This is where I hesitate for the first time, and wonder briefly if I'm screwing up my move order. I *know* that my first six moves are my preferred move order, and everything I've written so far has been just kind of stream-of-conciousness thoughts on the variation that I will play every time with no hesitation. Here on move seven, I *think* that I'm glad to see d3 (since as I said before it means that a c3/d4 plan will lose a tempo, and I hate playing against that plan), and that my response should be Bc5 immediately. Of course I could play Be7 here instead, but those aren't the lines I want to be in. Other options? It's too early for Na5, and I can't play d6 until I play Bc5 (if I want to play Bc5, which again, I do). So yeah, I'm pretty sure Bc5 is the move here. If nothing else, it's thematically my preference. When you haven't completely memorized specific lines, but you do have a thematic plan, it seems to me you ought to play the move that fits the plan. Once my bishops are in place I can see what he does next. Then I can decide whether I want to press on the queenside with either Na5 or just pushing pawns, or if I want to play for an immediate center break. Probably the queenside, because until I do something with the Nf6, a center break is hard to organize, that's really only a plan if he blunders.

Sidenote: I had someone play 7. d3 against me in this exact line on chess.com earlier, and I played Bc5 without consulting anything, because of this Malkovich game. Usually I'd double check all my moves against a database when I'm playing there. I think that habit is hurting me right now, trying to work through an opening on my own. I think I need to start playing more live (or at least no-assistance) chess, and less correspondence with databases.

Sidenote #2: I just played 5. ... b5 against Kyle in this exact line (so far) in the 2+2 Correspondence Championship. If he's reading this thread then he's got a nice edge there, lol. I wonder if he'll play 7. Re1 instead, just based on my comments here?

I spent a bit of time looking at this position before the game as I mentioned in my first post as I felt it was the most likely to come up. As I saw it my candidate moves were something like Be3, Bg5, Nc3, c3, a4. I came to the conclusion that I'd go 8. Nc3 to d5, problem is I'm kind of forgetting my analysis. I'm pretty sure that black plays 0-0 and d6 in one move order or another and there was some tactical thing I could do involving Ng5 and the queen, although I'm pretty sure I was able to play Rxf6 at some point and the bishop covers g5 anyway which confuses me. So much for preparing for this line. Maybe I exchange bishops on e3 first, I remember I looked at this line a bit. I remember moves and not their orders. 8.Nc3 looks ok anyway and its simple, I guess d6 might be his best reply. I think I'm going 9.Nd5 after because if he swaps off I have the threats down his kingside making it more dangerous to castle, after moves like Ng5 Qh5 etc. I guess Be3 would free up the f file for my rook, but I'd lose my good bishop. I think I can play Be3 pretty much whenever though. Ok I'll stick with Nc3 and work it out from there

I'm starting to think I should have just stuck to what I know and played 1. d4 and gone for a slow positional game in spots I'm more familiar with.

actually I don't know, my kingside looks pretty good if I can open up the f file. I'd like to get some cheap tactic involving Ng5 Qh5 and sack the Rook on f6 or something. I'm not sure if I should be getting Be3 in. Like my pieces are in decent positions to attack it, the light squared bishop if I can keep it on is on a good diagonal, the c3 knight can swing in to d5 and dislodge the f6 knight. I think Black might like to play something like Na5 at some point to get rid of my light squared bishop maybe and free up the diagonal for his bishop. I know in these sorts of positions white plays a4 alot, my understanding of it is to dislodge blacks pawn structure and give an escape square for the bishop

plus d4 becomes a threat after Be3 Bxe3 fe

ok I've been playing around with the position and I think I know what my plan is and I think I'm slightly ahead here. After d6, Be3 looks an important move for me and after Bxe3 fxe3 0-0 Nd5 if he goes Nd7 I can sack the Knight with Nxc7 because if Qxc7 Ng5 Nf6 Rxf6 gxf6 Nxh7 Kxh7 Qh5+ and at a minimum I have a perpetual, but I'm pretty sure I can bring the other rook in for some sort of crushing attack because I have mate threats and his king is hard to defend.



