Why is c4 a better move in this position?Alekhine's Defense variation, understanding white's overextended...
Eww, those bytes are gross
How to properly claim credit for peer review?
Why is commutativity optional in multiplication for rings?
Which branches of mathematics can be done just in terms of morphisms and composition?
Can a person refuse a presidential pardon?
How to satisfy a player character's curiosity about another player character?
Is it a fallacy if someone claims they need an explanation for every word of your argument to the point where they don't understand common terms?
Metadata API deployments are failing in Spring '19
Does Windows 10's telemetry include sending *.doc files if Word crashed?
Is there a way to help users from having to clicking emails twice before logging into a new sandbox
Can I retract my name from an already published manuscript?
Finding ratio of the area of triangles
Why didn't Eru and/or the Valar intervene when Sauron corrupted Númenor?
What can I substitute for soda pop in a sweet pork recipe?
Why is my solution for the partial pressures of two different gases incorrect?
ip vs ifconfig commands pros and cons
Why is working on the same position for more than 15 years not a red flag?
Do my Windows system binaries contain sensitive information?
How to add multiple differently colored borders around a node?
It took me a lot of time to make this, pls like. (YouTube Comments #1)
For Loop and Sum
I am on the US no-fly list. What can I do in order to be allowed on flights which go through US airspace?
How to prepare vegetables for a sandwich that can last for several days in a fridge?
Do authors have to be politically correct in article-writing?
Why is c4 a better move in this position?
Alekhine's Defense variation, understanding white's overextended pawns, black's multiple early knight movesThe theory of pawn breaksWhy is d5 the best move in this position?What is White's objective from this state?Should white be able to win this endgame?Why is `a5` a better move in this position?Why is exposing my queen for capture better in this position (According to computer analysis)?Strange 16-move semi-slav loss (black)Why is playing f4 here not correct?Isolani pawn question
The computer analysis on a game I played tells me that in the following position, White should have played c4 instead of e5:
[fen "r3qrk1/pppb1ppp/1nn1p3/6B1/3PP3/P1P2N2/4BPPP/R2Q1RK1 w - - 0 1"]
The engine (Stockfish 10 from Lichess.org) tells me that c4 would have given White an advantage of +2.2, compared to +0.9 with e5, so it's quite a difference.
I don't see any immediate tactical win with c4, and while it would give White some extra space, so does e5. Furthermore, e5 results in a pawn structure that points to Black's king (I've heard that you should attack in the direction your pawn structure points to), plus covers f6 in case Black wants to move his f pawn there. c4 also results in three pawns being aligned on the 4th rank, which I am not very comfortable with.
analysis pawns pawn-structure
edited 14 hours ago
Brian Towers
15.8k32969
asked 15 hours ago
garci560garci560
34528
add a comment |
The computer analysis on a game I played tells me that in the following position, White should have played c4 instead of e5:
[fen "r3qrk1/pppb1ppp/1nn1p3/6B1/3PP3/P1P2N2/4BPPP/R2Q1RK1 w - - 0 1"]
The engine (Stockfish 10 from Lichess.org) tells me that c4 would have given White an advantage of +2.2, compared to +0.9 with e5, so it's quite a difference.
I don't see any immediate tactical win with c4, and while it would give White some extra space, so does e5. Furthermore, e5 results in a pawn structure that points to Black's king (I've heard that you should attack in the direction your pawn structure points to), plus covers f6 in case Black wants to move his f pawn there. c4 also results in three pawns being aligned on the 4th rank, which I am not very comfortable with.
analysis pawns pawn-structure
edited 14 hours ago
Brian Towers
15.8k32969
asked 15 hours ago
garci560garci560
34528
add a comment |
The computer analysis on a game I played tells me that in the following position, White should have played c4 instead of e5:
[fen "r3qrk1/pppb1ppp/1nn1p3/6B1/3PP3/P1P2N2/4BPPP/R2Q1RK1 w - - 0 1"]
The engine (Stockfish 10 from Lichess.org) tells me that c4 would have given White an advantage of +2.2, compared to +0.9 with e5, so it's quite a difference.
I don't see any immediate tactical win with c4, and while it would give White some extra space, so does e5. Furthermore, e5 results in a pawn structure that points to Black's king (I've heard that you should attack in the direction your pawn structure points to), plus covers f6 in case Black wants to move his f pawn there. c4 also results in three pawns being aligned on the 4th rank, which I am not very comfortable with.
analysis pawns pawn-structure
edited 14 hours ago
Brian Towers
15.8k32969
asked 15 hours ago
garci560garci560
34528
The computer analysis on a game I played tells me that in the following position, White should have played c4 instead of e5:
[fen "r3qrk1/pppb1ppp/1nn1p3/6B1/3PP3/P1P2N2/4BPPP/R2Q1RK1 w - - 0 1"]
The engine (Stockfish 10 from Lichess.org) tells me that c4 would have given White an advantage of +2.2, compared to +0.9 with e5, so it's quite a difference.
