Human versus Machine

Of course, they are leading to different lines and different game outcomes, especially when there are more pieces on the board.

So, which position would you prefer?

You are one of the strangest people I have ever met.

Ask a normal question, and you will get a normal answer.

So you don’t know K + P vs K?

Are you going to tell us the answer to the puzzle or not?

What, does capturing with the h-pawn give Black chances for an eventual g6-g5-g4 push?

I️ believe what kindaspongey is trying to say in post 274 is which position is better: position one or position two. He’s being sarcastic, because clearly, both positions have the same evaluation (whoever moves is in zugzwang).

The best move is hg6:

- capturing towards the center, g pawn is stronger than h pawn

- after g6-g5 is played, black threatens g5-g4, after which the f4 black pawn becomes a passer

- the black pawns c through g become very compact, which is good

- the h white passer, which you mention, is blocked by the black king on either h7 or h6 in a while, and fully powerless; another good asset for black, I have introduced a similar evaluation term in SF, and it worked

 

Qg6 is simply a draw.

hg6 gives black good winning chances.

I will be back with more in the evening. I am sorry, but I have awful lot to do.

You have to be more specific which evening you mean. Russian evening? American evening? Some other evening?

What are you talking about?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Oh, that evening, my Bulgarian long-suffering evening.

Why after 1.e4 e6 2.d3 d5 do most people play 3.Nd2 or 3.Qe2, not following your recommendation of 3.Nc3?

I am not sure any of us could answer that question.  Shouldn't you ask the Nd2 and Qe3 players?

As a KIA player I can answer this. Nd2 is player because white has the idea of eventually transferring the knight t the kingside where it will attack blacks king. An example route is Nd2-f1-h2-g4. Or Nd2-f1-e3-f5. Qe2 gives additional options, and is played to allow White to strike out at blacks center with c4 before playing Nc3 (usually this happens after castling). If black castles queenside then the knight can go to c3-b5 or a3-c2, preparing the b2-b4 pawn push.

Nc3 is not as flexible. It doesn't have as good of a route to the kingside as it would have on d2 and it also blocks the c pawn. Most experienced black players play Nf6, c5, Be7 and normal French stuff, since pushing d5-d4 is really what White wants you to do. It looks similar to the 2 knight caro line where black pushes d5-d4 and forces White to play Ne2, but white gets very good kingside initiave. After Ng3, Nh5, f4, etc

I thought the idea was to avoid a possible queen exchange after 3...dxe4 4 dxe4.

I’ve outed this in Smurfo’s comment section and now I’ll do it here: SF sees 1... hxg6, and I think it probably is the best move, but not for the reasons Lyudmil thinks it is. By capturing with the h-pawn and giving White a passer, Black closes all of the files toward his King and makes the h-passer a potential weakness in an endgame.

Really?

What do I have in common with him?

Initially, he was harshly critical of me, than suddenly changed his stance.

I don't know, probably because of the Bb4 pin.

SF gives black edge for both lines, when in actual fact both favour white.

 

Let me post here too the last review of 'The Secret of Chess' by IM Gerald Welling: https://www.chess.com/blog/Swordfish55/review-the-secret-of-chess

So, we have 3 currently:

- https://en.chessbase.com/post/the-secret-of-chess

- https://www.welshccf.org.uk/article/325