I didn't mean h6 was a bad move globally. Of course you can use it.
It's just a matter of timing.
Playing it in that position is not so good, that was what I meant.

p.s.

If you want to improve your game, in my opinion, forget all about blitz games.
Play only long games (60 minutes for each side and above), and analyze your games afterwards.

It looks like I'll be playing mostly correspondance games at this point. Time shouldn't be an issue.

I do put my games into Chessmaster for analyzing, but mostly I just find the blunders that I missed.

Chessmaster is a pretty weak program.
It looks good but that's about it.

If you want a program to analyze your games with, I would recommend
Fritz or Shredder.
See Chess News, Chess Programs, Databases - Play Chess Online

Perhaps in a few months I'll have the extra money to pick up a different program. Until then I'll just have to use CM and this site for help.

Thanks for the help...

I've started playing a bit of a trap with my e4 e5 game. I'm wondering if I should give up this because it is "crap" or if it is actually a line that can be used successfully at higher levels.

Here is an example of the game I'm shooting for:

1. e4 e5 2. Ng1f3 Nb8c6 3. Bf1c4 Bf8c5 4. Nb1c3 d6 5. O-O Bc8g4 6. h3 h5
7. hxg4 hxg4 8. Nf3h2 Qd8h4 9. Rf1e1 Qh4xf2 10. Kg1h1 Qf2h4 11. Bc4xf7 Ke8d8
12. Qd1xg4 Qh4xh2 0-1



In paticular it is the Bg4 followed up by h5, looking to open up the h file dominated by my rook. I like to use a pawn storm against the castled king anyhow.

So is this crap? Or is this a valid line of attack?

If you go to this site:
Chess Publisher - Free PGN Game Publisher for Blogs

You can then paste the pgn of your game in the box and hit “generate diagram” and you’ll get the following code:
<iframe src=http://chess.maribelajar.com/chesspublisher/viewgame.php?id=1217877581 width=300 height=380 frameborder=0></iframe><br>

Paste this portion of the code in your post and get a playable game:
http://chess.maribelajar.com/chesspu...?id=1217877581

Book is 5...Nf6 6.d3 h6 but your move is not bad and will work against the uninitiated.

White blundered with 8.Nh2. He should have played 8.d3 and now he really does threaten to take the B because after …hxg4 White can play Ng5 attacking f7 when Black will have to defend with …Nh6 leaving White a piece up.

I see I need to give it up. It is tempting to keep a trap that has worked so often against the opponents that I see, but if it isn't going to work later I shouldn't be doing it.

Thanks for the publishing link. I have it saved to favorites.

I don’t know that you really need to give it up. I looked in my db (3.2 million games) and found about 20 games with it, but they were all games played by non-masters so won’t yield reliable statistics. Lacking any reliable master games I plugged it into my engine (Rybka) just to see what happens:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Nc3 d6 5.0–0 Bg4 6.h3 h5 7.hxg4 hxg4 8.d3 gxf3 9.Qxf3 Nf6 10.Qg3 g6 is equal

Rybka rated this line as a better move:
8.d4 exd4 9.Bxf7+ Kxf7 10.Ng5+ Kg6 11.Qxg4 and the game is only slightly in White’s favor but I don’t really think any human would like to play Black’s position.

I only meant to point out that White’s threat nullifies the whole idea of Black’s mating attack. You could still risk it if you are so minded!

I only want to play solid lines, not ones that are refuted if the person is good enough. Why learn something that will eventually no longer be useful. I'll just have to learn a different line eventually, if I get good enough.

By the way, I just received Purdy's Search for Chess Perfection II in the mail today. I looks very readable. I'm hoping to learn the Purdy method and put it into practice here in the next few days. Thanks for the suggestion!