Breaking 1700 in Bughouse
Strength in bughouse is not fixed. It doesn't make much sense to say that one player's strength is 2005, and another's is 1768. Someone may be better with certain partners, with certain kinds of piece flow, and this can cause big swings in a player's rating. Bughouse players tend to talk about bughouse strength in isolation.
Every player has theories, whether or not they realize it. A theory can carry a certain amount of weight. If you are normally rated around 1600-1800, you may stretch your theory so that you can touch 2000 (or higher). But if you had a stronger theory, it wouldn't be as much of a stretch to hit 2k.
Why am I talking about 1700s? There's a certain point at which a player is likely to be gaining more for a win than they lose for a loss. If most of your games are +10 if you win, but -6 if you lose, you are not yet on steep territory. If you lose -13 and gain only +3 points for a win, this is steep rating territory.
1700 is not that steep. It doesn't matter if you once touched 2100. If you are around 1700, there are changes you can make on your board. You will lose games because your partner simply crumbled, offering no real resistance. But it is very unlikely that you are underrated. A true 2200 or 2300 could make a new account and blaze past you in less than an hour of play. If you think that you are underrated, you need an explanation. Some frustrated players say that they are cursed--but that explanation is extravagant. Fate is not conspiring to keep you at 1700.
Many players are so busy asking their partner for a piece that mates, they miss checkmates which are already available.
The hardest question for any bughouse player is how to handle the opening as Black. The problem is, Black does not have a single viable opening. Every opening has a major drawback, and every opening has windows of opportunity where Black can be hurt by materially equal flow. The key is to understand what those vulnerable points are, and to deal with them speedily. It's likely that this is quite feasible in the ecosystem you are playing in.
There are different ecosystems in bughouse. This is due to the relatively scarcity of bughouse players. Some openings are more or less viable depending on the time of day. If bughouse ever becomes as popular as it deserves to be, this will change.
So how do you play as Black? The answer is so simple that most people who hear it, don't really hear it.
Use all of your pieces.
Don't ask for anything until you've moved all of the highlighted pieces.
Don't ask for a pawn which forks two pieces.
Some players try to impose their theory on others. There's nothing wrong with this, except it never works. The majority of players play the same openings, at the same speed, and trade the same amount of pieces. Don't ask the other players to trade more; find ways to make the trades they want to send you good. There's a way. The flow at anything below 1800 is usually slow and gradual. Why not turn this into a strength, rather than a source of frustration?
Some insist that their sac-sitting is the best way to play, and that all other players are unreasonable, weak, and out to get them. Because they sometimes come close to or even briefly touch 2k, they feel that they are held back by others. They are always one or two pieces away from delivering mate. But one or two pieces is a lot, in certain ecosystems.
Accept more risk. If you play purposefully, the only buttons you will ever need are 'sit' and 'no Queen'. As Black, your worst pieces is likely to be the Queen's Bishop. So if I play in the random pool with players below 2k, I play this opening.
Some players insist that speed is everything. If that were true, getting up time would reliably create wins. But in fact, playing fast detracts from the quality of moves, creating problems which take time to solve. Everyone has to balance speed and move quality. An important thing to do is to look for better moves between games, while the clock is not ticking.
As I said before, most players don't so much ignore this advice, as much as they fail to really hear it and register it in the first place. Some players insist that they are underrated, and that the numbers don't fairly represent their strength. Numbers can be used to lie, but the trends don't lie. If a 2500 player drops down to 2200, this is because 2500 is steep territory. Games are often +2 for wins and -14 for losses. A player who is always below 2k is really below 2k in strength.
e4/e5 is not that bad for Black.
