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Bughouse for Beginners: Early Sacrifices
What's wrong with early sacrifices in bughouse, and what's *really* wrong with them.

Bughouse for Beginners: Early Sacrifices

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JarlCarlander
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Beginning bughouse players often find themselves tempted to go in for an early kill in bughouse. There are two fairly common ways this is attempted. 

At this stage, white may liberally sprinkle the chat with partner tells such as "trade material", "Queen", and "Knight", or even more ambitiously, "Queen and Knight". What's wrong with this? There are several obvious points. The material white has sacrificed is going to be used against their partner. Secondly, the c4 Bishop is no longer on the board, and white is a piece down. But there is more to it than this. 

White doesn't control the d5 square, or the c4 square. In bughouse, pieces not only control the squares that they can move to, as in classical chess, but they also control the squares that they occupy, since a piece can only be dropped on an empty square. Sacrificing the bishop on the f7 square means that the c4 is empty. The c4 square being empty is not particularly problematic at this stage, but it does mean that White is surrendering control of the board. 

On the partner's board, being down in material makes it harder to control the flow of trades. Also, given the role that time plays in bughouse, White's partner hasn't had much time to get the trades necessary to keep White's attack going. 

White hasn't moved his d pawn or any of his queenside pieces. White will likely be relying on trades from their partner. But suppose that White continues with d4, opening up some lines...

This is a little better. The f4 square is protected by the c1 Bishop, which means that a black knight drop at f4 is no longer as difficult deal with. But White still has other problems. Something like the following is likely to happen...

Black is developing their Rook to an active square. Just as in chess, rooks enjoy open files. White's King's Rook remains on f1. Black has also developed their King. This may sound like an odd thing to hear, but it is important. Black's King is quite safe on f7. A lot of material can make Black uncomfortable at most. But since Black has good development, there is little danger. 

If Black's partner gives Queen and Knight before Black can play Rf8, Black will be mated. But this is unlikely to happen. Also, Black doesn't have to play Nf6. He could play Qe7, keeping f7 covered. Most importantly, since Black is so well developed, an attack on White will flow more naturally. Whether or not White has castled, Black will have an easier time of it. 

White trying to mate in this sort of way is really the bughouse equivalent of this sort of game in classical chess...

In other words, it isn't going to get you very far in bughouse. Let's consider another common line. 

This line ought to make Black's partner extremely pessimistic. Even if Black somehow manages to get their hands on a queen and knight, it doesn't force mate. White controls e4 and g4. White can throw in Bb5+, making room for the White King to move. In the worst case scenario, White can give up the d1 Queen for a Knight dropped at g4. Black's position, on the other hand, is completely flat and lifeless. Black's pieces are not active, and the Black e pawn has not moved. Not moving the e pawn is always a recipe for disaster in bughouse. 
None of this is to say that there isn't room for White to go wrong. Of course there is. Some players are able to achieve 2100 or even higher just by sacrificing early in the opening and waiting for trades, sometimes moving their own pieces for good measure. But if White acts with reasonable speed, it is very hard for Black to get anywhere. Black is lagging in development, and all of the problems mentioned above apply here. The f7 square is rather soft, since there are no pieces defending it. And for that matter, Black doesn't control very much of the board. 
The point of all of this is that while bughouse is not completely unlike chess. It is still necessary to develop and nurture a position. Sacrificing in general is part of what makes bughouse so much fun. But a good sacrifice is preceded by good positional play, just as in classical chess. The early sacrifices are best used only very occasionally, for surprise value. But that surprise value can only be gained by being the sort of player who doesn't usually do it. The f7 and f2 sacrifices are fairly obvious and expected.
A more general consideration would be the following. Suppose that you like the early sacrifices. Do you like them for your board, or for your partner's? Usually (read "in every single case") players who want to win with early sacrifices want them to occur on their own board, leaving the tedious business of getting the mating material to their partner. Suppose both parters sacrificed material on the f2/f7 square, and didn't develop any pieces. Suppose that in the same team, White sacrifices a Bishop on f7 while Black sacrifices a Knight on f2, as in the above diagrams. They will be in a poor position to get trades for one another. The point is that the early sacrifice is a fairly parasitic way to play. High level bughouse is much more reciprocal in nature. Reciprocity gives a team flexibility. An attack may occur on either board. 
That's most of the things I can think of, for the purposes of explaining the problems with early sac sitting. Feel free to pass this along to anyone who might benefit from it.