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Identifying a position

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Tyzer

I came across a pretty nice chessboard wallpaper recently, but I couldn't quite identify the position featured in it...as far as I can tell, it looks like this.

Out of curiosity, does anyone happen to know whether this is a legitimate opening line, or whether the maker just threw some stuff together? It seems somewhat plausible but the pawn structure and the bishop's position look a bit unusual.

Gomer_Pyle

I couldn't find that exact position. Maybe someone with a bigger database can locate it. The pawn structure with pawns on c4 and e4 are known as a Maroczy type position. I found many games with that exact pawn formation but with different piece placement. it was usually reached through some variation of the Sicilian or English although I saw a few that reached it from a 1.e4 e5 king's pawn opening.

I'd guess that it's a fairly legitimate, but not very common opening position.

Here's a short blurb from Wikipedia:
"The Maróczy bind is a formation White may adopt against some variations of the Sicilian Defence. By placing pawns on e4 and c4, White slightly reduces his attacking prospects but also greatly inhibits Black's counterplay."

orangehonda

Looks like an English (of course).  Looks like black's knight on d7 is sorely misplaced... at least for it to be any kind of standard line.  White's development is standard-ish.  Looks like a position two beginners would reach just developing pieces without any real plan Tongue out (but like I said, I guess white is ok).

Tyzer

Hmm, thanks, that helps. I didn't think of the Maroczy Bind...I was looking up lines in the Sicilian and the English, but couldn't find anything that really matched. White's bishop and Black's d7 knight seem pretty oddly placed, yes...

Tyzer

Hooray thread bump! (What made you notice this topic suddenly anyways?) Though as mentioned, yeah, the knight on d7 seems rather odd. So it doesn't seem to be any kind of standard opening line?

Tyzer

Heh, okay. I'm vaguely disappointed that the people who made that wallpaper didn't seem to have come up with a proper opening...though the pieces are in reasonably, well, reasonable positions I guess (the knight and bishop look awkward, but at least there's no weird Na3 or white pawn on h6...); suggesting they had some knowledge of chess at least.

chessmaster12344

uh...

Tyzer

^ Yeah, that's a legal move order, but not necessarily a decent one (i.e. reasonably played in the opening). Why would Black lock in his light-squared bishop with Nd7? 3.d3 is also a little passive, and following it with Be2 and Nf3 looks redundant.

oinquarki

The wallpaper is intended to be a cool-looking graphic, not a positional study or anything. The point is just that the position looks nice from the given angle, so it's legitimacy shouldn't matter, right?

chessmaster12344

chessmaster12344

Well tyzer,that's a question the creators would know

Tyzer

But it's not addressing the point of this topic, which was whether such a position is a legitimate opening line. Anyway, it seems I got the answer, which is "it isn't".