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.