Spam Log #2: Logical atomic move by move

Answers to last quiz

1. White is in check, but not in checkmate. White should play Bxc7# (and it’s forced!)
2. Black is not in check. White should play Qxf5#, exploding black’s king. Taking on e4 explodes white’s king as well, so it’s not a legal move.
3. It’s not because of the doubled pawns on the a-file.
4. Black should play 2...Qxd2#, exploding white’s pawn, bishop, queen and most importantly, king.

Opening systems

The atomic community is never bereft of drama. An atomic enthusiast got banned for organizing prized atomic arenas :( Other enthusiasts created liatomic but it doesn’t support atomar or atomic 2 (by Gannet).

Anyway, this is not a drama blog, at least it’s not mainly about drama. Let’s talk about some common opening themes in atomic.

The reason why people hate playing black in atomic is because white has a huge first move advantage. Black has to defend accurately from move 1, and even then it’s hard to play for a win or even a draw. Therefore there are many improvement attempts like atomic960, atomar and atomic2. But since we are talking about standard atomic now, I’ll help you avoid losing in 2 moves... hopefully. (Sometimes when I’m absent-minded I lose in 2 moves as well.)

The most common atomic opening is 1.Nf3. New players might think it’s just a normal developing move, and play something like Nc6, Nf6 or c5. They all lose. Why? Knights are very powerful in the opening. After Nf3, the threat is Ne5 or Ng5, and if a knight stands at your half of the board, bad things will happen. For example:

1.Nf3 Nf6?? (c5??) 2.Ne5

The d7 and f7 pawns are both threatened, and taking either of them explodes the black king. The black king has no escape, and either Nxd7 or Nxf7 is mate next move.

Going for Ne5 or Ne4 is a common opening theme. As black, Ne5 can’t be allowed if the d and f pawns are on their home squares.

Then what about Nc6? Doesn’t it defend against Ne5? Well, there are some more threats.

1.Nf3 Nc6?? 2.Ng5! (Nxf7 is threatened) f6/f5 3.Nf7

As you can see, the knight lands on f7 anyway, it can’t be taken (the king can’t take any piece). And Nxd8 is threatened next. What’s worse, black has no escape, the queen and the king are both trapped and Nxd8# can be premoved.

So after 1.Nf3, 1...f6 is the best move as it defends against both Ne5 and Ng5. The only alternatives are 1...e5 and 1...d6, they are objectively worse since they allow Ng5, which is called a knight invasion. In the opening and the middlegame, a knight deep into your opponent’s camp (near their king) is often enough compensation for a material deficit. However, you must take advantage of it and launch an attack or win material back as soon as possible. As I’m about to cover in later blogs, knights are not so good in endgames.

Any other move loses after Nf3. One try is 1...f5??, but this allows Ne5 anyway, the king has no escape, Nxd7 is threatened, so black has to move the d pawn. Then Nd7 follows and guess what? Nxf8 is unstoppable since the bishop is trapped, and the black king can’t escape from it! 1...d5?? runs into the same problem. So, don’t try to do something clever, just play f6 defending everything. (f6 is weakening in standard but don’t worry about that in atomic!)

Now white can follow it up with 2.Nc3, 2.Nd4, 2.d4, 2.e3, 2.e4, and many other moves. I’ll talk more about it in later blogs but you get the idea, you need to stop the opening knight attacks. You can see Illion’s blog about knight tactics.

There are other openings. 1.Nh3 also threatens Ng5, which will be good for white. Black has more choices but the most common response is 1...h6, defending everything. Black can try other moves as well, but theoreticians don’t like them. 1...e5 is often a surprise weapon, 1...e6 is similar, 1...f6 is an old theoretical defense, and even 1...d5 is possible. h6 is probably still the objectively best response. Remember, don’t play 1...g5, and I’ll talk about it in the next blog as an example. For now, just don’t do it. Do you remember the fool’s mate in standard? Doesn’t it involve g4 of g5? So don’t do it! (Sometimes g4/g5 to defend Ng4/Ng5 can be good but that involves more theory.)

1.e3 is also very common. You can just play 1...e6, which is pretty solid. This often transposes to other openings. You can go for other variations too. 1...Nf6 is for the attackers (I struggle against it myself), and there is also 1...e5, which might be slightly dubious.

1.e4 is also pretty common and it’s a decent opening. You can play 1...e6 or 1...d5. But don’t play 1...f6 or 1...e5. My next blog will talk about how to use the queen, and they are very good examples. Obviously don’t play c5 as well, it doesn’t defend against the threat — which is Qh5 and Qd5. (Same applies to 1.e3.)

1.d4 goes next on the line, black has slightly more options like d5, e6, Na6, Nc6, Nf6, Nh6, they are all fine. This opening is more peaceful and you will need to outplay your opponent in the middlegame.

1.Nc3 is quite common in intermediate level because it requires quite some theory. If black plays safely with 1...c6 this will most likely transpose into a 2 knights opening (then why not just play the 2 knights?) But, black can play actively with 1...e6, 1...Nf6 or 1...Nh6. e6 is arguably the best move, opening some queen attacking ideas and white actually needs to be careful. (In some lines, black can sacrifice the queen! I’ll talk about it in the queen attack blog.)

As white, all the above openings are good and recommended. If you want to train your middlegame skills, you can go for some slightly offbeat openings like 1.g3, 1.Na3 or 1.c3. But for absolute new players, since you’ll face with Nf3 a lot, just play Nf3 and see how your opponent defends against it. Learn from your opponents!

Next blog will be about using the queen. The queen is the most powerful piece in atomic. I will also talk about the atomic shield.

Quiz

I’ll be nice this time, only one. Think about the position in your head: If white opens with 1.Nf3 f6 2.Nd4, what’s white threatening? Can you defend against the threat(s)? Hint: Defend the most important square and create some threats on your own. Which threat is more important? Remember: a knight in your half of the board in the opening, is almost always bad.

Pewe vujovixo hipoxupale au emihoputa epima,
uzo padu mimovute zamequ dinova sogi pugo.
Exa mimoxe esufepa ejiva juhoso eniva,
Oti eca edipa ovi epozesewa! :)

Good luck in the atomic shield!