I realize this question depends very highly on the position of the board, but in general what can be said about the goal when a player moves a bishop to b5 or g5 during the opening? https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/4rrk9c/noob_question_in_an_opening_why_is_pinning_a/, Often I think the pin on the knight to the king or queen is meant to control the center of the board. It seems like black can simply reply with a6 or c6 to force the bishop to retreat, which wastes a move for white. After 1.e4 e5  2.Bc4 Nf6  3.Nf3 Nc6  4.Ng5,  you might want to consider 4... Bc5 - called the Wilkes-Barr or Traxler Defense. Nf3 Nc6 3. Some may argue that learning traps are not good for beginners but I say if you can win in a few moves then you should know opening traps. It would be better to ask in the context of a specific position (or a few specific positions). Check out the Halosar Trap or the Ryder Gambit. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Press J to jump to the feed. I assume you're not seeing Black play openings with 1... a6 or 1... c6 or 2... a6, etc. Larsen was one of the few grandmasters to play it often, after first using it at the 1964 Interzonal tournament. Nf3 Nc6 3. Otherwise, if your opponents are playing this move and it's not hitting anything or the piece hit by the bishop isn't controlling any key squares, the bishop is likely better on a different diagonal. So the bishop, just by moving to b5, has done a great job putting pressure on the center of the board, and then forced black to significantly weaken his position.} Bb5 a6 4. Today we will continue this topic with less known, but not-less-powerful traps that you can learn from and even use in your own games. Plus, I also have an interesting Chess Puzzle for you. Pirate48 Sep 27, 2011 #1 ... My brain is a little tired, but I don't see how to anticipate this trap while sticking with the recommended 2...Nf6. My brain is a little tired, but I don't see how to anticipate this trap while sticking with the recommended 2...Nf6. Thanks to both of you. I'll try both these paths. [I deleted comment after making an edit in original post]. Bb5 because it forces Black to make some concessions in order to defend his e-pawn. The Noah's Ark trap is so-called because of its venerable age - players have been losing their bishops to this type of trap for as long as chess has been played. Trap in Bishop's opening. Here is a typical example: To avoid the Noah's ark trap, it is usually a good idea to give your bishop a retreat square when your opponent has ominous-looking pawns in that sector of the board. Of course, it's not possible to list all the possible opening mistakes here - chess has been around for hundreds of years, and top grandmasters are still refining opening play even today. The goal of this community is to foster in-depth discussion about all things chess, from games, puzzles, and analysis to news and current events. The idea of trading off your white bishop for a knight that is attacking the center is so you can remove a defender of the center and allow the possible capture of e5, if black does not defend it. Play against the computer has been changed for the worse. You can play 3. If cramped, free your game by exchanging material. It's only called the Fried Liver if all of the moves 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Nxf7 happen next. 1. e4 e5 2. When I play Black in 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 on a Droid chess program, I do 2...Nf6 (recommended by de Firmian and the program does Nf3 aiming to jump to 3...Ng5 and double attack f7. I think probably not. The Bishop's Opening is one of the oldest openings to be analyzed; it was studied by Lucena and Ruy Lopez.Later it was played by Philidor. In fact White prompted Black to make a pawn weakness (uneven pawns are weaker than side-by-side pawns). Sometimes, in the opening (but take care - it can even happen later on in the game) a bishop with no retreat squares can be surrounded by a phalanx of pawns and captured. This means it's usually a bad idea to move a piece in the opening to a square where it blocks the central pawn. This is situational, so I must ask: in which opening? Watch out when you bring out your bishop that you aren't leaving yourself vulnerable to this trap: The Noah's Ark trap is so-called because of its venerable age - players have been losing their bishops to this type of trap for as long as chess has been played. My brain is a little tired, but I don't see how to anticipate this trap while sticking with the recommended 2...Nf6. History and use. queen trap M Christoffel vs A Haerri, 1992 (C41) Philidor Defense, 9 moves, 1-0. bishop sac to queen loss L Boros vs I Saller, 1995 (C23) Bishop's Opening, 9 moves, 1-0. double check = mate! chess_dashing Sep 2, 2015 #1 Hello chess lovers and my friends, Today I was preparing some variations of bishop's opening. You can do this by advancing a pawn to clear an escape route, as in the following example: Everyone has, at some point or another, been infuriated by an opponent that just keeps copying their moves instead of playing their own. batgirl Oct 20, 2011 #7 Nf3 {attacking the pawn} Nc6 {defending} 3. What a story of "guts" (is this just an American idiom for great courage? When I play Black in 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 on a Droid chess program, I do 2...Nf6 (recommended by de Firmian) and the program does Nf3 aiming to jump to 3...Ng5 and double attack f7. Or can you tell the value of the piece after only a handful of moves? Ba4 Nf6 5. https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/4rrk9c/noob_question_in_an_opening_why_is_pinning_a/. Your answers have definitely helped me. Also, black wouldn't want to follow up 1. e4 e5 2. I often see bishops getting pushed to b5 or g5 during the opening, but not sure why. After black plays a6 and b5, which may happen at some point, to free the knight from the control of the bishop, the bishop retreats to b3, looking at the pawn on f7, and white can argue that black probably didn't want to play a6 and b5, and that his queenside is totally weak. Please, tell me the obvious answer I'm missing. Do people still do memorials at "the bridge too far"? I also realize that you can inflict doubled pawns when black recaptures, but is doubled pawns worth losing a bishop over? ... Nc6 and it will transpose to the Fried Liver Attack. Sometimes, in the opening (but take care - it can even happen later on in the game) a bishop with no retreat squares can be surrounded by a phalanx of pawns and captured.