I don't see any immediate tactical win with c4, and while it would give White some extra space, so does e5. Furthermore, e5 results in a pawn structure that points to Black's king (I've heard that you should attack in the direction your pawn structure points to), plus covers f6 in case Black wants to move his f pawn there. c4 also results in three pawns being aligned on the 4th rank, which I am not very comfortable with.
analysis pawns pawn-structure
analysis pawns pawn-structure
edited 14 hours ago
Brian Towers
15.8k32969
asked 15 hours ago
garci560garci560
34528
edited 14 hours ago
Brian Towers
15.8k32969
asked 15 hours ago
garci560garci560
34528
edited 14 hours ago
Brian Towers
15.8k32969
edited 14 hours ago
Brian Towers
15.8k32969
edited 14 hours ago
Brian Towers
15.8k32969
15.8k32969
asked 15 hours ago
garci560garci560
34528
asked 15 hours ago
garci560garci560
34528
asked 15 hours ago
garci560garci560
34528
34528
add a comment |
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
White intends to play c5, which will gain space on the queenside and severely cramp black's position (The b6 knight has no good square).
On the other hand, e5 weakens white's control over d5 and f5 (e.g. Black can then go ...Ne7-f5). Black could also take advantage of the weak c4 and d5 squares with ...Na5 and ...Bc6. Keeping the pawn on e4 seems better. It also keeps the h2-b8 diagonal open for white's unopposed dark-squared bishop. Preventing black from playing f6 does not seem very important to me.
By advancing c3-c4, the c4 square also becomes less of a weakness because it can now be covered from the rear with Qc2 or Rc1, which is impossible with a pawn on c3.
Slightly weakening d4 is not a big deal, because it's easier for white to defend d4 than it is for black to attack it, since white has a big space advantage and a dark squared bishop, while black is quite cramped.
answered 14 hours ago
hdueru4hdueru4
1412
New contributor
hdueru4 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
I agree with all of @hdueru4 's points, but I'd like to briefly add a broader pawn-structure point - having 3 central pawns (especially on files c-e) on the 4th rank can actually be a very good thing.
Definite control of the center - which greatly increases the power of your pieces.
These 4th-rank pawns are usually easy to defend in this position with your knights (and possibly bishops, queen, and castled rook)
Also, having almost all of your advanced pawns on one color (like you propose) can sometimes produce weaknesses - you are weak on opposite color, and the same-colored bishop loses some power as well.
Of course, in this position, c4 is downright terrific because it threatens c5, pushing back the knight to oblivion, as mentioned in the other answer.
answered 10 hours ago
Brandon_JBrandon_J
66615
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "435"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fchess.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f23881%2fwhy-is-c4-a-better-move-in-this-position%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
White intends to play c5, which will gain space on the queenside and severely cramp black's position (The b6 knight has no good square).
On the other hand, e5 weakens white's control over d5 and f5 (e.g. Black can then go ...Ne7-f5). Black could also take advantage of the weak c4 and d5 squares with ...Na5 and ...Bc6. Keeping the pawn on e4 seems better. It also keeps the h2-b8 diagonal open for white's unopposed dark-squared bishop. Preventing black from playing f6 does not seem very important to me.
By advancing c3-c4, the c4 square also becomes less of a weakness because it can now be covered from the rear with Qc2 or Rc1, which is impossible with a pawn on c3.
Slightly weakening d4 is not a big deal, because it's easier for white to defend d4 than it is for black to attack it, since white has a big space advantage and a dark squared bishop, while black is quite cramped.
answered 14 hours ago
hdueru4hdueru4
1412
New contributor
hdueru4 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
White intends to play c5, which will gain space on the queenside and severely cramp black's position (The b6 knight has no good square).
On the other hand, e5 weakens white's control over d5 and f5 (e.g. Black can then go ...Ne7-f5). Black could also take advantage of the weak c4 and d5 squares with ...Na5 and ...Bc6. Keeping the pawn on e4 seems better. It also keeps the h2-b8 diagonal open for white's unopposed dark-squared bishop. Preventing black from playing f6 does not seem very important to me.
By advancing c3-c4, the c4 square also becomes less of a weakness because it can now be covered from the rear with Qc2 or Rc1, which is impossible with a pawn on c3.
Slightly weakening d4 is not a big deal, because it's easier for white to defend d4 than it is for black to attack it, since white has a big space advantage and a dark squared bishop, while black is quite cramped.
answered 14 hours ago
hdueru4hdueru4
1412
New contributor
hdueru4 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
White intends to play c5, which will gain space on the queenside and severely cramp black's position (The b6 knight has no good square).
On the other hand, e5 weakens white's control over d5 and f5 (e.g. Black can then go ...Ne7-f5). Black could also take advantage of the weak c4 and d5 squares with ...Na5 and ...Bc6. Keeping the pawn on e4 seems better. It also keeps the h2-b8 diagonal open for white's unopposed dark-squared bishop. Preventing black from playing f6 does not seem very important to me.
