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Bughouse for Beginners: Don't not move your King's Pawn

Bughouse for Beginners: Don't not move your King's Pawn

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JarlCarlander
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If you've ever played in the random pool, you've undoubtedly played a game where your partner's board looked something like the following, with White to move.

You urgently spam the "hold" button, and urge your partner to play something like Ng1-h3, defending against p@f2 mate. Your partner asks you if you want a free Queen, and you curse the vicissitudes of the random pool. This sort of position usually only happens to players who are well below the 2000 rating in bughouse. 
The f2 square is White's weakest in the starting position. When a play doesn't move their e pawn, they are hemming their King into a tiny prison. And if the f1 Bishop hasn't moved, it often only takes a pawn or Bishop drop to mate White. Consider another example...
Using the h pawn is often a great way to play--when all of the other pieces have been developed, it can be a useful way to utilitze the King's rook against a castled enemy King. In this case, it is premature, and self-destructive. All Black needs in this position is...
Pawn drop at g3. White is already in real danger of being mated. White might try...
B@g1, and it is not completely impossible to save the game, providing Black doesn't get many pawns or Bishops. After gxf2+, Bxf2, Nxf2, White's most practical chance might just be...
Pawn to e4. But this is already desperate for White. All of this can easily be avoided. 
Sometimes stronger players forget to move their e pawn. Playing d4 can offer White a positional edge, especially with Nf3, Nc3, and Bg5. It is a natural way to play. I was Black in the following game, against a strong bughouse player named Loosher.

Here White is going in for the kill. Nxf7, Kxf7, N@e5+,Ke8, and B@f7+ is annoying for Black, who has to defend all game, or quickly evict all of Black's pieces from the vicinity of the Black King. Here I dropped a Knight at e4. It's an OK move. It might have been better just to play Nf6-e4.

This hits the g5 Bishop and the f2 pawn. White trades Knights on e4 and sacs on f7. 

Trading on e4 helps Black develop. It gives him control of the g5 square, and decreases White's control of the e4 square. Sacrificing on f7 is unwarranted. White isn't well enough developed to attack. 

Here Black has to make sure that Queen isn't dangerous for his partner. Since it isn't, Black can press his dark square advantage. White can take Black's Queen on d8, but if it doesn't mate instantly on the partner board, White will suffer immensely after p@d2+. 

This develops Black's Queen to a strong square. Since Black controls the center, and has made space around his King, it is White who is in danger. 

P@f7+. White has Queen and Knight in hand. But it doesn't really do anything for him after...

Here B@d2, attacking the g5 Queen, is ineffective. Black will just drop a pawn at e3, and sacrifice the g5 Queen, which can't be taken due to p@f2 mate. 
Instead White plays the superior move, B@b4, which defends d2 and hits Black's e7 square. Black plays B@d6, threatening to take the Bishop, and if White takes d6, he loses instantly. 

White tries to shore up his dark squares and increase the battery along the a3-f8 diagonal by placing B@c5. But since Bxd6 would not be check, I went ahead and played...

White throws in p@e7+, which is harmless as long as Black is half-awake. 

Taking with the Queen keeps it simple. After this, White played Q@f3, which loses at least one Queen after exf2+.

The game was quickly concluded because the Queen helped my partner win simply. I also caught this game live, for anyone wanting to see it in its entirety. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/415734257

Concluding remarks

It is probably better to have both the e and d pawns moved only one square, than to have only one of the e or d pawns moved two squares. This post has focused entirely on the dangers of moving only the d pawn, but there are also dangers involved with moving only the e pawn. In particular, the f4 square will be weak, and a Knight dropped there can't be captured. In any case, this post hopefully gives you a sense of the dark square problems (or light squared if it is Black) which arise when the King's pawn is not moved.