Answers.Body: <p>You do not say what engine suggested b4 or under what circumstances. When playing online the engine is likely viewing several hundred current games on that server and not giving much attention to any one of them. Several streamers comment on engine suggestions when conducting postmortems of their games and the best of them are usually very sceptical about positional moves, while acknowledging value in tactical shots that they overlooked but engines spot very quickly. That seems to be the situation here. Whites pawn structure cries out for f4 and there is no reason to delay it. Although it is sometimes a premature move that invites punishment, Black has already made several passive and pointless moves (why put that Bb7 biting on granite?, where will the Queen develop?) and White should just get on with the job.</p>
  <p>As to prophyllaxis, White has already prevented d5. His K-side attack with f4,g4,f5,g5 is potentially murderous, and both sides must focus on specific moves and threats that enable or disable it. It is often said that that the best counter to a wing attack is a counterattack in the center and that is already prevented. There is no need to prevent counter-demonstrations on the far-opposite wing that lack any punch. So White is free to focus on their own objectives. For example, White must consider whether he wants the KN on f3 or g3. If the latter, he might start with Ne2. No Q-side play has any bearing on these questions.</p>
  <p>The computer in this instance is probably doing a static evaluation without considering future plans. From that POV the move b4 does not spoil anything and so makes into the computers top five, or whatever.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2024-07-28T18:59:09.797Z
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Answers.UserDisplayName: Philip Roe
Answers.Body: <p>In this position, there is no urgency to castle fast. The center is rock solid and closed. This allows using some tempo to play a few moves as investment for middlegame. So, in such situations, you should ask: What is my middlegame goals? Where will I play after opening is done? Where will my pieces be?</p>
  <p>Let’s assume you have played Nf3 then Castle. Now what? Then you may think about kingside play with f4, or a queenside expansion with b4. Now, you ask, if I continue with the “natural” Nf3 then O-O, what can my opponet do to prevent my plans? Then you see that an …a5 by Black can slow down your queenside by a lot. Even if you ultimately acheive a3-b4, this will open the a-file and allow Black to exchange rooks, which in principle is good for them as they have less space. So, your b4 before Nf3 is a Prophylactic move! You b4 puts you ahead on queenside by a lot more tempo.</p>
  <p>When playing b4, you should see that Black’s DSB is not fianchettoed and has no quick access to the long diagonal, so the weakening of the c3 square and the long diagonal is irrelevant. The least we can say about b4 is that it gains a good amount of space on the queenside and further inflicts space issues on Black’s position.</p>
  
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Answers.UserDisplayName: Behnam Esmayli
Body: <p>In this position as white, I played Nf3 and the plan is to castle; however, the chess engine suggests that b4 is also a viable move. I'm uncertain about my strategy after playing b4 and what threats it might pose.</p>
  <pre><code>[fen &quot;rn1qk2r/pbp1bppp/1p1p1n2/4p3/2P1P3/2NP2P1/PP3PBP/R1BQK1NR w KQkq - 2 7&quot;]
  </code></pre>
  <p>What threats might b4 pose to my opponent's position, and how could it benefit my strategy in this game?</p>
  
Tags: <opening><engines><analysis><strategy><theory>
Title: What threats might b4 pose to my opponent's position, and how could it benefit my strategy in this game?
ThreadText: # What threats might b4 pose to my opponent's position, and how could it benefit my strategy in this game?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2024-07-28)
  
  In this position as white, I played Nf3 and the plan is to castle; however, the chess engine suggests that b4 is also a viable move. I'm uncertain about my strategy after playing b4 and what threats it might pose.
  
  ```
  [fen "rn1qk2r/pbp1bppp/1p1p1n2/4p3/2P1P3/2NP2P1/PP3PBP/R1BQK1NR w KQkq - 2 7"]
  
  ```
  
  What threats might b4 pose to my opponent's position, and how could it benefit my strategy in this game?
  
  **Tags:** opening, engines, analysis, strategy, theory
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2024-07-28. Score: 1
  
  You do not say what engine suggested b4 or under what circumstances. When playing online the engine is likely viewing several hundred current games on that server and not giving much attention to any one of them. Several streamers comment on engine suggestions when conducting postmortems of their games and the best of them are usually very sceptical about positional moves, while acknowledging value in tactical shots that they overlooked but engines spot very quickly. That seems to be the situation here. Whites pawn structure cries out for f4 and there is no reason to delay it. Although it is sometimes a premature move that invites punishment, Black has already made several passive and pointless moves (why put that Bb7 biting on granite?, where will the Queen develop?) and White should just get on with the job.
  
  As to prophyllaxis, White has already prevented d5. His K-side attack with f4,g4,f5,g5 is potentially murderous, and both sides must focus on specific moves and threats that enable or disable it. It is often said that that the best counter to a wing attack is a counterattack in the center and that is already prevented. There is no need to prevent counter-demonstrations on the far-opposite wing that lack any punch. So White is free to focus on their own objectives. For example, White must consider whether he wants the KN on f3 or g3. If the latter, he might start with Ne2. No Q-side play has any bearing on these questions.
  
  The computer in this instance is probably doing a static evaluation without considering future plans. From that POV the move b4 does not spoil anything and so makes into the computers top five, or whatever.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2024-07-28. Score: 0
  
  In this position, there is no urgency to castle fast. The center is rock solid and closed. This allows using some tempo to play a few moves as investment for middlegame. So, in such situations, you should ask: What is my middlegame goals? Where will I play after opening is done? Where will my pieces be?
  
  Let’s assume you have played Nf3 then Castle. Now what? Then you may think about kingside play with f4, or a queenside expansion with b4. Now, you ask, if I continue with the “natural” Nf3 then O-O, what can my opponet do to prevent my plans? Then you see that an …a5 by Black can slow down your queenside by a lot. Even if you ultimately acheive a3-b4, this will open the a-file and allow Black to exchange rooks, which in principle is good for them as they have less space. So, your b4 before Nf3 is a Prophylactic move! You b4 puts you ahead on queenside by a lot more tempo.
  
  When playing b4, you should see that Black’s DSB is not fianchettoed and has no quick access to the long diagonal, so the weakening of the c3 square and the long diagonal is irrelevant. The least we can say about b4 is that it gains a good amount of space on the queenside and further inflicts space issues on Black’s position.
  
  
  ---
  
  