Position Question

r2qkb1r/pp1b1ppp/2n1pn2/1Bpp4/8/1P2PN2/PBPP1PPP/RN1Q1RK1 w kq - 0 7

I've got a question about this position. From Lichess's Masters database the most commonly played moves for White are d3, Bxc6 and c4. White is basically looking to give up a perfectly good Bishop for no reason I can figure. Stockfish gives d4 as its top move, which makes plenty of sense to me, but I am not a high rated player, so apparently I am missing something.

Can anyone fill me in on why Masters are choosing to give up the light-squared Bishop? I am accustomed to seeing this in the Caro-Kann, which makes sense because in that opening Black tends to place most of their pawns on light squares, but I am just not able to figure out what their thinking might be.

Thanks -

george

@GLSmyth

Try going with the moves most Masters made.
It seems Bxc6 gives white an outpost square for his knight.
However, I could be wrong, and still 1400 rated

Please we need to see the position

There are three reasons behind this move.
1 Although this is the good bishop, it has no purpose and soon, after d3 and e4 and hopefully a later f5, will become the bad bishop.
2 It removes a defender of the dark squares and e5 more specifically.
3 It stops the trade of black's bad bishop.
When you visualize the future position, the objectives become clearer.

Ne5 followed by f4 looks like a typical plan here.

@GLSmyth
I just know one thing that one should not confuse themselves with masters game if they aren't a master yet.

It‘s just a NID/QID reversed. Like Bxc3 in order to control e4 here it is Bxc6 eying e5.

So you just have to study those openings then you know everything^^

@ThunderClap said in #3:
> Please we need to see the position

you can copy the FEN provided into lichess.org/analysis using the bar at the bottom of the screen

@jonesmh said in #4:
> There are three reasons behind this move.
> 1 Although this is the good bishop, it has no purpose and soon, after d3 and e4 and hopefully a later f5, will become the bad bishop.
> 2 It removes a defender of the dark squares and e5 more specifically.
> 3 It stops the trade of black's bad bishop.
> When you visualize the future position, the objectives become clearer.

Thanks, that makes sense. This stems from 1. b3 and when White's Bishop is put on b5 it is oftentimes traded off (though sometimes it drops back to d3 or e2), but I wasn't getting it in this position. I am putting together a Lichess study and understanding the move is helpful.

Thanks -

george

@Akbar2thegreat said in #6:
> @GLSmyth
> I just know one thing that one should not confuse themselves with masters game if they aren't a master yet.

I do not agree that one should not try to understand why a Master level player makes a specific move. Doing so can help one improve their game.

george