In the previous post, I discovered an important principle. Don't attack the pawn base when the base pawn can be replaced by a maintainable outpost. But what to do in stead?
When your center is stable, and an attack on the pawn base is not appropriate, you must consider a flank attack on the wing where your pieces employ the most activity. Usually that is the wing with the most space.
If the center is not stable, that will be your first concern. You can't attack a flank when you need too much defenders for the center.
With a stable center you shouldn't hesitate to use your wing pawns, even the ones in front of your king.
Man, this turns out to be an exciting journey! I was always a bit cranky that my logical ability was of no use at all in chess. Now I can rectify this omission.
For now, I conclude with to say that chess is for 25% tactics. Maybe even less.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Munich gave this excellent advice back on NOV 8:
ReplyDelete“I just want to give this practical advice: if you opponent plays 1...b6 2...Bb7 3...g6 4...Bg7 5...e6 6...d6 7...Nd7 8...Ne7 9...h6 10...a6 (move order can be different): how to crack this?
You don't! That is the secret I found for me. I simply occupy the center and then I do nothing and wait.”
Given my tactics study (PoPLoAFun) and my desire to try to use whatever tactical skills I currently possess, I tried a different approach this evening at the club against the 2nd highest rated player. In my prior “career” 50 years ago, I would never have attempted a very committal attack against the opponent’s King like this. However, I “knew” that Homer would play his pet sequence of moves and not deviate from them. It allowed me to position my pieces very aggressively, without any serious interference from him.
The game shows the perils of playing the opening by rote AND the problems that can arise if the center is given freely to the opponent with no attempt at central counterplay until it is too late.
[Event "Tuesday Tournament"]
[Site "Asheboro.NC"]
[Date "2019.12.10"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Coble, Robert"]
[Black "Cantrell, Homer "]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "1694"]
[BlackElo "1578"]
[EventDate "2019.12.10"]
[EventType "rapid"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
{A04: Zukertort Opening/Kingside Fianchetto} 1.Nf3 g6 2.e4 {Not my usual White opening; I wanted to establish a Pawn phalanx [e4-d4] and develop my pieces as rapidly as possible.} Bg7 3.d4 e6 4.Be3 Ne7 5.Qd2 O-O 6.Nc3 b6 7.Bd3 Bb7 8.O-O-O d6 9.Bh6 {Eliminating the fianchetto Bishop allows an attempt to not only overrun the Black kingside but to take advantage of the weakened black squares.} Nd7 10.Bxg7 Kxg7 11.h4 Nf6 12.e5 dxe5 13.dxe5 Nfd5 14.Ne4 h6 15.g4 Ng8 16.h5 {I intended to sacrifice a Knight on g5 if he had played 16. … g5} c5 17.g5 hxg5 18.Nfxg5 f5?? {A blunder but the position has already passed the critical point.} 19.Nxe6+ {Not the best according to GM Stockfish, but good enough.} Resigns
That's the idea :D
Delete