KG as Black

     I play a lot of KG games, but very few from the Black side.  When I do play as Black, I like to experiment with different ideas.  Here is a game (although only at 5/0 time control) that I played as Black and won on time, though not necessarily in a winning position:

     My usual defense is the classical 3...g5, but here I wanted to test the waters with ...h6; ...d6; ...Bg7 and see what might happen.  I don't think either of us played the best moves, though I think the moves played were solid enough. 

     The question I have is whether the final position is equal or better for one side. Black is still down a pawn.  Does Black have enough compensation (Black seems to be calling the shots at the moment)?  Is Black's kingside too flimsy? My idea for Black was to play ...c5, driving off the Knight, followed by one Rook to e8 and pushing f4. Does this plan have merit?

No chess analysts in this group?

gg.

No, it was an incomplete game that left me in a quandry.

umm, interesting. black looks active but i don't see anything to actually do with these active pieces (aka "a plan") so white must be at least fine.

Thanks.   It doesn't help me much, but I do appreciated you looking and commenting.

I'd say White has a superior position here.  Better minor piece placement and far superior pawn structure.  Black has three pawn islands to white's two, and has isolated a and c pawns, as well as doubled pawns on the f-file and a generally busted pawn cover on the Kingside.  I can count a whopping seven weak squares in the Black camp (h5, f5, f6, d6, c5, a5, a6) while White has two. 

Also, the e-file is open and unoccupied by a line piece, but White has effectively "closed off" access to the open file through its piece placement, which makes Black's position tougher.

Materially speaking, you know Black is down a pawn.

So, in conclusion, White has a moderate to high positional advantage.  +/-

Thanks... makes sense!

No problem.  Anytime you want me to look purely at a position just let me know.  gg.

I have found the Cunningham Defense (3....Be7) an interesting ride.

weak squares "don't count" if white has no way to get access to them.

looking again...

white just needs a few moves to get his game going (like h3 and suddenly his knight has Nf5, and b4-a5 taking control of the queenside)... i only had seen this before and was like "white's probably better after b4 etc" :P

black's best plan is probably pressure on the d-pawn since white is surprisingly badly placed to do something about it - in the actual pos there's the threat to play c5, Bf5, c4! with tremendous pressure on the d3-pawn... maybe also f3 "or something" if white gets careless, so both sides have to play energetically!

here is some random (bad) actual analysis

I'd rather play against the Cunningham than employ it.

The lines with Nf6 and without Bh4+ are more challenging.

BG, my two cents on the final position is that it's still difficult, with both sides having chances.  If, say, 18.Bd2, c5 looks good (19.Ne2, Bf5; 20.Nc1, Qg6 and c4; 19.Nb3, Be2)--you can later swing your queen to g6 to help the k-side.

The move I don't really care for is 13....Bxd4--the idea of c5 seems to be available here.  13....dxe4; 14. dxe4, c5 just looks right to me.  White's knight is under attack, and black has either Rd8 or Qg6 and Nc6 coming up.  I feel black is better here.

In either of these cases, I think the thing to do for black is to attack through the center at the pawns.  White isn't really set up to take advantage of your advanced k-side pawns, and he's going to have a hard time in dealing with the pressure in the center eventually.  For an experiment though, not bad at all.

I put your game into Houdini, here's the conclusion: Till move 10. Black leads with -0.89 with almost perfect play.  7. d3 was the reason for Black's lead, not quite accurate, better was e5. After 10. Nb3 Black played Houdini's fifth choice (which is not bad at all because of the edge of -0.55) c6, better was Nd7 or Nc6. 13. Kh1 is also inaccurate -now Black leads with -0.75- better was h4 or a5. Black's response Bxd4 give White some breathe (Rd8 or dxe4 was better). Your opponent had better taken it with the pawn though. After 14. Nxd4 Black is still -0.60 up. However, Black's biggest mistake in this game Ne5 equalized everything, better was c5 or dxe4. The game was absolutely equal where Black had won on time.

hmm... interesting, LoveYouSoMuch. That helps.   As a thought, without any deep calculting, I think after 14.b4, I'd slide my Queen down to b7 with the idea of playing ...f3 to try to compromise the King's protection.

shrug... I still like playing against it. :-)

Dashkee,

"The move I don't really care for is 13....Bxd4"

Yeah, that was sort of an impulsive move, even for blitz. I just didn't like that pair of Knights with saliva dripping from their mouths. 

Thanks.  So Houdini is sorta satisfied with Black's play  (as well as White's) ?

Would you also say that 13...Bxd4 gives away any advantage Black may have had?

BG, I don't think Bxd4 "gives away" anything--it's just that other moves may take advantage of other situations quicker.  For example, 16....c5 doesn't look too bad either--once that knight moves from d4, Bf5 (attacking d3 and threatening c4) is a killer move.  And even if, say, after white (after Nb5) might maneuver his knight to take the rook on a8, it's going to take several moves, moves you can use to place pieces around the k-side, and there's only one rook defending the white king.  My feeling is white's k-side is in much more trouble than yours.  But white's center is also weak, and you can take advantage of that now.  White isn't saved by Bxd4, the cure for him must be applied before that.