TL Chess Match 4 - Page 30

Get the king out of harm's way and develop etc. Strong positional move that isn't over committing. C3 still throws away a move. 4. Nc3 is a lot stronger now though, but it loses the tempo which is what the primary problem with c3 is. It looks like he's gonna castle kingside, so there is no immediate threat

Another advantage of castling is if he fails to respond, then 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nxe5 then if 6. ...Qd4 7. Nf3, black can't recapture the pawn because of the skewer. Black has to instead play a move like 5. ...d6 or Nge7, then we can commit to a center push with 6. c3.

So... I mean I'm pretty sure the response here is to castle to guard the pawn right?

Okay I'm not meaning to hate here, but why is there a group of people (maybe not always the SAME people) who want to play c3 on every move? SERIOUSLY. It's like Nader, always getting votes and taking away from the real election. It's an acceptable move for once, finally...

But on topic, the book response to classical defense is to castle. It guards the f pawn with something besides the King and we need to castle anyways so it's not a waste of a move.

O-O lets us be more reactive in the future. I agree with BlazingHands initial comments.

In this position, I would play 8. f4. Now, Black has to move his Bishop, if he doesn't want to sac it for no apparent reason. His possibilities are: Bf6 (blocking avenues of development for the Knight and Queen; also vulnerable to being forced away with e5 whenever we choose), Bc7 (relatively passive position for the Bishop, blocks a strong avenue of development for the Queen), or Bb8 (completely undeveloping the Bishop).

Play might continue 8... Bf6 9. 0-0, leading to this position:

Do you really think Black is better here? I prefer White's position. Black has some problems with developing his Knight/castling. As for ...d5, we can respond to it with e5, and because of our Kingside development and Black's lack of it, I think this is stronger for us than for Black.

8. f3 Bxf3 9. gxf3 Qg2 10. Rf1 Bb6 11. Bf4, leading to

an interesting position where material is even, although I'd say that it's White with the pawn structure advantage.

It leads to early simplification: at least one pair of pieces will almost certainly be exchanged. This early in the game, I'd like to leave things as complex as possible, by leaving all the pieces on the board.

The move 4. Nxe5 will lead to 4. ... Qg5 5. Ng4 h5 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. d4 Bxg4



Although white will be up a pawn, his development is terrible, while blacks is nearly complete. No matter how white responds from here, his pawn structure will be compromised, making the extra pawn hardly a benefit at all. This line also leads to very fast simplification which is simply not as fun as a complex and nuanced correspondence game. I would suggest anyone who favors 4. Nxe5 should look at this position and reconsider their move.


The move 4. Bxc6 will lead to 4. ... dxc6 5. Nxe5 bxf7 6. Kxf7 Qd4+, winning the material back with a clear advantage, since white's king is in a weak position and will have to invest a few moves in protecting it.




The two most solid and standard moves we can make here are 4. c3 and 4. O-O. Each of them have arguments for and against them, but they are both safe and solid choices.

After 4. O-O, black has two primary options:

4. ... Nd4 and 4. ... Nge7.

Let's take a look at the move Nd4 first, which leads to an exchange of knights.

After 4. O-O Nd4 5. Nxd4 Bxd4 6. c3 Bb7 7. d4 c6 we have two options. 8. Ba4 and 8. Bc4.

After 8. Ba4 the book line typically proceeds as follows: 8. ... d6 9. Na3 exd4 10. cxd4 Ne7 11. Bg5 f6 12. Bf4 O-O. At that point the position looks like this:




If we play 8. Bc4 the line follows: 8. ... d6 9. Qb3 Qc7, and the position looks like this:



I doubt that black will choose either of these lines and the early simplification. If black decides against the Knight trade, he will most like play 4. ... Nge7, which can be followed by c3 and a standard game.


If we play 4. c3, before castling, the game can go into a huge number of possibilities and variations, some of them extremely tactical and explosive. Let's take a look at a few of the possibilities which do not include an early castle, to differentiate the possibilities compared with 4. O-O.

4. c3 d5 5. Nxe5 Qg5 6. O-O Qxe5 7. d4 Qe6 8. dxc5 dxe4 9. Bf4




4. c3 f5 5. d4 fxe4 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. Nxe5 Bd6 8. Qh5+ g6 9. Qe2 Qh4 10. h3




4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 Bb6 6. Qe2 exd4 7. e5 O-O 8. cxd4 Re8 9. Be3 Nd5 10. Nc3 Nxc3 11. bxc3



Here white has an advantage in space, but he is a little over-extended, and his pawn structure can be compromised immediately while his king is still in the center.


One of the more complicated variations can follow: 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. e5 Ne4, which can lead to several different book lines and unclear positions.

because it is extremely flexible and can lead to positions that are favorable for white that are excluded by playing castle first. with 4. c3 we retain the option of either safely castling at any time, or immediately taking the center with d4. By keeping our king in the center, we also give black a much larger range of possible aggressive moves, which I think lead to advantages with white if we play correctly. You always want to retain the possibility of your opponent playing incorrectly.

4. c3 prevents black from choosing to transition to the top two positions with Nd4, and is also the more aggressive option here, as we threaten to immediately cramp black's game and take control of the center. Castling first will provide an extra tempo for black to produce either counter-attacking or defensive possibilities.