedly blows up all of that positional advantage.

 

[Joe T]

nice work dudes.

 

[Sand]

White

Anyone want to guess their next move?

I'd say between f5, g5, or Bxb5.

Bxb5

cxb5 Rc8

O has moved in our white game. Yep - I'm dead on so far. Not that it was a tough pick.

The only two choices are taking with the a or c pawn. IMO giving black a pass pawn on the a column is a bad idea, so I vote cxb5. This should be a quick discussion.

 

[pizzatyme]

I second it.

 

[Sand]

I second it.

So need to look at the line:

cxb5 Rc8

Rc1 This threatens the pawn on a5 as if we take their Q will take and leave a5 unguarded.

 

[spOOfy]

third

 

[pizzatyme]

My guess is they go b6.

 

[pizzatyme]

Rc8 Rc1

b6 O-O

 

[Sand]

third

cxb5 done.

 

[nysfl2]

I was thinking taking with the a pawn, but if the move's already made, I won't waste my time analyzing it

 

[pizzatyme]

Nys, I didn't see a real advantage to giving them a passed pawn. Plus it allowed them an open file to attack our c pawn.

 

[nysfl2]

Nys, I didn't see a real advantage to giving them a passed pawn. Plus it allowed them an open file to attack our c pawn.

No worries - like I said, I hadn't really looked at it. If all 3 of you agreed, it was probably the better move.

 

[Sand]

Nys, I didn't see a real advantage to giving them a passed pawn. Plus it allowed them an open file to attack our c pawn.

No worries - like I said, I hadn't really looked at it. If all 3 of you agreed, it was probably the better move.

'tis done, so water under the bridge.

 

[pizzatyme]

Is team O okay? Can they still fog a mirror?

 

[Sand]

Is team O okay? Can they still fog a mirror?

They're talking, but not sending anything over. Probably because the last 25 posts are "OH ####! Our white game is ####ed!"

 

[pizzatyme]

Black

They moved!!!!!!!!!!

They did Nxc6.

So it's either QxQ or bxc6

I haven't looked through it completely, but I'm thinking QxQ is best. That's my vote unless you guys change my mind.

 

[Joe T]

nevermind... got it.

Of those two, I vote QxQ. The line looks favorable.

If we went bxc6, we still end up in good shape, but his queen can/will continue to apply pressure.

QxQ really opens up the advantage of pushing our 'a' pawn at some point.

 

[pizzatyme]

White

They're on a roll! They've moved again.

Qg6.

Here I like O-O. It gets our other rook in play for the c file exchange after Rc1 at some point.

 

[Sand]

Need to look at QxQ, but the initial thought is that the more pieces off the board the better.

 

[Sand]

From a smack PM from Kutta:

We just had so many options it took us awhile to figure out what the quickest way to win was

Let your team know that the hammer is going to be dropped pretty seriously in the next four or five moves.

But I'm glad you guys will be laughing and smiling while your ship sinks.

So, you know, let's make sure there is no hammer in the next five moves...

 

[pizzatyme]

They sound like they're lost. And that's okay. Next 5 moves, should we "book it?"

 

[Sand]

They sound like they're lost. And that's okay. Next 5 moves, should we "book it?"

In my official game they haven't moved yet (and I assume you meant Qb6, not Qg6).

In out black game I'm not seeing the hammer.

After QxQ what are their choices? Nf6 is poor, Nd6 is poor, BxQ is fairly poor, RxQ is their best choice I see and I don't see a huge payoff there for them. What am I missing?

 

[nysfl2]

QxQ looks like the best. Clears out the threat and we'll go bxc6 next.

I looked at Qxc6 and didn't like it. If he goes Nf6 at that point, we can only move our king to respond, and it allows him to keep the attack up.

I see no advantage of going bxc6 before trading queens.

QxQ Rxd3

bxc6

He has no immediate attack, and we can look to either move the black bishop out of the way and castle kingside, or go Bc7 and castle queenside.

I think the smack talk is their recognition that they're in some serious trouble.

 

[nysfl2]

I'll look at white a bit later

 

[pizzatyme]

Make the move! QxQ.

 

[nysfl2]

White

They're on a roll! They've moved again.

Qg6.

Here I like O-O. It gets our other rook in play for the c file exchange after Rc1 at some point.

I don't see anything better than O-O. Seems like a good time to make the move.

 

[pizzatyme]

That's 2 votes for O-O.

 

[spOOfy]

i think we trade the Qs. i'm usually quick to jump on trading pieces, and i agree it will clear things up for us, with us having the better advantage. have no idea what to fear 5 moves down the line. that sounds like a bunch of smoke blowing to me. lol.

i'm good with the O-O move, but i haven't had a chance to look at any alternatives to that one yet so that's not an official vote.

 

[pizzatyme]

QxQ is the move because if we go bxc6, they could move the Q to a spot like f3, then we have to move the Q and then they have Nf6 and eventually get their Q to f6.

That looks scary.

 

[Sand]

QxQ is the move because if we go bxc6, they could move the Q to a spot like f3, then we have to move the Q and then they have Nf6 and eventually get their Q to f6.

That looks scary.

QxQ it is. Also, on the other game Qb6 isn't their official move. Officially they haven't decided yet (confirmed by kutta). So that is likely their move, but not necessarily.