Bug Strategy

This page is mainly written by RossA with some little notes from me (Ebenfelt). Last update 6 June 1997.

Terminology

To save space below, we will refer to the four players as you, partner, opponent, and partopp. This last, invented term refers to your partner's opponent (or, if you prefer, your opponent's partner).

Momentum

The Big Mo is very important at bug. Get your opponent on the defensive and start threatening him and watch him suffer. Best of all is to start checking him. When planning ahead often the most important question is "Who starts checking first?" because, as MrCool says, "check rulez."

However, a fault often seen when players who are not very experienced in bughouse play is that they, when not know what to do, in a planless way, drop pieces just for checking. In bughouse, as in chess, one must have some idea behind the moves. A check thus should do something, for example put the enemy king in a more unsafe position.

Contact checks

A contact check is one that forces the enemy king to move. I.e., the opponent cannot interpose a piece in the way (or take the checking piece). This stops the opponent from dropping pieces to defend. In many case, you can drop one piece after another using contact checks until you mate; while your opponent accumulates more and more useless pieces on his drop bar.

Because of their importance we list the contact checks:
1. all night checks (hence importance of night)
2. bishop, pawn, rook and queen checks one square from the king
3. double checks

(do not forget item 3 above - it comes in handy at times.)

To some extent the enemy king can defend itself from contact checks of type 2. But note it depends on other pieces to cover night checks (yet another reason for the night's importance on attack). Also note one common tactic: forcing the king to take pieces towards the middle of the board where other pieces can mate it; it is usually dangerous when the king is defending itself.

King Position

Your king position is critical to your bug game. You have to watch out for contact checks and keep them covered, particularly night drops. If you have a night drop uncovered, you have two chances:
a. that he does not have a night and your partner can hide his (or sit).
b. that you have a safe retreat for your king - where ALL contact checks are covered.

Sitting

The most important tactic move of all in bug is to sometimes not move :)

At times you will want to wait for your partner to take a piece. This is called "sitting." You may also need to sit if:
a. you are getting mated - hoping your partner can mate first.
b. your partner is in trouble and you need to limit the flow of pieces to your partopp (remember: your partner's opponent).

When you sit, good partopps will see that you are sitting and may sit themselves, denying you the piece or pieces you need. In this common situation, a sitzkrieg, the player with the most remaining time has the advantage. His partopp will have to move first; thus he is in control. Consequently you have to watch your partopp's clock vs. yours in deciding whether to sit or not.

A common fault is sitting when you have less time than partopp. This is theoretically a bad tactic. Your partopp will realize you are sitting - by his partner's messages or by looking at your board - and will also sit, so nothing happens except you lose more of your remaining time. This tactic can only work if your partopp is inexperienced and/or communicates badly with his partner.

Why bug games are short (5 minute or less)

If bug were played at longer time limits, the result would be sitzkriegs with longer times on both clocks. Players would not think more or think deeper; they would just sit longer. Even at 3 minutes, players have been known to discuss the weather, sports, etc. during sitzkriegs.

Why the Increment should be 0

Many bug beginners want to play with a non-zero increment, say 5 3 or 5 10. It is hard to explain this online; hence this section. Skip it if you understand or don't care.

The problem with an increment is that it spoils your planning in a sitzkrieg. When players get time added per move, if one game moves more than another, those players gain time. This can change the winning side in a sitzkrieg in ways that are hard to calculate and strike most experienced players as unfair.

To attack or not to attack

Using the above logic, you may attack in three cases:

1. you have all the pieces you need, or
2. you are ahead of your partopp on time (you can count on partner to get you more pieces), or
3. you are dead but hope for a blunder (In bughouse the blunders are much more common than in chess, believe me !)

If none of these apply, DO NOT attack. If you ignore this rule and attack, then, quoting jtp, "game over."
(Even in case 2, you should worry whether partner has time to feed you; he may be too busy defending if under attack.)

Close Sitzkriegs and Stalls

Sometimes you and your partopp are sitting with almost the same amount of time left on your clocks. This makes for a very exciting situation. Here STALLS are important: you may be able to check your opponent; the time he spends responding will result in less time for his partner. The player with the most stalls - or the ones that slow down his opponent the most - will gain time and may then win the sitzkrieg.

Similarly, if your partner is in a sitzkrieg with your opponent, you should not stop thinking. Try to anticipate your opponent's stalls so that you can respond to them immediately. If possible have your reply typed on your command line so you just have to press RETURN to make it.

Value of the pieces

Pieces have very different values at bughouse. According to Gnejs, these values are:

pawn = 1
bishop = 2
night = 2
rook = 2
queen = 4

Believe these values! If you disbelieve, get Gnejs to give another lecture and attend it! Compared with chess, however, the value of a piece is much more flexible and depending on the positions on the board.

Note that trading a bishop for a night is equal in general. It may be good or bad depending on partner's game. A night is good for attack; a bishop is good for defense. Don't forget that the game is also played on the partners board !

Note that winning a queen for two pieces is equal, not an advantage. Many players do this and expect partner to win easily - this is a mistake. If partner has a secure king position, you can "sacrifice" your queen for defense or momentum with good results.

Messing up the opponent's king position

It is often good to sacrifice a piece to disturb the opponent's king, even if you have no immediate follow-up. Some players (Chase, MrCool) do this every chance they get and are very successful. Sometimes the hole you create may not seem important. E.g., if you, as white, create an undefended hole at b7 it may seem unimportant; but if you can force his king to d8 you can use it for n@b7.

Against a good player you will usually have to sacrifice material to achieve this. Here judgment is important: if you figure out when you should or should not sacrifice for position, please tell me!

Inventive Tactics

Bughouse is far from an exact science. Feel free to invent your own tactics! As an example, let me describe two recent advances in bug tactics.

As white, with Q on d1, B on d2 and Q on the drop bar - with enemy K on e8, P on f7, B on c8, P on c7, and d8 defended only by the K. Ebenfelt mated with Q@d8+ Kxd8 Bg5++ (double check) Ke8 Rd8+++. This is truly a "chess classic bugified."
One week later, having heard about this, I had Q on d1, N at d4 and Q on the drop bar against a similar black configuration. Mate in 3! using Nc6++ instead of Bg5++.

Surely there are other classic chess combos in need of bugification! So do your part! Bughouse NEEDS YOU!

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