Analysis thread: Part 1

I did part one, because I think it would be fun and instructive to do part 2 and part 3 and etc, if people like this. But... you don't even know what this is!

Basically, I give you a position and 2 moves. You say what you think is the best move, (Maybe if you think a different move is a best move you can state your reasons why you think that is.)

Anyway, I hope this will be productive and instructive and won't fail. But, here's the position:

Black to move. Castle queenside, or kingside?

Don't use engine please.

If you do, I'll just block you.

Can we think of any other move instead of castling?

Yes. If you think another move is better, say why you think so and which move it is.

queenside probably

Why?

and was this a position from one of your games or smth?

I will castle Queenside. White has a solid initiative on the KingSide and two semi open files for his rooks. It's gonna be unpleasant to defend if black castles KingSide.

Let me think of some other moves now lol

because it would be hard to defend if you castle kingside, and you cant really attack on the queenside because of the backwards c pawn

Hm... castling kingside and then throwing pawns at the queenside looks attractive, and is what I would likely play in this position. However, I think that with those pawns already on g4 and h3, White's attack will be a lot quicker. For example: 0-0 h4! h6 h5 Bh7 g5! and White's attack is in full swing while Black hasn't even started and now will be forced to defend.

So in this case I'd say castle queenside - if the bishop wasn't on g6, it might be a different story...

Yeah. Looked interesting, so I posted it.

If you were wondering, I castled queenside.

C5 pawn break or a Nf6 - Ne4 manueover or a Nb6-Nc4 manueover

That's what I thought as well.

Won't say if that's wrong or right though.

Given you thought of it, it's probably wrong

-_-

i would play qa5 and then 0-0-0

Why Qa5 though?

oh sorry. To target the a2 pawn. if a3, Bxa3. 0-0-0 because white already is half completed his pawn storm on the kingside

I would castle queenside because the pawns on the kingside seem dangerous and I feel like I would be vulnerable to being attacked.