Backward pawns question

My friend and I are having a debate. I did a move that created a backward pawn, which he said was flat wrong and something he never would have done. But, Stockfish says I played the best move in this situation. 

He says, "The move b5 for black is a positionally very bad move because it creates a permanent weakness on c6 which can be immediately exploited by white because of its control of the semi-opened c-file. With such a permanent weakness on your camp you are almost certain to lose the game because white is having a clear and easy plan to execute (ganging up against the c6 pawn and winning it when most convenient for white) ..."

I know I had made a mistake to get into this position, but I believe that my next move, b5 WAS the best one here. 

I'm hoping to get an answer from someone above a 2000 rating, which would be better confirmation. Was b5 a good move in this case, or did the damage to my pawn structure outweigh the benefit?

Hi Jeff,

After looking at the position, I think B5 is a fair move. Leaving C6 defended by your knight and possibly fortified with your bishop or queen if needed. The game is still even at this point.

Thanks. It was not even, from the computer's perspective. But my pieces were getting stuck from a couple of bad moves and I was trying to get a plan together to gain tempo and also untangle them.

I think his point, which is absolutely true, is that a backwards pawn on this semi-open file will be a terrible weakness. But, my move was the best in bad circumstances.

It's hard to believe that's the exact position... black lost a lot of time somehow.

In general your friend is right, most times a move like b5 would be bad, but in some slav / catalan type of structures it's something that can happen.

Importantly, black needs to be able to play e5 or c5 at some point otherwise he'll just be squished for lack of space, which is why black is much worse in that position.

But for example the Catalan comes to mind...

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The position should start after 6...Qxb4 but chess.com is doo-doo

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And notice how the follow up is c5.

Normally the preferred pawn break is e5 since it would also open up your c8 bishop, but here with the bishop on b7 it's very comfortable to be able to play c5 and open your bishop that way.

So in summary...
 - The OP position is bad no matter what black does so it's a bit of a moot point.
 - But sure, 9 times out of 10 it'd be a bad move for the reason your friend said.
 - In some openings it's a normal idea.
 - In these sorts of structures (slav / caro) black needs to find a way to play e5 or c5, typically in the first 15 moves, otherwise black is just worse.

I guess it might be useful to add...

Pawn weaknesses are very important. Entire games can be won or lost because of them... but they're also a weakness that takes many moves to exploit... so the quieter the position, the worse they stand out. The best example is an endgame. If you have a bad structure in an endgame where there will be dozens of moves available to maneuver, sometimes it's just an automatic win for your opponent.

But the position you show is on move 10 or something... so pawn weaknesses are much less important. It's more about the big 3 opening ideas: king safety, center control, and fast development.

In that position black lost control of the center (white has 2 pawns in the center to black's zero), and it will be hard for black to finish development.

This doesn't answer your question, but maybe it's useful to hear what's going on, and how it's not really related to backward pawns yet. Your idea to push black back a bit and try to get your pieces off the back rank (if that's what you did) is reasonable. If this left you with a backward pawn on move 15 or 20 where not much else is going on, then sure, that's something white could try to leverage for an advantage... if you still had a backward pawn on a half open file on move 30 or 40 you might be in a position where black can only draw or lose... but a lot can happen in 30 moves, so don't worry about it on move 10, at least not more than development.

Thank you paper_llama. Yes, I know I totally screwed up move 8 & 9 and fell into an awful position. It's only in that circumstance though that I opted for, which Stockfish seemed to think was my best choice.

I was trying to regain my footing, keep tempo by pushing knights out of my territory, and hopefully give room to get my other pieces out. I guess I'm somewhere around a 1250 here, and appreciate the clarification.

Maybe I wrote it too negatively... you did fine . Your friend was probably just excited about knowing the idea of backward pawns and wanted to share the info.

I know he was right. It got a bit tense, which is rare for him. But I think it was partly a misunderstanding, and of me catching up with what he meant. I think b5 was the best ONLY in that bad circumstance.

By the way, I came up with an analogy the other day that I think pretty perfectly describes how a modern chess engine works against a human being. It is like a boa constrictor that can only take advantage of your mistake. Its next move consolidates it.

A player cannot (for the most part) improve the computer evaluation on their move. A perfect move simply keeps the evaluation the same. If you or your opponent makes a mistake, THAT drops the analysis against you.

My friend said it seemed like a different way of saying what he'd heard before. Chess is mainly a game of mistakes, or something to that effect.

Thanks again

i think b5 is perfectly acceptable here. followed by Bb7. 1) ...,b5 2) Ne5,Bb7 3) Bg5,... equal material, its still a game. but i do like white better. maybe thats just me. did this start as a QGA?

Thank you chessterd. It was my question. Paper llama's answer is worth reading.

Opening principles, positional play, even basic endgame techniques, are all excellent generalized maxims. However, at every move in every game you must consider what's best in that specific position. The general rules can guide you in thinking up plans, but you have to calculate the possibilities on the board as precisely as you can.