The cliffs are that I think the f6 knight will probably exchange on d5 where I can go Bxd5 and if it doesn't I'm looking for ways to sack my rook of f6 to get Ng5 and Qh5 plans working, but the Queen needs to move first and I won't have my d5 Knight anymore. Either way I think my position is ok then and I can start thinking about stuff like preparing d4 or something



I'll look closer into whether there is something important about the move order but I probably have to play Be3 first I think because it looks like the rook needs to be involved for a lot of my plans to work. I looked at this position before the game believe it or not. I think after Kg7 Qg4+ Kh8 can I go Rf1 to fsomething to h something or Maybe Qh4+ Kg7 then bring the rook in.

this variation will probably never happen but I have threats I guess I can build on. I just thought it was a cool line

Okay, so the reason I took so long to make what seems like a relatively innocuous move is that I have a long history of blundering in this (or almost this) exact same position. I have at least once gone with the following thought process:

"The bishop at b6 is running out of places to go. I should exploit that before he opens up a good retreat square. How can he possibly deal with the threat of a5-a4?" At this point, much to the chagrin of my poor b5 pawn, I played an immediate a5.

Similarly, for the same basic reasons, I have (this time to my e5 pawn's deepest regret) played an immediate Na5.

And finally, for reasons I still can't comprehend, I believe I once played d5 in this position. I have no idea how I could have counted out the exchanges and thought it worked, but it happened once.

So for these reasons, I didn't want to move until I knew I had enough time to take actual stock of the position. So obvious blunders aside, there are two moves that I'm definitely going to make soon and which are therefore obvious candidates for this move. In order to free up the knight to be useful, I will have to play d6 at some point. Also, I am going to castle kingside. So either of those could be a playable move. I certainly won't regret having made either of those moves, they have to happen at some point. However move order is relevant, and what I *could* regret is having made those moves too early if something else is a higher priority.

The other move I'm looking strongly at is h6. After Bc5 and d6, I'm cut off from using my bishop to break the pin on my f6 knight, should white get Bg5 in. Bg5 is a very thematic move in this opening. In an active game I have with Kyle in the 2+2 Correspondence Championship, he just played Bg5 against me (in the 7. Re1 Bc5 8. c3 d6 9. d4 Bb6 variation). In yet another active game I am playing right now on chess.com, my opponent played 8. Bg5 in what was, until then, the same variation we have here. There's a reason this keeps happening, that pin is annoying and can give me a lot of trouble if I allow it without compensation. Many lines, like the one Kyle played, don't give me a chance to prevent it, which I am fine with, in choosing this variation I accept that Bg5 is something I'll likely have to deal with. That doesn't mean I have to allow it if given the opportunity to prevent it, though. If I play d6 or 0-0 now, then I expect to see 9. Bg5 and I don't like that idea.

Chessterfish, with d3 and Nc3, has been taking a very passive approach to the line I have chosen, and so I have to decide if I want to try to aggressively press the action and try to punish his passivity, or if I want to just take advantage of the reprieve to develop slowly with a little more comfort than I usually have, and aim for simple positional equality. The former sounds like a lot of fun, but I don't see any justifiable aggressive moves here to realistically consider (and I've already discussed how I've blundered in the past by trying to be too aggressive here.) So I think it's the latter, and while d6 and 0-0 are positionally dictated moves, there's no reason they can't be my 9th and 10th moves. I really like having the chance to keep the bishop out of g5, so I'm going to take it.

Ok I didn't expect this. My initial reaction is that 8...h6 puts a stop to alot of my kingside plans but at the cost of a move and it creates some weaknesses of its own. The g6 square will be weak after 0-0 and I think the most common sac you can do is something like Bxh6. I'll think about this for a bit but at the moment I think I'm looking at 9.Nd5 9.Be3 9.a4. Maybe I gave away all my threats with the huge spoilers or something. After he castles I might want to try and find a way to get something like Nh4 to g6 or f5 to work, but I'm not sure what it would achieve at the moment

There aren't really any good squares for the bishop now, d2 is just going to get in the way when I want to play d4. Its supposed to be my good bishop but after 9...Bxe3 10. fxe3 its likely at some point I'm going to be playing d4 anyway so its not as if my centre pawns are going to be on the light squares forever. I'm sort of on the look out for ways to sack stuff to destroy his king safety but I can't see anything that works

How ridiculous is something like d6 in this position? I don't think White trades bishops in that case (would seem to make d4 very hard to enforce), and the immediate d4 activates the B@b7...