By advancing c3-c4, the c4 square also becomes less of a weakness because it can now be covered from the rear with Qc2 or Rc1, which is impossible with a pawn on c3.
Slightly weakening d4 is not a big deal, because it's easier for white to defend d4 than it is for black to attack it, since white has a big space advantage and a dark squared bishop, while black is quite cramped.
answered 14 hours ago
hdueru4hdueru4
1412
New contributor
hdueru4 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
White intends to play c5, which will gain space on the queenside and severely cramp black's position (The b6 knight has no good square).
On the other hand, e5 weakens white's control over d5 and f5 (e.g. Black can then go ...Ne7-f5). Black could also take advantage of the weak c4 and d5 squares with ...Na5 and ...Bc6. Keeping the pawn on e4 seems better. It also keeps the h2-b8 diagonal open for white's unopposed dark-squared bishop. Preventing black from playing f6 does not seem very important to me.
By advancing c3-c4, the c4 square also becomes less of a weakness because it can now be covered from the rear with Qc2 or Rc1, which is impossible with a pawn on c3.
Slightly weakening d4 is not a big deal, because it's easier for white to defend d4 than it is for black to attack it, since white has a big space advantage and a dark squared bishop, while black is quite cramped.
answered 14 hours ago
hdueru4hdueru4
1412
New contributor
hdueru4 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered 14 hours ago
hdueru4hdueru4
1412
New contributor
hdueru4 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered 14 hours ago
hdueru4hdueru4
1412
answered 14 hours ago
hdueru4hdueru4
1412
1412
New contributor
hdueru4 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
hdueru4 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
hdueru4 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
add a comment |
I agree with all of @hdueru4 's points, but I'd like to briefly add a broader pawn-structure point - having 3 central pawns (especially on files c-e) on the 4th rank can actually be a very good thing.
Definite control of the center - which greatly increases the power of your pieces.
These 4th-rank pawns are usually easy to defend in this position with your knights (and possibly bishops, queen, and castled rook)
Also, having almost all of your advanced pawns on one color (like you propose) can sometimes produce weaknesses - you are weak on opposite color, and the same-colored bishop loses some power as well.
Of course, in this position, c4 is downright terrific because it threatens c5, pushing back the knight to oblivion, as mentioned in the other answer.
answered 10 hours ago
Brandon_JBrandon_J
66615
add a comment |
I agree with all of @hdueru4 's points, but I'd like to briefly add a broader pawn-structure point - having 3 central pawns (especially on files c-e) on the 4th rank can actually be a very good thing.
Definite control of the center - which greatly increases the power of your pieces.
These 4th-rank pawns are usually easy to defend in this position with your knights (and possibly bishops, queen, and castled rook)
Also, having almost all of your advanced pawns on one color (like you propose) can sometimes produce weaknesses - you are weak on opposite color, and the same-colored bishop loses some power as well.
Of course, in this position, c4 is downright terrific because it threatens c5, pushing back the knight to oblivion, as mentioned in the other answer.
answered 10 hours ago
Brandon_JBrandon_J
66615
add a comment |
I agree with all of @hdueru4 's points, but I'd like to briefly add a broader pawn-structure point - having 3 central pawns (especially on files c-e) on the 4th rank can actually be a very good thing.
Definite control of the center - which greatly increases the power of your pieces.
These 4th-rank pawns are usually easy to defend in this position with your knights (and possibly bishops, queen, and castled rook)
Also, having almost all of your advanced pawns on one color (like you propose) can sometimes produce weaknesses - you are weak on opposite color, and the same-colored bishop loses some power as well.
Of course, in this position, c4 is downright terrific because it threatens c5, pushing back the knight to oblivion, as mentioned in the other answer.
answered 10 hours ago
Brandon_JBrandon_J
66615
I agree with all of @hdueru4 's points, but I'd like to briefly add a broader pawn-structure point - having 3 central pawns (especially on files c-e) on the 4th rank can actually be a very good thing.
Definite control of the center - which greatly increases the power of your pieces.
These 4th-rank pawns are usually easy to defend in this position with your knights (and possibly bishops, queen, and castled rook)
Also, having almost all of your advanced pawns on one color (like you propose) can sometimes produce weaknesses - you are weak on opposite color, and the same-colored bishop loses some power as well.
Of course, in this position, c4 is downright terrific because it threatens c5, pushing back the knight to oblivion, as mentioned in the other answer.
answered 10 hours ago
Brandon_JBrandon_J
66615
answered 10 hours ago
Brandon_JBrandon_J
66615
answered 10 hours ago
Brandon_JBrandon_J
66615
answered 10 hours ago
Brandon_JBrandon_J
66615
66615
add a comment |
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to Chess Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fchess.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f23881%2fwhy-is-c4-a-better-move-in-this-position%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
