Early Morning Chess Thoughts and Brain Damage
When a doctor in E.R. says, “yep…it might be brain damage”, you remember. When your wife says that you forget things more often than before, you wonder. These statements stick and my concerns are rooted in reality. Now, why can’t something more important stick, like the main line in the Scandinavian?
Brain damage has fewer words and is easier to say than cognitive impairment, so I will use brain damage in reference to chess thoughts that make others wonder, “why did this guy play 1.f3?”
No worries. I will press on and enjoy chess, taking it as far as my brain will permit.
This topic and my other one, Looking for Trouble, will be instructive to all chess players of all skill levels, so stay tuned for more content in Looking for Trouble, as there are several outstanding contributors, as well as the outside consultations of NM Dan Heisman, who I stay in contact with.
The topic, Yep…It’s Brain Damage, will focus on the faulty chess thinking that arises from a myriad of chess positions. A good book to purchase to stay one step ahead would be The Amateur’s Mind by Jeremy Silman. For the topic, Looking for Trouble, I suggest purchasing the book, Looking for Trouble by NM Dan Heisman. The Kindle Edition is a real bargain at $9.99.
Now on to the first instructive position for today.
ajedrecito writes that after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nxd4 5.Qxd4 Nf6, that 6.e5 is a strong move.
Here's how my amateur mind sees the position.
1.My pawn at e4 needs a defender, since I don't want my queen tied down to defending it.
2.I need to get my queen out of the center, or face a loss in tempo after Black plays Nc6.
3.I'd like to develop my light squared bishop and castle short, but my queen is oddly placed in the center, subject to attack.
4. I will play Nc3 first, to defend my pawn at e4. Then I will retreat my queen, followed by Bc4 (Bb5), 0-0, then Rfe1 to add further support to e4.
Any flaws in this thought process?
Well, time to teach. I’ll post again at lunch, or dinner, depending on how the day goes.
Your thought process is fine (except for thinking there's a knight to c6 comming )
This is a pattern that comes up in other positions too though, being able to push e4 or d4 to attack a knight when that knight has no squares in the center. And actually the center is a very good place for a queen to be... when it's safe. Black is without his queen-knight though so white isn't too worried, and as I said the queen is actually usefully posted at the moment. The question becomes how loose is the pawn on e5 and will white's space and better development (better development because black's knight will be pushed back) compensate for any weakness the e5 pawn might represent.
After e5 the pawn is not weak at the moment, and the center control, space, and development will be quite comfortable for white but maybe more importantly uncomfortable for black. 
Oops! That's right. There is no knight at c6 to worry about. There is b6, followed by c5, with the threat of cxQd4, but that would be both odd development by Black and paranoid thinking on my part.
Fascinating. In this position, the queen is safe and well posted for the moment. I didn't see it that way. It's been pounded into me not to bring the queen out early, so a queen in the center made me nervous.
Early Morning Chess Thoughts and Brain Damage
When a doctor in E.R. says, “yep…it might be brain damage”, you remember. When your wife says that you forget things more often than before, you wonder. These statements stick and my concerns are rooted in reality. Now, why can’t something more important stick, like the main line in the Scandinavian?
Brain damage has fewer words and is easier to say than cognitive impairment, so I will use brain damage in reference to chess thoughts that make others wonder, “why did this guy play 1.f3?”
No worries. I will press on and enjoy chess, taking it as far as my brain will permit.
This topic and my other one, Looking for Trouble, will be instructive to all chess players of all skill levels, so stay tuned for more content in Looking for Trouble, as there are several outstanding contributors, as well as the outside consultations of NM Dan Heisman, who I stay in contact with.
The topic, Yep…It’s Brain Damage, will focus on the faulty chess thinking that arises from a myriad of chess positions. A good book to purchase to stay one step ahead would be The Amateur’s Mind by Jeremy Silman. For the topic, Looking for Trouble, I suggest purchasing the book, Looking for Trouble by NM Dan Heisman. The Kindle Edition is a real bargain at $9.99.
Now on to the first instructive position for today.
ajedrecito writes that after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nxd4 5.Qxd4 Nf6, that 6.e5 is a strong move.
Here's how my amateur mind sees the position.
1.My pawn at e4 needs a defender, since I don't want my queen tied down to defending it.
2.I need to get my queen out of the center, or face a loss in tempo after Black plays Nc6.
3.I'd like to develop my light squared bishop and castle short, but my queen is oddly placed in the center, subject to attack.
4. I will play Nc3 first, to defend my pawn at e4. Then I will retreat my queen, followed by Bc4 (Bb5), 0-0, then Rfe1 to add further support to e4.
Any flaws in this thought process?
Well, time to teach. I’ll post again at lunch, or dinner, depending on how the day goes.
Your thought process is fine (except for thinking there's a knight to c6 comming
)
This is a pattern that comes up in other positions too though, being able to push e4 or d4 to attack a knight when that knight has no squares in the center. And actually the center is a very good place for a queen to be... when it's safe. Black is without his queen-knight though so white isn't too worried, and as I said the queen is actually usefully posted at the moment. The question becomes how loose is the pawn on e5 and will white's space and better development (better development because black's knight will be pushed back) compensate for any weakness the e5 pawn might represent.
After e5 the pawn is not weak at the moment, and the center control, space, and development will be quite comfortable for white but maybe more importantly uncomfortable for black.