You may be right.
http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1248402473/0
Na6-c5 and Nc6-a5 probably lead to the same.
Fischer's bishops on b3?
Sort:
Because recapturing with the c pawn gets rid of all of black's counterplay on the c file.
And because he didn't want to spend three knight moves capturing a bishop that was already biting on granite, instead of developing his kingside and castling so he could DEFEND THE BLACK SIDE OF AN ULTRA SHARP SICILIAN AGAINST BOBBY FREAKING FISCHER.
Just guessing that played a role.
Fischer always put his bishop there for two reasons.
1: Putting pressure on black's f7 pawn is always a good idea, as it's a big weakness for black.
2: He had a pet line against the Sicilian that led to a nifty discovered attack forcing black to either drop their queen or get mated.
FariedKhan wrote:
And because he didn't want to spend three knight moves capturing a bishop that was already biting on granite, instead of developing his kingside and castling so he could DEFEND THE BLACK SIDE OF AN ULTRA SHARP SICILIAN AGAINST BOBBY FREAKING FISCHER.
Just guessing that played a role.
Actually that's one of Black's best ideas in the Najdorf. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 Nbd7 is one way Black tries to nab the bishop. Anyway this does take time though.
TitanCG wrote:
FariedKhan wrote:
And because he didn't want to spend three knight moves capturing a bishop that was already biting on granite, instead of developing his kingside and castling so he could DEFEND THE BLACK SIDE OF AN ULTRA SHARP SICILIAN AGAINST BOBBY FREAKING FISCHER.
Just guessing that played a role.
Actually that's one of Black's best ideas in the Najdorf. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 Nbd7 is one way Black tries to nab the bishop. Anyway this does take time though.
If you would like to show a common line which continues down the Nc5/NxBb3 line before continuing with defensive and developmental manouvers, I would like very much to see it.
In the f4 lines that follow, you will always see development to Be7 continue first.
In the 0-0 lines, ditto.
In the Bg5 lines, ditto.
In the Be3 lines, ditto.
FariedKhan wrote:
TitanCG wrote:
FariedKhan wrote:
And because he didn't want to spend three knight moves capturing a bishop that was already biting on granite, instead of developing his kingside and castling so he could DEFEND THE BLACK SIDE OF AN ULTRA SHARP SICILIAN AGAINST BOBBY FREAKING FISCHER.
Just guessing that played a role.
Actually that's one of Black's best ideas in the Najdorf. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 Nbd7 is one way Black tries to nab the bishop. Anyway this does take time though.
If you would like to show a common line which continues down the Nc5/NxBb3 line before continuing with defensive and developmental manouvers, I would like very much to see it.
In the f4 lines that follow, you will always see development to Be7 continue first.
In the 0-0 lines, ditto.
In the Bg5 lines, ditto.
In the Be3 lines, ditto.
I'm not sure what you're asking. If you're talking about move 6 alternatives 6...Nbd7 isn't much of a priority after other moves since there's no bishop on c4/b3 to win.
If you're talking about 7.Bb3 Be7 sure it's fine but it's really a matter of taste. Black isn't forced into any kind of development here. The only thing he can't do is play an early ...e5
Don't forget that when anyone plays Bc4-Bb3 the bishop moves 2 times. When the knight goes to Nc6-Na5-Nxb3 it moves 3 times, and white gets the open a file for the rook and black loses center control as well since the knight is not there anymore. (and it is true for ruy lopez and the sicilian as well)
csalami10 wrote:
Don't forget that when anyone plays Bc4-Bb3 the bishop moves 2 times. When the knight goes to Nc6-Na5-Nxb3 it moves 3 times, and white gets the open a file for the rook and black loses center control as well since the knight is not there anymore. (and it is true for ruy lopez and the sicilian as well)
Well, and the recapture with the pawn, so it's not really losing tempo.
I would guess castling long and recapturing with the c pawn is more common than the a pawn though.
I have a question. As white Fischer was notorious for often placing his light bishop on b3.
But I wonder: in many of his games, can't black just move his knight to a5 and be done with it? Check this game at move 7:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044314
Why doesn't black just go Na5, thanks very much? At worst black gets to trade his bad bishop for Fischer's good. This is why I don't dare to play Ba3 much myself, but maybe I am missing something?