Breaking in the center

Hey guys, I'm black in this game. I'm a relatively new player to chess, and I've been wondering this : When is it good to break in the center ?

At move 10, instead of going for the much debated e5 move, I go for development of my queen while weakening some of white's square which I thought was interesting for the later part of the game. 

What advantage would breaking in the center have brought me ? Are there any rules about this type of e5 move ? 

Thanks a lot for your answers, whatever they may be 

10...e5 seems important to me. There are many strategies involved with the move, whereas the queen achieves very little in comparison besides harassing the queenside pawns.

The d4 pawn is a thorn in black's position, it wouldn't hurt to get rid of it and take back control of e5 and c5. That would also give that d7 knight some ground to move. There's also a potential pawn fork on e4. The d6 pawn is looking slightly threatened and will cost too much to defend, so that's another thing to consider. Then there's the matter of open files and so on. 10...Qb6 simply pales in comparison.

Move 10 was a very interesting choice. Good show 🎭.

Thanks for your answer and insights ! I see how e5 would enable my knight to upgrade to the fourth file and make it a stronger piece. Grabbing space in the center is always a good thing and here i have a few defenders on e5 making it a strong claim. 

You're welcome, MyPersonalBest.

However, there might be a strategical point that the computer doesn't understand. You're up on knights, your opponent on bishops. It might be to your advantage to keep the pawns and work your way around that.

Now we could argue that if you do go for the center break that your opponent's bishops wouldn't have much of an attack anyway. But that would be a mentality in favour of draws. When you start pushing those pawns, that king and all your pieces down the board, the BB vs BN problem will come into play.

First of all, I think this is a well-played game by Black, so good job! I have some experience in the King's Indian Defense, and e5 is definitely a thematic idea. Generally, you want to keep your eye out for either the e5 break or the c5 break, in order to put pressure on White's central d4 pawn. Though I have played Bg4 in the mainline KID (see below), I don't think Bg4 is right in this position.

While giving up the bishop pair makes sense in this line (since the center is closed up and the White pawns on light squares take away from the power of his light-squared bishop), it makes less sense in the position from your game, as the center pawns in the London System are more flexible. In these sorts of positions, I recommend going for b6 and Bb7 instead. I'll provide a line below.

If you found this helpful, please feel free to follow me on Youtube and Twitch! I just uploaded a video of me playing 10+0 games with live commentary and analysis, with plenty of focus on concepts such as breaking in the center (Here’s the link: https://youtu.be/O1kOYk3FnPw). Hopefully this helps improve your game! Every subscription means a lot to me, so if you subscribe, I’ll really appreciate it.

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpRYz_ElTJC-FUq4unehOfg/

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/giraffe_chess/

Thanks for the compliments, it always feels good to get praised  

I still am at the stage where I confuse openings and whatsits, but I'll be sure to remember this position !

In the first position you showcase, why would you go knight f6-d7 ? Surely developing the other knight is better ? Or would the position become too cramped ? I remember seeing the f6 knight going to the castled rook's place but not going back that way. 

Thanks a lot for your insights. You've got a new subscriber !

Always an honour receiving appraisals from a professional msster. Experience is invaluable. Pours some substance into those theories and prospects.

Thank you so much for subscribing! I really appreciate the support. To answer your question, the reason the f6 Knight goes to d7 instead of the b8 Knight is because we ideally want our b8 Knight to land on d4! Also, moving the Knight on f6 allows our Bishop on g7 to keep an eye on the d4 square as well, making any future Nd4 very powerful. As a quick side note, if you play your b8 Knight to c6 and your opponent kicks it immediately with d5 (not allowing you to play e5) you have an interesting idea in which you give up the two bishops for a positional bind. I'll show it below.

Despite the awkward knight on the rim, Black is doing just fine here. The position is rather closed, White's c-pawns are weak, and a well-timed e5 and f5 can pose some serious questions to the White player. Glad I could help and thanks again for subscribing! I'll be posting more content on YouTube soon.