New answers tagged pins
0
Bd6 has two big advantages that haven't been mentioned. The first is that it protects the b8 square for your rook. Your rook naturally belongs on the half-open file, and White really wants to play Bf4 to keep you from doing that. (You can put your bishop on d6 later if that happens, but you've wasted a tempo and exchanging bishops makes it easier for the ...
2
Bd6 is the most active square. No, there's not an immediate threat but it does attack h2 which could turn into something later.
Be7 is too passive. It's not smart to "protect against pins" that haven't even happened yet. There's lots of unpin combinations that actually lead to the pinning side being worse. Also, white can't really capitalize on a ...
1
e7 is a very passive square for the bishop. Since White is expected to castle on the kingside, there is no reason not to prefer ...Bd6 over ...Be7. The pin on the f6 knight is not too much of a problem precisely because a ..Bc7, ..Qd6 continuation is always on the table.
...Bb4 has a similar problem as ...Be7 because after 0-0 the bishop is doing nothing on ...
6
Part of the problem with Bc5 is that they can respond with Na4, which threatens the bishop and grabs the tempo. Be7 isn't great because its range is inhibited by the knight and it impedes the kingside rook's power on the e file after you castle. Bd6 is nice because it is protected by the pawns, the bishop can be retreated to b8 or c7 while still controlling ...
0
Just to clarify IA Petr Harasimovic's comment in the answer provided by Cleveland, here is a position in which capturing en passant is illegal due a diagonal pin.
[FEN "5k2/2p2b2/8/3P4/8/2K5/8/8 w - - 0 1"]
1. Kc4 c5
5
One of the key principles of opening play is that control of the center is vitally important. If one of the players has complete control of the center then they can much more easily launch an attack and it is much more difficult for the other player to defend.
A white knight on c3 supports/attacks e4 and d5.
A white knight on f3 supports/attacks e5 and d4. ...
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