Prophylactics

"I'm playing all the moves black uses to combat the fianchetto system. What do you mean, white hasn't fianchettoed? He might do later! Haven't you heard of prophylactics?"

Anyone fancy explaining?

*lost boy*

he was putting a condom on any potential "impregnating" attack by kasparov...😀

Originally posted by T1000
"I'm playing all the moves black uses to combat the fianchetto system. What do you mean, white hasn't fianchettoed? He might do later! Haven't you heard of prophylactics?"

Anyone fancy explaining?

*lost boy*

Right, this is a common idea in high-level chess. Strong players will attempt to figure out what their oppponent's plan is, then prevent the plan from happening (or possibly allow it if they see it will not help their opponent, or they can render it ineffective ahead of time).

This is why when you look at the games of strong players they often make moves that do not seem to make any sense. They're often dealing with potential threats that we mere mortals can't see yet. 🙂

P.S. My wife's laughing cause I'm discussing prophylactics on RedHotPawn. 😀

Thanks folks 🙂

Originally posted by richjohnson
A prophylactic move is one that prepares for a threat that hasn't materialized yet. A common example is playing h3 as white after castling kingside to prevent any 1st rank mate later in the game.