Examples from 3/22/2018

This blog is going to be about bughouse misconceptions.  What follows are spur of the moment opinions only:

Example #1:



This was a rather quick loss.  Let's see how it came about:



Black placed a pawn on g4.  His idea is to build a pawn chain to attack White's king.  He should have played a e6.  It is essential for Black to play an early e6.  Notice also how Black's pieces are not developed.  Black needs to control e6 and e5 before White gets there.  Some beginners only use the pieces given to them.  This means they are sitting for pieces when they should be developing their own pieces.  White more or less turns the tables on Black by playing Ne5.

A friend suggested p@f6 instead of p@g4.  That is not the best move.  White still may be able to place a pawn on e6 and attack f7.  While p@d6 makes it harder for a knight to come in, it does not make it impossible, as white can form a battery of knights at some point with N@g5 in conjunction with the knight on f3.





This is what happens when Black doesn't play e6.  Black put a Bishop on g6 thinking it defends f7.  White takes Nfxg6.  In the game, Black played hxg6 and was mate with exf7.  Putting the bishop on g8 instead of g6.  Notice how Blacks e-pawn helps prevent the Black king from escaping and prevents the Queen on d8 from coming to f6 to protect f7.  A move such as Qd6 instead of B@g6 would not have helped because after exf7+ Kd8, White can mate with R@e8.  Instead playing hxg6, Black could have tried Q@f6.  After exf7+ then Qf7 if Nf7, Black plays Bxf1 which evens the material and gives him attacking chances.

Example #2:



Here Black is mated by the pawn and Bishop going to g7 and f7.  It took many serious mistakes to get into this situation.  Let's look at them.  In the analysis we will not be able to see the pieces on the side:


Here Black made the mistake of taking with the Queen.  Firstly it leaves c7 open for a Knight.  It invites moves such as Bg5, which may trap the queen or may make Black have to choose between saving the queen and getting mated with a Rook on d8.  In bughouse, gxf6 is a perfectly good more.  You don't have to worry about pawn structure, and you don't necessarily castle. The rook will go to g8 where it bears on white's king.



A few moves later Black must deal with two threats, Nxf7 and exd6.  This is a bad position already.  Maybe the best moves for Black are Qc7 or Qd7 letting the Queen defend the f-pawn and the Bishop defend the d-pawn.



Here, White is attacking g7.  Bxh5 is a bad idea because the Bishop is defending f7.  Rg8 is a move.  Remember, in bughouse, you don't necessarily castle.  White can still attack with pawns on e5 and f6.


Black puts a pawn on g6.  A bishop on g6 or a knight on Nh6 would be better.  Chances are the Nxf7 will soon be worthwhile.


Black put a pawn on f6 to block the check.  This is a bad move as he can now be mated with n@g5 and Q@f7.  If he had played Qf6, the king could run to d8.


Now Black is lost.  His King is hemmed in by his own pieces.  d7 is covered by White's knight.  d8 and d7 are blocked with Black's pieces.  h6 is covered by White's Bishop on c1.




Example #3: Unfortunately we can't see the pieces on the side.  Here Black is mated, no doubt with the help of his partner.  The castled position can be hard to defend, which is why at some times during the history of bughouse, experienced players didn't castle.  Let's see if there was a point in time where Black could have defended:


Note that here it is possible that if the Queen moves, White has 1..Ne7 2.Kh8 Rg8 Rxg8 3.Nxf7 mate.  So he should only take the Knight if his partner has mate and Black has more time than his partop.  QxB instead guards the key squares for the time being.  But after QxN, White plays dxe5 attacking the f6 square.  Later White will also take on d2, giving him control of the c1-h6 diagonal.  The bottom line is unless your team has a sure mate, defend before you attack,

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Bughouse Champion Insides

JerryGr Beats Qbert00 Twice in the 3 0 Zhouse Area and is accused of Cheating.

Another Game Against FLChessPlayer