I've recently faced this position on playchess.com and it has perplexed me. It is not that I cannot find a good move, it's that I cannot decide on what the best move is.
I played d6, however, d5, Nf6 and Rb8 are all valid moves. I've also looked in various databases, but unsurpisingly, there are no games like this. What would be black's best move, and why?
Originally posted by exigentskyWhat were the opening moves? Strange that the b and the d pawn are missing for black and white respectively.
[fen]r1bqk1nr/p2pppbp/2p3p1/8/4P3/2N5/PPPB1PPP/R2QKB1R b KQkq - 0 7[/fen]
I've recently faced this position on playchess.com and it has perplexed me. It is not that I cannot find a good move, it's that I cannot decide on what the best move is.
I played d6, however, d5, Nf6 and Rb8 are all valid moves. Which move do you guys think would be best, and why?
I was going for the Hyper-Accelerated Dragon (usually with queenside action) and here are the moves leading up to the position:
[Event "Friendly Game, 12m + 12s"]
[Site "Beginners"]
[Date "2006.03.16"]
[White "Guest"]
[Black "Guest1625078"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B34"]
[EventDate "2006.03.16"]
[TimeControl "720+12"]
1. e4 {[%emt 0:00:01]} c5 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 2. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:01]} g6 {
[%emt 0:00:02]} 3. d4 {[%emt 0:00:02]} cxd4 {[%emt 0:00:01]} 4. Nxd4 {
[%emt 0:00:01]} Nc6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 5. Nxc6 {[%emt 0:00:02]} bxc6 {
[%emt 0:00:01]} 6. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:15]} Bg7 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 7. Bd2 {
[%emt 0:00:05]} d6 {[%emt 0:00:18]} 0-1
It didn't really end there, but the rest of the game is really irrelevant.
Originally posted by exigentskywww.chesslive.de
I've checked a lot of opening databases, I haven't found this position. But I did play around with Qb6 as an alternate and it doesn't seem promising. I've narrowed it down to Nf6, d6, d5 and Rb8. 😉
83 games including one by lasker with black.
There's also www.chesslab.com but don't trust it to much. Games are not always high quality.
Originally posted by exigentskyYou didn't check very hard then. I have the position after 7. Bd2 6 times in my recent GM database (500k total games) and 26 times in my general database (2 million total games).
I've checked a lot of opening databases, I haven't found this position. But I did play around with Qb6 as an alternate and it doesn't seem promising. I've narrowed it down to Nf6, d6, d5 and Rb8. 😉
Overall performance for black is 75% in the GM database and 30% in the general database (100% is all black wins, 0% all white wins).
Moves played:
7. ... Nf6
Twice in the GM database, 6 times in the general. Scoring 100% in GM and 67% in the general.
7. ... d6
Once in the GM database, 4 times in the general. Scores 100% in the GM and 87% in the general.
Other moves played include e6, d5, e5, Bb7, Rb8 and Qb6. The large array of moves played indicates that this position isn't the subject of a prevailing wisdom and as black has the tempo and needs to define a clear plan lots of moves are perfectly acceptable.
EDIT: Beaten on finding the game in a database but I've got the moves palyed.