LoA related tactics

 The direct goal of a tactic is to gain wood or to mate the king.

Often, a tactic is used to obtain a certain positional goal. Which is an indirect use of a tactic. We talk often about patterns without an exact definition of what we mean by that. The tactical patterns are all well known, but when they are combined with a certain goal, new patterns arise. If the goal has a high frequency of occurrence, these combinatorial patterns will have too.

Getting the upperhand on a LoA (line of attack) is a very frequent occurring positional goal, which happens in each and every game. Let's have a look.

Diagram 1.Black to move (!)

r1bqk2r/pp3ppp/2nbpn2/2ppN3/3P4/1P1BP3/PBP2PPP/RN1QK2R b KQkq - 0 1

Beware, although it is black to move, the diagram is projected from whites perspective!

I'm trying to investigate the important LoA's in the Colle Zukertort. In the previous post, I drew some arrows which highlighted these LoA's.

According to Stockfish, there are 12 perfectly playable moves for black in this position, possibly more. Some of these moves interfere with the LoA's which white is hoping to exploit, but most of them don't. 

I'm especially interested in 1. ... Qc7. It is in fact a double attack, aiming at two LoA's where white is interested in.

Diagram 2. Black to move

Qc7 accomplishes two things:

• It obtains the upperhand at e5
• It sets up a battery against c2

White's loA's of interest:

• long diagonal b2-h8
• diagonal d3-h7

White hopes to clear the long diagonal with Nxc6 and dxc5.

Black hopes to get the upperhand at c2, so that after 1. ... Qc7 2.f4 cxd4 3.exd4 Nb4 black has a double attack against c2 and Bd3. Since white can't abandon c2, he must give up his Bd3, thus giving up the LoA d3-h7.

You see how tactics become intertwined with the positional goals. I believe it are these new patterns we must absorb. The patterns which are related to the positional goals we are aiming at.