Martin vs The world Analysis thread

I don't have the answers yet.  These Drunken Bishops make analysis next to impossible.

That's why I'm picking just one move, and I look at all the "roads" that flow from it, until it either turns into a super highway, or becomes strewn with potholes.

Martin is just one person, and so he can only look so far down a road before he gives up or tires out.

But we're the World!  We can delegate analysis to various members, divide and conquer the current puzzle position to be solved, really assess things in detail, and not leave anything overlooked.

Here's an example of how I do it for the one move of b5!  (I set up a Notes Page in my computer, and start making the forward outlook until I know what's up.)

b5

• exd5 (his pawn takes our knight)
  • bxc4 (we take his knight)
    • bxc4 (his pawn takes our poison pawn)
      • Qa4+, Ke2 (forced), Qxc4+, Kd1 (forced), Bb5+, a4 (forced), Qd3+, Qd2 (forced)
        • Bxd2
          1. Be2 >> Bc4#
          2. Ne1, Bc4+ (# in 2)
          3. Nxd2, Bc4
    • b4 (he surprises us and skips taking the pawn, moves up instead (whatever)
      • Qa4+, Ke2 (forced), exd5 (again, horrible for White)
    • Ne5 (he hopes to make a mess of our forward pawn)
      • cxb3 (we move it up and capture his b pawn)
        • axb3
          • Bxd5 (both Drunken Bishops are in play; White king exposed)

So, as you can see, it is very tedious, but no stone is left unturned.

Part of this whole Variant "experiment", imho, is to see if we can really harness the World of chess players.

Btw, really difficult to post this, so ignore my formatting.  Much easier on my Mac Notes.

If we play b5! and Martin plays Na5 (doesn't go for the Knight exchange), then we can play Nb6 or Nf4.  But, if we play Nb6, he can play Bb2, and a move later play e5 attacking our Drunken Bishop.

We're screwed if we let that happen.  At least if our Knight is on f4, we can fork his queen and Drunken Bishop, and then take his DB with tempo. (check)

So, we're trying a gambit to see if he'll bite, exchange the Knights early, which would be good for us. 

Can't be sure if these are good, yet, because the "Knight" is young, but we would have a solid position if he goes to a5 with his Knight.

I just get a feeling… could be wrong, though.

I'm worried about the moment he brings his other Bishop out.  Then… LOOK OUT!  With our Knight on f4, it would make perfect sense to take his DB on e2 if it tries something premature.

Very well. I will analyse Nf4 instead of b5.

Very well. I will analyse Nf4 instead of b5.

Pick your favorite move, …

Analyze it to absurdum.

We get together to discuss

            — here —

          … days later,

and may the

                BEST

               MOVE

                 WIN

                !!!!!!!!!!

(I need sleep; not really, … but I could use more sleep.)

Remember!!!!

If your analysis concludes, very quickly, that your "line" goes nowhere, get back to all of us.

Immediately!

Interrupt us, so that we can consider our options, and maximize our efforts, … redeploy you.

And the World will conquer the Individual.

If this doesn't happen… then you get tyranny.

(Don't mean this to be political; just a logical "outcome" argument.)

This is a great game we have going, here!

Really Good!

ry, your "job" just got harder… suddenly you "have" a lot of responsibility.

Let's! Win! (the Mets Win!    ; from the NY area!    )

This could be followed by Na5

...then black to move...

I'm going to reject b5!

It is too ambitious for a Drunken Bishops type game.  Moreover, then our c pawn is backward relative to Martin's d4 pawn.

Candidate Moves I'm interested in are Nb6 and Nf4.

If he took our Knight on b6, happy to double our pawns, so what.  We double them from the right, open up that Rook lane, and the cool thing is… with Drunken Bishops, it doesn't take two moves to replace our's to c6, it only takes one move, and we'd be firing with both barrels with our DBs.

Unfortunately, I doubt Martin will leave his Knight on c4, and I think he'll move it to e5.

He'd have an advanced Knight then, it can be replaced by another if we capture it by brining our Knight out to take it from c6.  But, at least we can attack that e5 square twice with Knights, if we want to get them off of there.

If we play our Knight to f4 for this current move, Martin can simply move his Knight to e5, preventing any further encroachment by our Knight at f4 to d3, and a later g3 pawn push by Martin would dislodge our Knight to Outer Siberia. 

So, I'll vote Nb6, it is conservative, and then we'll see what he does.

It's funny how the Drunken Bishops make the game too risk averse.  Nowhere is safe with them still on the board, and I can see this game ending in a Draw, eventually.  The reason is, Drunken Bishops don't get into binds.  Their inherent flexibility prevents normal tactics from taking place, and advantages are unrealizable.  But we'll see.  Martin may overplay his position and suffer consequences.

Bob, you are clearly overthinking things. The reason I say this is because you overlooked the hilariously simple fact that Ne5, whether after Nf4 or Nb6, is a major blunder due to B(xe5)d6. Either that or I'm unaware of some of the basic rules of this variant.

Here's what I'm seeing...

If the Drunken Bishop takes the Knight, that's a favorable exchange for White, and White could capture the DB with his other Knight.  Drunken Bishops can move one square, and when they do you'd never know they were drunk.

Remember, we switched the Kings and Queens to make things easier to follow, just in case you're unaware of that.

I'm not following your concern.

One more thing that worries me… a little out in the future.

If Martin plays Ne5, and we let it stay, then if he plays Bb2 (an excellent square for it), he can bring two Knights to bear on our f7 pawn.  So, there may be an h7 move we have to fit in, in a timely way, and it could cost us a tempo.

So, a DB cannot turn and move at a 90 degree angle after capturing? So, after Nce5, we cannot take the knight on our way to f4?

Or d6...

In simpler words, after Bxe5, does our turn immediately end? Can we not go to d6 after? If we cannot, I vote Nb6. If we can, and Ne5 gives away a free knight, I vote Nf4.

If a DB captures, its turn ends right there.  If the DB takes the Knight, which is essentially losing a powerful piece, at a value of at least 4 compared to a Knight's value of 3 when it is then captured on White's turn, then the turn ends for Black.  The White Knight would then recapture, posting so as to prevent the Black Drunken Bishop from doing an around the corner move to c6.

Since our Drunken Bishop would not take the White Knight, we would most likely keep an eye on that situation, probably playing g6 to give the Black DB an exit when our Black Knights come to remove the White Knight(s).

So Nb6 then, I guess...

If Nce5 we can play Bxc1 and f6.