The ABCs of Bughouse

ABCs of bughouse:

A queen shouldn’t always run from a knight.

All things being equal, which they never are, bring in the lowest ranking piece first.  Even more important, move pieces that haven’t moved yet including the ones in your hand.

Always interpose rather than giving ground.

Attacking generally takes more pieces than defending.  That is why often you can and should defend, and you seldom should attack.

Brilliant combinations are the glory of bughouse, but you will get brilliant combinations more often if you know how to defend, manage your time, and move when there is nothing exciting to do.

Defense is something that most players underestimate.  I don’t recommend defending by playing faster, telling your partner to sit, or telling you partner to hold a certain piece. These should be used only as last trench methods.   Don’t defend by attacking unless you can realistically mate or buy enough time so your partner can mate.  Or if you have no choice. Keep the squares around your king defended.  I don’t recommend allowing a sac that causes the king to move up.  Consider not recapturing with your king.  You want to control h3 or h6 so that you will not be forced to move the g-pawn from g2 or g7.

Do not resign unless you have given your opponents every possible opportunity to makes a mistake.  The one person you should avoid partnering is someone who resigns prematurely.

Don’t feed your partop.

Don’t hang mate in the first place.

Don’t hem your king in. Give it flight squares, to the side, not to the front.

Don’t let them take on f7.

Don’t pause to wait for material when you’re down.  Everyone knows how to sit. 

Don’t sit when you’re in check unless a blocker will help you and there is a reasonable chance of getting one or if you might be mated in one.

Don’t spend too much time in a mundane position.  Get in the habit of moving when there isn’t anything exciting to do.  Save your time for when you really need it.  Don’t sac pieces because the position is boring.

Don’t try to mate in a time scramble if the mate isn’t clean and looking for a mate would slow you down.

If you are doing badly in the pool because you’re getting weak partners,  make a partnership offer to anyone who seems to know how to play.

If you are getting mated, don’t move if you have more time than your partner’s opponent.

If you spend the whole game helping him mate you, he will mate you.  Players do this when they think they are attacking.  Defense is more important than attack.  Your side can win the game without you checkmating, but you can’t win if you’re checkmated.

I’m a big fan of putting down pieces as soon as you get them.  As soon as you put them down, they control squares.  Some people like to save them for attacks and combinations, but if your opponent is a good defender, that opportunity will never come.  He will be able to beat you if he controls more squares.

In a sparse position you can’t feed.

 

In general, give a queen for a knight to end a series of checks or to keep the king from having to go up.

In general, you can construct a mate with three pieces.  If defending, chase the first one away before the opponent amasses more.

Is it your fault or is it your partner’s?  If you’re getting into a rut, try some one minute chess and/or Puzzle Battle.  That will tell you whether you are moving fast enough and spotting tactics.

It isn’t chess.  Time will matter if there is a sparse board or a material advantage.  Of course thinking is better than getting mated.

Generally the king is safe on the kingside.  If castled queenside, b2 and a1 are weaknesses.    B2 is more problematic than g2 because the threat is to take it with check.

It matters who your partner is, not just the strength, but the compatibility.  But of course it is good to practice with all partners, especially ones who are not rated too low, but still pose challenges.

Knights don’t belong on e7 or d7 unless you’re white.  They are subject to attack and they block your other pieces.

Material matters.

Never move the king up.

Once you lose g2, you’re dead.

Partop is your partner’s opponent.

People will walk their king to the center, maybe because they’ve seen the strong players do it.  The players do it when they have to because they never give up.  Also they tend to control many squares.  Don’t walk your king unless you have to.

Playing in a pool can be frustrating.  But it’s also challenging to partner with players of different styles.

Rating is a function of rating.

Sacsitting is a particular style and it is not recommended.  Sacrifices are sometimes justified, but too many of them will cause you to lose on both boards.

Sitting and thinking may look similar, but sitting is using a timing strategy.  Thinking is not.  Don’t think during a time scramble.  Otherwise you can think a few times during the game in the most critical positions or when your partop is thinking.

Some strong players allow the sac on f7.  I think they are strong despite their doing it, not because of doing it.  I’ve beat some strong players because they allowed the sac. 

Tempo is important.  Look for situations where you have a better move than recapturing.

The best defense is generally not to attack.  Assuming both attacks are equally sustainable, the player who started attacking first has the advantage.

The closer the king is to the center, even by one rank, the easier it is to mate.

The closer the king is to the opponent’s pieces, the easier it is to mate.

The queen is not always the best piece.  In a closed position pawns, knights and bishops are better.

There is a time to think and a time to move.  When you are under 20 seconds, it’s time to move.  Also time is more critical if you are down material or there is a sparse board.

There is one way to stop the verbal abuser during the game.  At chess.com you can minimize the chat window.  There are various ways to handle verbal abuse, but don’t accept it, and don’t let the verbal abuser get a rise out of you.

They always get a pawn, they always get a knight.

Time is important, especially near the end of the game, if your side is down material, or if there are few pieces on one of the boards.  Someone who is always worried about a small time deficit is a sacsitter.

Trade-all is just a style.  Trade all does not defend or attack. 

Trades are not always a good idea. Usually they are good for only one side, the side that has the initiative.  Don’t initiate trades for no reason, only if they mean an advantage for your side.

Two pawns for a piece is a good deal.

When in danger, protect the square your king is on to guard your line of retreat.

When you hanging a piece or a mate, you can’t solve the problem by hanging another piece, and you usually can’t solve it by giving check. -  Defend by defending.

When you have the enemy king out, consider checks from behind it, maybe with the knights or the queen.