In search for scenarios
Currently I'm studying the book The Strategy Instructors Volume 1: Pawn Majority and Minority by GM Ramesh R.B. & by GM Efstratios Grivas from Chessable.
This is a position from the game Hou Yifan - Humpy Koneru:
 |
| White to move |
3r3r/1pp1bkp1/2p1p3/p3P2p/P7/1P6/1BP2PPP/3R1RK1 w - - 0 18
What is going on in this position?
In general
There are three regions of the board to consider in relation to potential passers:
- Queenside. Black has the majority. But a double pawn on the c-file is difficult to convert into a passer (as a rule of thumb 😉 )
- Center. Is equal. But white has more space.
- Kingside. White has a pawn majority.
From blacks point of view:
- Battle for the domination of the line of attack d-file. What is it that black wants? Rd8-d5 and Rh8-d8. Blacks wants to use d5 as a means to double his rooks. Whites c4 prevents that.
- line of attack Be7-c5-f2 pinning the f2 pawn
- invasion on d2 via Bb4
- line of attack Rh8-h6-g6
- invasion of Kf7-g6-f5-e4. Notice how the white squares are save for both kings, where they are protected from rook attacks by the pawns.
From whites point of view
- Battle for the domination of the line of attack d-file.
- Get the King off the line of attack diagonal c5-g1
- Get the King towards the invasion squares f5-e4
- Get the conversion of the kingside majority into a passer going
It is interesting. The attention seems to shift from focal points around the king towards invasion squares. Seeing the invasion square as an intermediate target, as it were. Maybe that's the fourth duck.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, you got a new attacker: the king.
I’m still playing through the game on Chess Tempo, trying to figure out where and (hopefully) WHY Black went wrong after 17...Kf7.
ReplyDeleteBlack was slightly stronger than White, but still lost the game after 78 moves.
Is this a good example of the ‘Chinese School’ emphasis on obtaining and exploiting a space advantage?
Just looking at the position: in addition to all that you listed, there is the half-open f-file (for Black). Black can get his king into action on the white squares (as you noted) after activating his g-pawn. Black’s King is closer to the critical white square around the center. If White has a majority on the kingside, then Black has a minority that can be used to attack the majority (considering the blocked e-file pawns to be “out of the picture” for a minority attack). Black's primary problem is that in order for the minority attack to work, Black will need the rooks to take advantage of the resulting backward pawn on the half-open f-file. That doesn't seem probable; given the tension on the d-file, it is likely that (sooner or later) one or both sets of rooks will be exchanged because neither side can give up the d-file to the opponent, allowing penetration to the 7th-8th rank. That exchange would result in a same-color Bishop and pawn ending. In the present position, Black's Bishop appears to be more active than White's Bishop, which is somewhat inconvenienced by the WPe5. Advancing the White kingside pawns to black squares seems to restrict the White Bishop even more. The WPe5 does have some potential to become a ‘thorn’ in Black’s center and a passed pawn at some point IFF it does not become a weakness.
Which player gains from an exchange of the rooks? Which player gains from an exchange of bishops?
Can White utilize his kingside majority to create a passed pawn that will tie Black down and allow penetration by the White King and a ‘Fox in the Chicken Coop’ run against the Black queenside pawns? I doubt it, because the potential passer is in the center of the board rather than on the far edge. Black’s king will end up too close to the queenside pawns for White to outflank it.
Lots of questions and no obvious answers.
When you think away the pieces, white can try to play for a win. Why? Because white can create a passer and black cannot. Hence black must try to hold the draw and avoid piece trades
ReplyDelete