Defense against annoying queen b3 move in many openings?

Hello everyone,

In many openings I have to deal with this annoying queen b3 move. I see many players play this and this  move doesn't come naturally to me at all. Questions I have

1. When opposition player does this move, what is the best way to defend b7 move?

2. Is it wise for the opposition player to capture b7 pawn

3. Can anyone illustrate me, please no notations (I'm hopeless at them) any common tactics surrounding this queen b3 move for both defender and attacker. Can I trap the queen by anychance if they take on the b7 pawn. 

4. When I'm playing this move doesn't come naturally to me at all. Does that mean I'm playing some of my openings wrong. Thanks a lot

Example I'm talking about

Hey der, eventhough your reply didn't directly answer my question your answer was interesting. Why you say it is bad. I always try to get my light squared bishop out of the way when playing london as black, because I'm not good at fianchetto stuff. So why is it bad. Thanks

The london approach as black is not good.

For White, the london is nothing more than a draw.  For Black, it is an early commitment of the Bishop.  In many openings, it is a good idea to keep the Bishop back.  It may be bad early on, but it plays a vital defensive role.  You throw it out that early and your queenside light squares are weak.

Now you might try to argue the caro-kann and slav.  In both cases, c6 has been played.  It makes it very easy to defend by with ...Qb6 or ...Qc7.  With the pawn on c7, sure you can defend with Qc8, but you plug up your Queenside and the Rook suffers.

A common line of defense against the London and the Jobava is d5, c5, and Qb6, going after the weak b2, but the extra move for white keeps the position level.  For Black, he is worse.  Not losing, but worse.

You need to read the book "The Secret Life of Bad Bishops".  Another good one if you can get your hand on a used copy as it is out of print is "Bishop V Knight: The Verdict".

Both of those books combined with my experience with the French Defense has caused me to view Bishops differently, and for the better, that is!

The queen sortie is usually an attempt to "punish" you for bringing out your bad bishop early. The idea is that, though it looks like you can trivially defend the pawn by advancing it one square, doing so will create long-term weaknesses in your position that a good player will know how to exploit. You can try playing training games against the comp to learn this the hard way.

Sometimes it's good, other times it isn't. It usually depends on how well developed each side is.

An example where it's good:

An example where it's bad:

@Thriller fan: What I meant was not exchanging my light squared bishop as black, but take it out early, so I can play it in an open file, rather than playing e6 early and blocking it, because I don't know how to fianchetto bishop after that.

@Way of pain- Thanks a lot for that illustrated response. I really enjoyed the queen trap which I didn't know before. But your first example I don't understand what you are showing, neither side seems to be doing that bad after those moves. Also if as white I play this queen b3 move, doesn't it make it harder for my queen to control what is happening other side of the board, as queen is stuck in this side. 

Sorry, the first diagram is probably a little advanced for your level. Here's one that might be clearer.

I never said anything about exchanging the Bishop.  In fact, if would be better to exchange the Bishop for White's Bishop than it would be to keep it on the board OUTSIDE the pawn chain.  Now White still has his LSB and Queen to attack your abandoned light squares on the queenside.

I NEVER said to "keep the Bishop on the board", I said keep it BEHIND THE PAWN CHAIN.

Also, being behind the pain chain DOES NOT automatically mean Fianchetto it.  In the French and QGD and many other light square defenses, the Bishop is best placed on c8 or d7 and often it only goes to d7 to get the rook on a8 out, and so it is often the last minor piece developed.

Examples:

French - 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.a3 Nh6 7.b4 cxd4 8.cxd4 Nf5 9.Bb2 and notice the Bishop is still on c8.  Here both 9...Be7 and 9...Bd7 are lines with very different ideas.

QGD - 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e3 O-O 6.Nf3 Nbd7 and now 7.Rc1 c6 or 7.Qc2 c5 and notice the LSB is Black's last minor piece to develop.  It will likely go to d7 5 to 10 moves from now if White does not trade on d5 to open up the Bishop.

@ThrillerFan Youre sometimes really fixed and hard on judging certain openings. I think this is interesting. Hmm why are you so confident on your statements about the openings?  Dont get me wrong, this is no attack in any manner, but I for myself think around my level almost every "non-troll"-opening is playable and fine from a practical point of view. But especially your statement, that the London is just a draw for white kept me wondering. Carlsen won super grandmaster games with this opening.. 

No lne is as dogmatic as good ol' ThrillerFan, not event Tarrasch.