looks wrong to me, d5 stands out as a hole and if black plugs that with c6, his pawn structure does look quite ugly. That said, i don't particularly like any of black's options here, but maybe i'm just not made for ...e5.

afaik, the Bd6 line in the evans isn't very good. it's not busted or anything, but for the most part black has to suffer through an incredibly cramped position worse than the closed spanish but with an extra pawn. the Ba5, Nge7 line is much better

agree that it ends up a little cramped if White plays very accurately, thus i only rated it "quite good" in the first place the Be7 line is also better imo, Ba5 might be the best but it seems like more work than Be7/Bd6

I think Be3 underlines why h6 was a move too early, after Bxe fxe Black would much rather have his h-pawn on h7. Taught to me by Gustafsson in his e4 e5 repertoire series

there is no eric gustafsson!

So then. So much for keeping a bishop on the a7-g1 diagonal. The question is do I want to retreat the bishop, trade it off myself, or just leave it there for him to trade off if he wants.

The good news about the retreat option is that since I haven't played d6 yet, I at least have Be7 available as the obvious choice. It's the more common square for the bishop in the Ruy anyway. It would be annoying to have wasted a tempo with Bc5 though and just end up with the Be7 anyway. I don't know ANYTHING about the Be7 lines, so I don't know if I would be behind 0, 1, or 2 tempos from main lines in that case, since I don't know if h6 is common in Be7 lines and I also don't know if Be3 is a useful or a wasted tempo on his side. If h6 is good and Be3 is not, then I could in fact be fine, but if it's the other way around then I've given him a main line plus two extra tempi, which ain't a good thing.

I could also perhaps try Bb4, but I don't see the value. I'm not pinning the knight to anything, and the trade isn't exactly an impressive threat: "Watch out, or I'll stick you with the bishop pair, an extra central pawn, and a free tempo. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

If I don't retreat, then the question is do I trade immediately with Bxe3 or do I defend the bishop somehow (d6? Qe7?), keep the tension on the diagonal, and let him either trade or not. I don't like the former option. After Bxe3 fxe3 his rook is staring down my f7 pawn, which tbe Bb3 is already targetting, and the doubled e-pawns look like a strength not a weakness, as the e3 pawn would support a d4 advance and just generally loads up the center. Holding off on that with something like d6 Bxc5 dxc5 also looks weak, although the queenside pawns do almost start to look like a weapon I can use. There might be a way to make an eventual c4 or a4 push and torment his bishop a little, but it would take a fair bit of setup and I don't feel like I have the time. Instinctively, leaving the d-pawn in the center and undoubled and playing to just push the actual c-pawn (if I want to pursue that plan) seems like a better way to achieve the same effect. Yes, this is mostly just me following the "rule" of "Doubling pawns toward the center = maybe good, doubling pawns away from the center = probably bad".

Basically, I can't find any way to exchange the bishop on terms that I like. I'd rather just drop back to e7, stop thinking at all about what is or isn't a book opening line, and just start playing chess. Worst case I'm a tempo or two behind where I "should" be, and I can try to steer things toward a positional setup where those tempi are less critical than in a tactical shootout. After Be7 I will still want to play d6 and 0-0, will still consider ideas of either shoving pawns on the queenside, or trying to disrupt things and maybe steal the bishop pair with Na5 ideas. The key will be to not just get crushed quickly, since he does definitely have a development edge (same number of pieces out, and he's castled when I'm not, and it's his move.) Focus on developing soundly, not blundering any material, and making sure he can't just pick apart my kingside (h6 should help avoid that as it makes it harder for the knight to penetrate.)

Be7 looks like a mistake to me. 8...h6 had some useful defensive stuff going for it, but I think the tempo lost with 7...Bc5 then 9...Be7 gives me a decent position. I think my candidate moves are something like 10. d4, 10. a4, 10. Nd5 and maybe 10. Re1 to support e4 so I can get d4 in.

an immediate d4 doesn't look like it works as it looks like e4 drops

not sure if I should be trying to avoid moves like Ng4 or not. I don't think I'd mind his knight exchanging on e3 because it will strengthen my control on d4 and open up the f file for my rook

10. Nd5 Nxd5 11. exd5 Na5 just about holds onto the pawn, if 11...Nb4 then 12. c4. Maybe 11. Bxd5 is better 11...d6. 12. d4 is playable now and it looks as if I get control of the centre

10. Nd5 d6 I guess 11...Na5 could be an annoying move in this position. I think if I'm going to play a4 I should do it before the Knight goes to d5, just so it forces b4

10. a4 b4 11. Nd5 d6 don't know how crazy it is to play 12. a5 here with the intention of stopping Na5 and weakening the black pawn on b4. Lets say 12...0-0 I could win the b4 pawn with 13. Ra4.

so it looks like 10. a4 b4 11. Nd5 a5 might be needed.



