Why does stockfish favor black so heavily in this position? • page 1/1 • Game Analysis • lichess.org

thooton

Hi, I played a game recently, and around move 16, stockfish favors black heavily (-3.6). When I was playing this position, I actually felt that white had a significant advantage, because my knight is pinned to my queen, the pawn is attacked on c6, and it is not very easy to get out of. So why is this position so much better for black? And what should I have done instead of what happened in the game?

https://lichess.org/c7NOYK6d/black

Hi, I played a game recently, and around move 16, stockfish favors black heavily (-3.6). When I was playing this position, I actually felt that white had a significant advantage, because my knight is pinned to my queen, the pawn is attacked on c6, and it is not very easy to get out of. So why is this position so much better for black? And what should I have done instead of what happened in the game? https://lichess.org/c7NOYK6d/black

Quasar3C273

I'm no GM, but it seems to me it would be because White doesn't have a way to capitalise on the pin and Black can evade it fairly easily. Whereas Black appears to have some attacking lines against White's king.

tpr edited

"why is this position so much better for black?"

Black has the bishops' pair, rooks on open files. The white pawns d4 and b2 are weak.

"what should I have done "

18...a5

"why is this position so much better for black?" * Black has the bishops' pair, rooks on open files. The white pawns d4 and b2 are weak. "what should I have done " * 18...a5

thooton

Thanks everyone, it makes more sense to me now. Black's pieces are very active while white's are pretty uncoordinated and not really doing anything except for the bishop. In contrast black is threatening the bishop on e2 and also the pawn on b2 indirectly. And, as I didn't notice in move 16, black can prevent white from castling with Bb4+, if white blocks with the knight they lose immediately so they have to play Kf1. But even after that, as tpr says, 18... a5 takes advantage of the weak pawn on d4 which is always going to be a liability for white.

In the game I ended up winning because white resigned in an equal position :) but it's nice to know how I could have played better.

Thanks everyone, it makes more sense to me now. Black's pieces are very active while white's are pretty uncoordinated and not really doing anything except for the bishop. In contrast black is threatening the bishop on e2 and also the pawn on b2 indirectly. And, as I didn't notice in move 16, black can prevent white from castling with Bb4+, if white blocks with the knight they lose immediately so they have to play Kf1. But even after that, as tpr says, 18... a5 takes advantage of the weak pawn on d4 which is always going to be a liability for white. In the game I ended up winning because white resigned in an equal position :) but it's nice to know how I could have played better.