Deciding When to Shift Gears

A game of chess typically involves various kinds of thinking:

* Remembering one's opening preparation
* Calculating tactics (checks, captures, etc.)
* Move evaluation based on positional factors (centralization, mobility, etc.)
* Formulating a plan for the middlegame or the endgame

Once the opponent makes a move that varies from one's opening preparation, a player's thinking needs to shift into a different gear: one that considers tactics and strategy.

If the tactics dictate making a particular move, then strategic thinking can wait. But if there are either no or several fruitful tactical moves, then the tie needs to be broken by examining strategy and positional factors.

The recently concluded Red Hot Pawn game Game 14670896 between aukermdr (1871) and flea12 (1312) (which was discussed also at Thread 191984) began as follows:

If White's fifth move wasn't part of Black's opening preparation, then Black's thinking would have had to shift gears at this point. This would mean calculating any tactics to understand how they constrained Black's reasonable replies. Black might have concluded that the next several moves (see next chess movie) were forced.



In the resulting position,



Black has two ways to capture the b7-pawn and might even consider deferring its capture (being that it would take White several moves to protect the pawn, as by the advance of the a-pawn to a6). To decide among these choices, Black should now consider what middlegame plan to pursue, as this would influence where Black's pieces belong. As discussed in Thread 191984, this would involve examining the pawn structure (presuming that the b7-pawn would soon be taken)



for where Black might have a half-open file, a pawn majority, or a space advantage. For reasons discussed in that earlier article, Black should prepare the pawn break ...f5.



Returning to the actual position,



should Black's dark-square bishop go to e7 or be fianchettoed? Should Black's light-square bishop be maneuvered to c6 or remain on the h3/c8 diagonal? To answer these questions, it might help to consider White's strategic plan. Here again is the pawn structure (with the b7-pawn assumed to soon disappear).



White has a space advantage along the d-file, but Black's d-pawn is firmly protected by the c7-pawn. Might White in future create pawn tension against the d-pawn? Yes, by advancing the c-pawn to the fifth rank, bringing about the following pawn structure.



If Black played ...dxc5 (which White would then capture with a piece) or allowed the sequence cxd6 (piece)xd6, this would create the following pawn structure.



If Black allowed the sequence cxd6 cxd6, this would bring about the following pawn structure.



Although neither of these pawn structures would appeal to Black (who would still be down a pawn), the second one would at least retain firm support for Black's e-pawn (which would sit on a half-open file after Black's contemplated ...f5 break and White's possible reply exf5...). In that pawn structure, the vulnerability of Black's d-pawn suggests that Black's dark-square bishop should be developed to e7, where it protects the d-pawn.

A consequence of advancing White's c-pawn is that White's a-pawn or b-pawn wouldn't be defendable by a pawn and therefore might be subject to attack by Black's major pieces. This suggests that Black capture the b7-pawn with the queen rather than with the rook, so that Black would retain a major piece on both the a- and b-files. Moreover, the queen at b7 would strike at e4 and along the h1/a8 diagonal, thereby complementing the pawn break ...f5.

These considerations seems sufficient for Black to reply 10...Qxb7, which also avoids committing to any particular kingside development scheme.

Let's imagine that Black plays 10...Qxb7 and that White replies 11. c4, bringing about the following position:



Black could select among various development schemes.

BLACK PLAYS ...Bc6 IN ATTACKING THE e-PAWN

One drawback to White's preparing the advance c5... is that an early c4... delays White's piece development. If Black tried to exploit this by attacking White's e-pawn, it might lead to the following continuation (starting with 11. c4).



In the position reached by the above chess movie,



Black has to decide on a level of aggression.

Black Plays ...f5 before Completing Kingside Development



Black Completes Kingside Development before Playing ...f5



BLACK LEAVES BISHOP AT d7 WHILE COMPLETING KINGSIDE DEVELOPMENT



Returning to the position after 10...Qxb7 11. c4,



what should Black play? Given that Black's knight went to f6 in all these lines, playing 11...Nf6 would retain flexibility in how Black's light-square bishop (for example) were deployed.

Supposing that after 10...Qxb7 11. c4 Nf6, white plays 12. Nc3 (leading to the following position),



which of 12...Bc6 or 12...Be7 should Black select?

It's not clear to me that one of these moves is objectively superior to the other, but 12...Bc6 pressures White immediately and therefore seems to provide better practical chances.

(A list of the threads I've initiated at this forum is available at http://www.davidlevinchess.com/chess/RHP_my_threads.htm .)