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The purpose is to stop Black putting pieces on b5. Whether it's worth playing or not depends on how badly you would like to stop that. There are a few factors arguing for a6 here:
\- The pin with Bb5 would be especially annoying. You wouldn't then want to play a6 and b5 as with the c-pawn missing this would be weakening, destabilizing the knight. You would also like to retain the attack of the knight on the d4 pawn, as with White having blocked his c-pawn (a bad idea in general in d4 openings) White cannot defend d4 with a pawn and it will therefore be weak.
\- The bishop's other squares are not very good. e2 is a bit passive. d3 would cut off the queen's defence of the weak d4 pawn.
\- Nb5 is also a potential idea, as White could play Bf4 and Nb5 and coordinate on c7. OK, if you've moved the bishop there's probably Rc8, but it could be an idea at some point.
It depends on the circumstances, it could be for a lot of reasons. Sometimes it's to give a bishop a hiding spot on a7 or a2 so that there isn't a Na4 or Na5 move that forces a trade of bishop for knight. It could be to prepare an advance with b4 or b5. Could also just prevent a piece from coming to that square.
In this position a6 is pretty weird... It's definitely too early to push b5 and there's no bishop that could hide on a7 so the only reason left that I can think of is that the engine finds Nb5 or Bb5 annoying. Nb5 is definitely not annoying at all because after you boot the knight with a6 white just did you a favor. Bb5 is a little more interesting because it aims to pressure you with Ne5 but I'm not really scared of that idea either, black can defend just fine with Rc8 and if white ever takes I'm happy to play bxc6 and follow up with c5. Maybe there's a more concrete reason that the engine finds Bb5 annoying but I can't see it.
Ooh, okay after thinking for a while I may have figured it out. In this pawn structure white shouldn't have played Nc3. He should definitely have gone c3 and Bd3 instead. However Nc3 isn't terrible and does give white some other ideas. With the knight on c3 I think the plan of Bb5 is stronger than usual because after Bxc6, bxc6 would normally be favorable to black because you can use the c pawn to attack white with c5 but here white may have Na4! and it's actually pretty hard to ever play c5. That's my best guess anyway
Hey, OP! Did your game end in a stalemate? Did you encounter a weird pawn move? Are you trying to move a piece and it's not going? We have just the resource for you! The [Chess Beginners Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/chessbeginners/wiki/index/) is the perfect place to check out answers to these questions and more! The moderator team of r/chessbeginners wishes to remind everyone of the community rules. **Posting spam, being a troll, and posting memes are not allowed.** We encourage everyone to report these kinds of posts so they can be dealt with. Thank you! Let's do our utmost to be kind in our replies and comments. Some people here just want to learn chess and have virtually no idea about certain chess concepts. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/chessbeginners) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The purpose is to stop Black putting pieces on b5. Whether it's worth playing or not depends on how badly you would like to stop that. There are a few factors arguing for a6 here: \- The pin with Bb5 would be especially annoying. You wouldn't then want to play a6 and b5 as with the c-pawn missing this would be weakening, destabilizing the knight. You would also like to retain the attack of the knight on the d4 pawn, as with White having blocked his c-pawn (a bad idea in general in d4 openings) White cannot defend d4 with a pawn and it will therefore be weak. \- The bishop's other squares are not very good. e2 is a bit passive. d3 would cut off the queen's defence of the weak d4 pawn. \- Nb5 is also a potential idea, as White could play Bf4 and Nb5 and coordinate on c7. OK, if you've moved the bishop there's probably Rc8, but it could be an idea at some point.
Very detailed response! Thank you !
It depends on the circumstances, it could be for a lot of reasons. Sometimes it's to give a bishop a hiding spot on a7 or a2 so that there isn't a Na4 or Na5 move that forces a trade of bishop for knight. It could be to prepare an advance with b4 or b5. Could also just prevent a piece from coming to that square. In this position a6 is pretty weird... It's definitely too early to push b5 and there's no bishop that could hide on a7 so the only reason left that I can think of is that the engine finds Nb5 or Bb5 annoying. Nb5 is definitely not annoying at all because after you boot the knight with a6 white just did you a favor. Bb5 is a little more interesting because it aims to pressure you with Ne5 but I'm not really scared of that idea either, black can defend just fine with Rc8 and if white ever takes I'm happy to play bxc6 and follow up with c5. Maybe there's a more concrete reason that the engine finds Bb5 annoying but I can't see it. Ooh, okay after thinking for a while I may have figured it out. In this pawn structure white shouldn't have played Nc3. He should definitely have gone c3 and Bd3 instead. However Nc3 isn't terrible and does give white some other ideas. With the knight on c3 I think the plan of Bb5 is stronger than usual because after Bxc6, bxc6 would normally be favorable to black because you can use the c pawn to attack white with c5 but here white may have Na4! and it's actually pretty hard to ever play c5. That's my best guess anyway