I don't think I want to open up the Queenside in this position just because I like my attacks on his kingside and doing something like opening up the b file with a move like c3 might give him some counterplay. In this position I kind of need to strengthen my control on e4 to get d4 in. In the other variations where he exchanges on d5 it was easy. Maybe I should be thinking about Nh4-f5 plans here instead, exchange knights of f6 or d5 and then something like Qg4 (I'm assuming he's 0-0 not 0-0-0)

Lets look at 10. Nd5 again, the Nxd5 lines don't look good for black because they make it easier for me to play d4. So black could play 10...d6 which would give him possibilities of 11...Na5. Hmm I think I prefer the lines involving 10. a4 since my moves to stop 11...Na5 look kind of wrong and weird (11. Qe1 makes playing d4 harder and blocks in the rook, 11. Qd2 blocks in the Bishop and makes 11...Ng4 a possibility and 11. Bd2 loses a tempo and loses control of d4). Although 10. Nd5 d6 11. Qd2 Ng4 now I can play 12. d4 Nxe3 probably 13. fxe3 and it looks as if I have more control of the centre and attacks on f7 at the cost of losing the bishop pair



10. Nd5 d6 11. Qd2 a5 12. a4 b4 looks better for white, but if this is the best line I might as well play the 10. a4 b4 11. Nd5 a5 line and play a move that has more of a purpose than Qd2. Yeah I think that decides it for me 10. a4 it is

That's a move I can't just ignore to go about my business (with like 0-0 or something) because axb axb Nxb4 costs me a pawn. Yes, it's important that I remind myself of things like this, or else I'll consider a whole bunch of things, then castle anyway. I also don't seem to have any way to reinforce the pawn so that it's sufficiently defended (Na6? Bxa6 Rxa6 axb is even worse than just castling right now). So it looks like the only choice is to do something proactive with the b-pawn. The question is: bxa or b4?

My first instinct is that b4 looks nicer, but what happens when he shoves the knight forward to d5? I'm at work now, so I'll look at lines later. No move yet. This is just a reminder to myself for later: DON'T DROP THE B-PAWN.

thought I should probably think of a move after 10...b4 11. Nd5 a5 since its probably blacks best continuation

candidate moves (I didn't choose one earlier because I seem to have lots of them)
12. c3 12. d4 12. Re1 12. Kh1 (so Ng1-e2-g3-f5) 12. Nxf6 12. h3

12. c3 if 12...bxc3 13. bxc3 if 13...Ba6 then 14. Re1 if 13...d6 I still need to support e4 to get d4 in, but it looks like there are a few ways of doing it now 14. Nxf6+ Bxf6 15. d4 (i'd have to get my a1 rook off the diagonal though, but it looks like it belongs on b1 anyway) or something like 14. Rb1 15. Bc2 16. d4 maybe

12. d4 exd4 13. Nxd4 Nxe4 looks like it might not be on because my pieces can all hit good squares...better check though 14. Qg4 Ng5 15. f4 at least wins back the pawn+ position, another alternative is playing 15. Nf5

I wouldn't be surprised if d4 has been on for a while and I've just dismissed it without much thought, my other candidate moves are redundant now I think this one works

10...b4 11. Nd5 a5 12. d4 Nxe4 13. dxe5 d6 14. not sure, e6 maybe?? 14...fxe6 15. Nd4 fxd5 16. Qh5+ Kf8 17. Qxd5 looks kind of cool, the lines with 12...Nxe4 look a bit more complicated though I'll have to check them before I play 12. d4

random thought, never really considered 10...bxa4 as a move. I'm thinking instead of 11.Bxa4 to maybe go 11.Rxa4 to support the centre more. It looks kind of weird/wrong, but it doesn't look like the rook can be kicked around right now and I think I prefer the bishop on b3 to a4