I fail to see minor advantages - Chess Forums

Eznid

Nov 9, 2023

0

#1

Hi in this game I had played Bc4 hoping to clear my king side so that I would be able to castle fast. However as I usually like to review and analyse my games afterwards looking for mistakes and opportunities to learn from them and improve, the review is suggesting that Bc4 wasn't a very good move and that I should have played Bf4 instead! I honestly fail to see the advantage. I looked at the analysis and it appears that at best (that is if I had played all the subsequent moves correctly without fail, about 7 or 8 moves down the line - which by itself is not feasible for me as a non-expert - then I would be ending up gaining an advantage of just one pawn!

This is just one example, in several other instances the best move confers no material gain at all, so how am I supposed to judge whether it's the best move at all? My reflection is that such kind of analyses is rarely helpful to me, I would never be able to see like a machine with such depth. My question is, how useful is the post game analysis via the AI here? I have a feeling I am not learning much from it. Are there alternatives (and I ask for accessible alternatives, I can't afford a personalized chess coach or tutor)

justbefair

Nov 9, 2023

0

#2

Eznid wrote:

Hi in this game I had played Bc4 hoping to clear my king side so that I would be able to castle fast. However as I usually like to review and analyse my games afterwards looking for mistakes and opportunities to learn from them and improve, the review is suggesting that Bc4 wasn't a very good move and that I should have played Bf4 instead! I honestly fail to see the advantage. I looked at the analysis and it appears that at best (that is if I had played all the subsequent moves correctly without fail, about 7 or 8 moves down the line - which by itself is not feasible for me as a non-expert - then I would be ending up gaining an advantage of just one pawn!

This is just one example, in several other instances the best move confers no material gain at all, so how am I supposed to judge whether it's the best move at all? My reflection is that such kind of analyses is rarely helpful to me, I would never be able to see like a machine with such depth. My question is, how useful is the post game analysis via the AI here? I have a feeling I am not learning much from it. Are there alternatives (and I ask for accessible alternatives, I can't afford a personalized chess coach or tutor)

That is a position from the opening. You have already traded queens and a pair of knights. I don't know the particular opening but here black already has an easily visible weakness-- a backwards d pawn. White has three pieces available to attack the d pawn and black has only 2 available for its defense.

If you run the engine, it shows a 1.89 advantage for Bf4 and gives a very clear line on how it would have won the pawn.

At the end, the advantage for white seems clear.

The problem with Bc4 is that it attacks a pawn that is already defended and white has no other pieces available to add to the attack. Black has multiple pieces available to add to the defense (Be6 and Nh6).

It is good to follow general opening principles. It is also good to take advantage of tactical opportunities.

siddirocks

Nov 11, 2023

0

#3

Stockfish sees advantages where no human could spot them. So do not worry.

tygxc

Nov 12, 2023

0

#4

Black has a backward pawn at d6 which is weak. White can assail it with Bf4, O-O-O, Nb5.