Computer Chess Club Archives


Search

Terms

Messages

Subject: Re: On which side would you castle?

Author: Anthony Cozzie

Date: 08:24:40 12/10/04

Go up one level in this thread


[d]r3k2r/pppqb1pp/1nn1bp2/4p3/8/2NP1NP1/PP1BPPBP/2RQ1RK1 b kq -
>>white definitely has some things here:
>>-> one central pawn more
>>-> pressure on the semi-open c-file (d3 is protected by e2, c7 is not protected,
>>if you play c7-c6, white has the simple plan of b4-b5 - creating a weak pawn in
>>some way or other)
>>-> general pressure against the black queenside (Bg2->c6/b7, Ne4-c5->b7, Rxc6 is
>>often a motif if it cripples blacks pawn structure and wins e5 - not in this
>>specific position, but after an active move such as f6-f5).
>>
>>positionally speaking, white is a bit better here; compare this with all open
>>sicilians which typically are either fast wins for white or long wins for black
>>- either white crashes through with his initiative, or he suffers from his
>>positional "error" (3.d4 cd4 is nice in principle for black).
>>
>>cheers
>>  martin
>
>Yes - in fact white might be more than a little bit better. Black has really
>misplayed this - castling queenside goes really badly with .. Be7 and especially
>.. Nb6, while castling kingside goes badly with .. f6 (.. f5 is appropriate in
>that case). Black should castle kingside here just to avoid getting crushed.
>
>In general, computers don't understand the Sicilian. (This is a reversed
>Sicilian of course.) They constantly think white (here black) is better, and
>from what I've seen white scores extremely well in comp-comp Sicilians. As far
>as what eval terms are missing from the evaluations - that's hard to say. Maybe
>more weight needs to be given for the extra central pawn (as black always has in
>the Sicilian). Martin is right about the queenside play but it's hard to say
>what feature is responsible for it. Maybe it's just that extra central pawn. Or
>maybe something like: if one side has an extra central pawn, you can forgive him
>for having less space and being less mobile.
>
>Vas

I hope you and Martin don't mind if I try to get a bit of a free chess lesson
here :)

Thinking about this as a sicilian has helped me a lot, and White has all the
usual sicilian ideas (Rxc6, a3-b5, etc). In fact this looks very much like a
Yugoslav Dragon with colors reversed, except that usually in such positions the
Knight would be on e7 and the Bishop on b6.  However, I have also seen people
get setups like this with White in the dragon (Be2 + Nb3).  At any rate, this
creates more questions than answers for me:

1) White is usually better in the Sicilian, so why isn't Black better here?

2) Vasik criticizes Bh3, but Bh6 is a very standard move in the Dragon for
White.

3) Admittedly white has the halfopen c-file, but black has g5-h5-h4, just like
White in the Dragon.

Secondly, if Black castles Kingside, I am really not seeing a White advantage
there either.  I would simply play Rab8, Nd4, c6, Rfe8, establishing a strong
central knight that can't be kicked by e3 because white's d3 pawn would then
become very weak (something that Zappa doesn't really understand).    What can
White do against this fairly simple plan?  After Nb5 I play a6, which is a good
move for me anyway as it helps prevent b4-b5, and after Ne4-c5 I happily trade
my bad Be7.

Lastly, what is so great about White's extra center pawn? To me it seems like
Blacks f6+e5 is as strong or stronger than White's e2-d3.

anthony



This page took 0 seconds to execute

Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700

Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.