General Bughouse Tips

A quick note. I just watched a WesBot bughouse lecture and got many of the ideas from there.

What is Bughouse?

Bughouse is a chess variant for four players, 2 vs 2. It is like regular chess in every way, except that when you capture an opponent's piece, you pass it to your partner, and your partner likewise passes pieces to you. You can make regular chess moves, OR you can place one of these captured pieces on the board. You can place mates, checks, anything where a piece could legally go (that is, no pawns on ranks 1 and . And that's it.

On FICS, you want to use the command "partner nameOfPartner" to establish a partnership with whoever you wish to play with. And you challenge an opponent using "challenge nameOfOpponent time increment bug".

You probably would also like to set up your client (I use babaschess) for a more optimal bughouse viewing environment, since it is useful to see your partner's game as well as your own.

Weak Squares, Attacking Points.

f7, c7, f2, c2

f7 (and f2 for white), c7 (c2) are often weak squares easily exploited in a game of bughouse. For example:

White often makes an early N move to g5, for an interesting attacking sac! Nxf7!

Now, because this is bughouse!, your partner may have passed you some pieces. Deadly is to place another knight at g5...

The king has retreated. If your partner passes you a queen, you already have mate! Another knight still does major damage. Almost any piece now can be deadly.

So why doesn't every game start with this knight sac? Well, it only truly become dangerous when the attacker has another knight to place. Without that knight, the defender has time to place another pawn, bishop, or other defender and shore up the whole, meanwhile, your partner on the other board will find himself facing an extra knight.

Now let's see ways for black to defend against this f7 attack...

Well, if the game had started 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d3 Nf6 4. Ng5 Nc6... we see that black exposed himself to the f7 attack with 4. ...Nf6. Better is to defend the pawn so that the king can stay sheltered, say with 4. ...Qe7.

But actually, this takes us to another important point... bughouse openings. You'll see that 1. ...e5 isn't even that great. Bc4 will add another white attacking piece aiming at f7, and now the black pawn can't be at e6 to block it! We'll get into that later.

The Side Pawns

All but the d and e pawns can be dangerously exploited, especially when removed from their starting squares. Let's just look at one of the key means of creating a weakness.

White has just placed the pawn on h6. When black recaptures, a pawn placed at g7 can be deadly.

Black had to move his rook to avoid pawn promotion and the capturing of the rook! Note how in this particular pawn structure, and without any other black pieces, white can even fork the rook and king at f6! White also has another trick, say if f6 is defended... pawn@g6!. If the f pawn can't capture, black might follow with hxg6, and white can place another pawn at h7... uh oh.

Now it should go without saying, then, that moving these side pawns just invites manuevers like that just discussed. That leads us to bughouse openings.

Bughouse Openings

Normal chess openings are no good in bughouse. The white player has a much larger starting advantage. The fact that one may drop pieces means that weak squares and weak pawns can be exploited immediately.

1. Move pawns e and d. Almost never move any other pawn in the opening, and with luck, never in the entire game! Otherwise you invite piece placements in the heart of your camp.

2. e5, as discussed, is already not great, inviting white to further attack f7. And in general, with black, it's advisable to stick with more defensive moves like e6 and d6.

This results from  1. e2-e4 e7-e6 2. d2-d4 d7-d6 3. Nb1-c3 Ng8-f6 4. Ng1-f3 with black to move. There's nothing yet that white can really attack so far. White will often try moving d5 in this position, to attack the e6 pawns and start opening lines against f7, as discussed before. Black might even move d5 first, to avoid that, maybe now, in the position shown.

3. Avoid other standard opening ideas. The Sicilian is especially bad! White will often sac pawns just to remove the c7 pawn, you are doing it for him! And the pawn on c5 does nothing. In bug, you move as fast as possible to build an attack against the opponent's king. You want pawn chains heading that direction, and you want pieces there, and best of all,you want the king on the run, where he will almost inevitably get mated. c5 just doesn't do any of that.

4. In the same vein, don't fianchetto your bishops! For one, that type of move is more common for a slow buildup where they prove useful on a long diagonal, and that's slow in bug, but more importantly, if your opponent trades bishops, you know have a giant gaping hole at g2 (for example). p@g2! is deadly.

or a knight... etc.

5. Never castle for protection. Your king is much safer in the center, even without e or d pawns, than he is under these weak flanking pawns! The P@h6, h3, a6, a3 manuever, for example, can really get at the king. You may castle to get out of immediate danger... but that's about the only time when it can be beneficial.

Other General Tips

So WesBot, the lecture bot, claims that bishops, knights, and rooks are all about worth 2 pawn units, and queens worth about 4. I tend to find, myself, that knights are more dangerous than bishops. I feel like bishops are just slightly glorified pawns, with the sad lack of any ability to promote. Nevertheless, they can be useful...

Let's say black sacs a knight to open up c2. Places a new knight... And say it is white's turn again, placing a bishop at a4 will be useful for attacking/giving check, AND defending the weakened c2 square. So bishops aren't worthless...

Nevertheless, your partner often asks you to pin the opponent's knights and then just exchange right away. Knights just seem to offer so many deadly options...

Well, I guess I don't have too much more to say about strategy... just remember that sacrificing without material to back up an attack, or without a possible attack, will only help your opponent's partner, which means it will hurt your partner. It is fine to sacrifice and go all out, but only if you have a real attack and/or have material currently or on the way, to make it happen.

Some general advice for FICS

"ptell blabla" will send a tell to your partner only.

Common ptells:
+p Please hand me a pawn.
+n Please hand me a knight. (And all the other ptells are the same, +b for bishop, etc.)
-p Please don't let your opponent capture one of your pawns! It will really help his partner, my opponent. And then I'll be in real trouble!
-n Please don't... one of your knights! ... (etc.)
++ I have a strong attack. All trades are good. Trade trade trade! I need material to keep it up. I will probably win.
-- I'm in a LOT of trouble. Try to avoid trading, or else I will probably get mated if my opponent keeps getting material!
++p, ++n, etc.: I REALLY want this piece. It'll win something big, like a queen, or it just gives me an almost unstoppable mating attack.
--p, --n, etc.: I REALLY do NOT want my opponent to get this piece.
+++p, +++q, etc.: This piece mates. Hand it to me and we win instantly. Sac anything for it, duh.
---p, etc.: This piece means my opponent mates me. Do not let your opponent capture it!!!

Beyond this type of communication with your partner, it's helpful to see his board. You can even tell him how to win, or vice versa. Or just find out, at a glance, what pieces he needs, or can get you...

Oh, right. Play FAST whenever possible. If you are in trouble, play fast. If you are in an unimportant part of the game, play fast. If you have a strong attack, you can slow it down. Otherwise, play fast! Why? Because, say, you have a mate in 1, your opponent will sit and not move, hoping his partner can win before you mate. Or vice versa. So you will tell your partner to stop playing, to stall. Then, whichever partnership has more time will often win. If you have less, your opponent can stall successfully. If he has less, it will not work because Your partner can stall longer!

Good luck, have fun.

Joshua