Martin vs the world analysis thread #3

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chess_pro, what are your thoughts on the value of the bishop compared to rooks? 

"7...h5 would only temporarily prevent Bh6 until we play ...0-0, so it seems like a pretty pointless move."

If we play h5, we're basically not castling, and leaving the rook semi-developed on h8. We'd have only one plan... to attack his kingside with a pawn storm. I'm not saying that's what we should do, but now's the time to decide, that's for sure. 

I'm not even sure he forces a trade off of bishops. Ours is a defensive piece, with Bbc2.5 he can have both his bishops x-raying our kingside and have two very strong attackers. Ok he might want to develop his a-rook first, but once he has done his bishops have nice outposts where they can occupy multiple squares. So perhaps we should be happy to trade bishops when given the chance. 

nvm, I remembered this post existed. 

Just a clarification on mechanics... is Bde2.5 to gh4.5 a legal move for white? It's obviously a bad move, but is it legal? I would have thought so, because he can play that move from e2, a square he occupies.

That's a very interesting question and I really don't know. At first I thought maybe rooks are slightly better still but now I'm not so sure. They have both been improved in this event compared to regular chess but bishops have clearly been improved more (since they can occupy 4 squares at once but rooks can only occupy 2).

I don't know if it's better to have a rook control 2 files/ranks or having a bishop control 3 diagonals.

Edit: Controlling 3 parallel diagonals (with a bishop on 4 squares) seems slightly better than controlling 2 parallel files/ranks with a rook on 2 squares. But rooks are still better than bishops in their "base form" (when they are only standing on 1 square). Maybe rooks and bishops are about equal in value in this event.

I believe that is a legal move. I think the bishop can move from e2 (since it occupies that square) along the diagonal to gh4.5.

I'm considering e5 here, with the idea of Bde6.5. Bh6 seems like a really bad move for him here, trading off one of his strong bishops and sidelining the other.

Putting the bishop on h6 dosen't do much for Martin, especially since we have ...g5 and Rhg8-g6

No!

I cast my vote for e5

chess_pro hasn't committed to e5 yet.  Me, I don't know what to do… I'm still licking my wounds from today's Daily Puzzle.

Btw, ry, did you get today's Daily Puzzle?  I noticed you calling out those liars, which I liked seeing.  For me, on the Daily, all I could make of it was my first move would decide if Black would move to a green or a white square, both of which brought White toward the center of the board, where I got completely hung up on what-ifs.  Then I went for the move everyone probably guessed first, and it was wrong.  Should have gone with my original hunch, which avoided the seemingly obvious first move, since it is Saturday, and obvious doesn't usually fare too well.

I don't see how we can play ...g5 if Martin plays Bh6. He would have 2 bishops covering g5.

Are you planning on meeting 7...e5 8. Bh6 with 8...Rgh8? If so then how Martin will probably just sit with his bishop on h6 (or maybe play 9. Bxg7 Rxg7 10. Bh6) and we can't play ...h6 ourselves to prepare ...g5 (since he has a bishop on h6).

I'm not convinced playing 7...e5 (and meeting 8. Bh6 with 8...Rgh8) would be a good idea. Our king would probably get stuck in the centre and I'm not sure how safe it would be there, especially since we've played ...e5.

My vote is for 7...0-0 for now.

And also after 7...e5 8. Bh6 Rgh8 Martin can maybe be greedy and play 9. Bxg7 Rxg7 10. dxe5 and try to hold on to the extra pawn.

We have a similar problem if we try to play 7...e5 8. Bh6 0-0, because then Martin could maybe play 9. Bxg7 Kxg7 10. dxe5 and try to hold on the the e5-pawn (as I mentioned in a previous post).

Personally I feel that 0-0 is a terrible move. He can just go for an attack with h4, h5, Bh6 and Qd2.5

h4 h5 is a threat that was need to consider. Martin doesn't need to castle, he's better in the centre than we are, f1 is a safe square for him, and he can develop the h-rook by pushing the h-pawn.

I feel like black has no good plan here, this opening is not good for this event.

h4 g4 still opens up the kingside

If the game continues 7...e5 8. Bh6 Bxh6 9. Bxh6 then we can't castle kingside anymore. And I'm not sure castling queenside will be that easy. Where would we put our queenside pieces (b8 knight, c8 bishop and d8 queen)?

For example if we try to play ...Bde6.5 then that blocks both the d7 and e7 square from our knight and queen. And if we play ...Nc6 after ...Bde6.5 then white has a fork with d5.

If we instead try to play ...b6 (at some point) to fianchetto the bishop on b7 then I'm worried Martin will just play a2-a4-a5 and get a strong attack.

If we play 9...exd4 10. cxd4 (and then for example Bc8-de6.5-f8) then it looks scary to castle queenside, since both the b and c-files are open and maybe even the a-file could open after a2-a4-a5-a6.

If we play ...Bd7 then our b7 pawn is unprotected, so Martin could probably take advantage of that by playing Rb1 (or Rab1) and we'd have to protect it. If we play ...b6 to protect it then we have the same problem of white playing a2-a4-a5.

It's not so clear to me how we could safely develop our queenside in order to castle queenside after 7...e5 8. Bh6 Bxh6 9. Bxh6

Martin might get a strong attack no matter what we play.

If we play 7...0-0 then I don't think h2-h4-h5 feels that scary if white also castles kingside (since then there is no rook on h1 and white would weaken his own king). After 7...0-0 it might be good for white to play h2-h4-h5 and either leave his king in the centre or castle queenside. But at least castling queenside might not be completely safe for white (since the b-file is semi-open) and if he leaves his king in the centre then maybe we could hope to open up the centre and somehow attack his king.

I'm more afraid of an attack with a2-a4-a5 if we play 7...e5 8. Bh6 Bxh6 9. Bxh6 and then play ...b6 at some point to develop our queenside in order to castle queenside than an attack with h4, h5, Bh6 if we play 7...0-0. Pushing the h-pawn is on the kingside, where white would ideally want to have his king. Pushing the a-pawn doesn't make white's king any less safe, since he will just castle kingside.

I think 0-0 is just losing to h4. The bulk of our material is queenside, while he has two bishops, a rook and a queen already attacking us, with his knight not far behind. 

His knight also has an outpost on e5, which can be challenged with f6, or Nd7, but both these moves hamper our pieces.

I'm mentally calculating c5.