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3 check advice

Hi everyone. I've been playing a lot of 3 check lately and have been trying to improve. During this time I've established what I think are sensible guidelines to play by such as:

1) Move the D pawn with extreme caution.
2) Trading a piece for a single check is (usually) a bad exchange.
3) Avoid castling too early to retain flexibility.
4) Knights are (usually) worth more than bishops.

I wondered if anyone had any advice on what else they felt were good guidelines to play by. Any input is very welcome. Thanks for taking the time to read this!
1) If it is the first move, nothin to fear, unless you're nott ready for this opening !
2) Do you have an example ? May be trading with a check is worth a tempo
3) Castle only with the knight on f3 (white), not too early and not too late !
4) More important is the value of the two bishops. Knights are ok in closed games, etc.

General straytegic rules are sometimes very useful in a zeitnot
eh...3 check isn't that much of a strategic game (sadly)

1) opening theory is actually more important than in blitz games.
2) yeah
@Sholmes49 Counterexample to 2) .. Second check in a middle game or in a (semi-) open endgame or in zeitnot
3) true for black. I feel white can go 0-0 pretty early on in a lot of lines.
4) no idea

This was the game I had in mind and I've had a few other examples. The bishop sacks for a single check with no good follow up. @Sholmes49



Also, thanks for the responses I'll keep what you've both said in mind.
I have not studied any opening theory, but 1. e4 e6 2. Nf3 seems inaccurate to me as 2... Bc5 allows black to sacrifice on f2 for a check (and an exposed white king), if he so pleases. Note that 3. d4? would be a blunder then, allowing 3... Bb4+, so a sacrifice on f2 is inevitable.

What I usually play is 1. e4 e6 2. Nc3, meeting ...Bc5 with d4 and if then ...Bb4 you can play Bd2 to block the diagonal. If ...Bb4 first then you can just develop the light-squared bishop and castle to safety quickly.

As with many variants, there's a much bigger difference between playing white and black here than in classical chess. As black it's easy to lose quickly in the opening, either by getting a worse position or allowing a check somewhere without sufficient compensation.

As for guidelines: I think it's important to grab space (if possible) as that usually means that (1) your opponent's pieces will be further away from your king, and (2) your own pieces will be able to get close to your opponent's king more easily. And especially in this variant, I think it's hard for black to stop white from gaining space quickly.
An example line after 1. e4 e6 2. Nc3 could be 2... Bc5 3. Nf3 Bxf2+ 4. Kxf2 Nh6 and now already the careless 5. h3? would lose the game to 5... Ng4+ 6. hxg4 Qh4+. You'd have to play something like 5. Kg1 but then black not only has one check in the bag, he has "reasonable" positional compensation for the piece, with a king stuck on g1 and a rook on h1. (Definitely more so than in your example.)

Also keep in mind tactical opportunities for two checks, once you've landed your first check. In your game 13. Rxf6! also looked strong, and 14. Qh5! seems to win on the spot, threatening both 15. Qh6+ and 15. Qxf7+.
You make some good points. Nf3 is a poor choice. I still have to improve my openings it seems. Funnily enough I didn't even consider Rxf6. I think that's part of my problem in that I'm still not making enough smart sacrifices & playing too much like it's standard chess. Thanks alot for your input, I will keep what you've said in mind! @thijscom
1. e4 e6
seems to be like an opportunity for the french defence ?
2. d4 woud not be a mistake !!

"As for guidelines: I think it's important to grab space (if possible) " : yes !!

Look in the databases
@General-Advance

2. Nf3 isn't a poor choice. You just have to be careful for couple of moves (not everybody likes to do this with white)

On the other hand. 2. Nc3 is way more solid/risk-free for starting out. You get into the sicilian main line though (and I'm too lazy to memorize the theory there, even though its very favorable for white) and 2. Nf3 allows you to move-order black out of the it, in case of 2...c5

I'd say, 2. Nf3 Bc5 is more popular at lower level though. You can look at the positions after the sac and those after 2. Nc3 c5 (and then i.e. 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e5 d5 5. exd6 Qxd6 or one of the sidelines) an decide what you like more.
Yeah the computer seemed to like playing the sicilian so thats how I respond as black to e4. Thankfully it's my favourite opening for black so I'm playing something I already have some experience with. I'll have a look into that and try and experiment with both of your suggestions. Thanks alot for the advice! @eqjugg

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