🚀 go-pugleaf

"PMG" wrote:

> I thought I'd run the positions 
> 
> r1bqkbnr/pppp1ppp/8/4p3/2BnP3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 0 4
> 
> and
> 
> r1bqkbnr/pppp1ppp/8/4N3/2BnP3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK2R b KQkq - 0 4
> 
> past Little Goliath because I think it searches deeper on my slow
> computer, but it doesn't put scores in it's log files, and with Phalanx,
> it was still in it's book.  Just from memory, I think LilGoliath would
> have KtxKt, not KtxP.  But Q-Kt4 is still in 2 opening books, so I'm not
> really sure if White dropped the ball there.  It's probably a matter of
> who looses their nerve first. this game is way too short.

It's not a matter of who loses their nerve first. Nxe5 is
a really weak move; after Qg5, Black is just miles better
than White. And ...Nd4 is also poor, because if White
doesn't make the stupid mistake of playing Nxe5 then
Black's move is just a waste of time. After Nxd4 exd4; o-o
(for instance), White has
  + a useful pawn on e4
  + a useful bishop on c4
  + kis king tucked away by castling
  + his KR ready to get to work, for the same reason
  - a little awkwardness as a result of the pawn on d4
and Black has
  - no pieces developed
  - a rather vulnerable kingside
  - a pawn on d4 that will need defending
  - doubled d-pawns.

Black won that game because White played two really
dreadful moves. To get into the position in which White
played the first really dreadful move, Black played
a rather weak move, which the original poster saw fit
to annotate with a "!". If White plays sensibly after
Black's rather weak move, then White gets much the
better position.

(This discussion doesn't really belong in gnu.chess, but
never mind...)

-- 
Gareth McCaughan  Gareth.McCaughan@pobox.com
sig under construction