Selecting a Middlegame Pawn Break
24 Jan '22 16:44A recently concluded Red Hot Pawn game (https://www.redhotpawn.com/chess/chess-game-history.php?gameid=14670896) between aukermdr (1871) and flea12 (1312) reached the following position after 15. a2-a4.
This seems a good time for Black to formulate a middlegame plan. Focusing on the pawn structure,
Black might first look for where that player has one of the following:
* A pawn majority
* A half-open file
* A space advantage.
Black not only lacks a pawn majority but is down a pawn.
With regard to half-open files, Black has two: the a- and b-files. Black also has a space advantage on each file:
* on the a-file, four squares up to the first pawn, compared to White's three squares up to the first pawn;
* on the b-file, five squares up to the first pawn, compared to White's two squares up to the first pawn.
However, so long as each of those pawns is protected by a pawn, attacking them with pieces is futile.
Can Black create pawn tension against this formation? The only pawn available for this is the c-pawn. Advancing it to c4 would result in the following pawn structure:
Would the advance of Black's c-pawn tangibly weaken any of Black's pawns? Yes, Black's d-pawn, which sits on a half-open file. This would tend to contraindicate advancing the c-pawn.
On the kingside, Black has a space advantage only on the h-file and has the same number of ranks of space as White on the other files. If Black were to play ...f5, this would bring about the following pawn structure:
Would the advance of Black's f-pawn tangibly weaken any of Black's pawns? If Black's f-pawn were exchanged for White's e-pawn, this would result in the following pawn structure:
The half-opening of the e-file exposes Black's e-pawn, but it's firmly held by Black's d-pawn.
So, the pawn structure makes ...f5 reasonable. Let's see whether that remains true after all of the pieces are restored:
If Black were to move the knight and then play ...f5, that pawn would then be supported by the d7-bishop and the f8-rook, and it would be attacked by White's e-pawn and queen (indirectly). Moreover, White doesn't seem to have a viable way to control the f5-square with another piece or pawn.
If Black's knight were to now unblock the f-pawn, where should it move? Going to h5 would give the knight access to the f4-square, from which it would attack White's queen, pressure g2, and possibly help create tactics along the f-file and a8/h1 diagonal. If White played g3... to keep the knight out of f4, this would weaken the light squares near White's king (which is particularly concerning because only Black has retained a light-square bishop).
Black indeed played 15...Nh5, reaching the position depicted below.
One drawback of 15...Nh5 is that it leaves the d7-bishop unprotected, which White might try to exploit by 16. Nxe5. (For one continuation, see the following chess movie.)
Rather than enter these complications, White played 16. Nd5, which controls the f4-square and attacks the e7-bishop. (See next diagram.)
Of the various ways to meet the threat to the e7-bishop, two of them strike me as instinctively bad: ...Re8 because it withdraws the rook from the file that Black plans to open, and ...Bf6 because it blocks the pawn of that file.
Perhaps ...Bd8 should seem instinctively bad because it blocks communication along the back rank. But this isn't as significant as it might first appear. Black probably doesn't want to withdraw both major pieces from the queenside, because this might permit White's passed a-pawn to advance. And Black's queen could reach the kingside using diagonals (provided that the d7-bishop gives way). (See next diagram for the position after 16...Bd8.)
It seems that White could no longer prevent 17...f5, which would give Black counterplay.
(A list of the threads I've initiated at this forum is available at http://www.davidlevinchess.com/chess/RHP_my_threads.htm .)
This seems a good time for Black to formulate a middlegame plan. Focusing on the pawn structure,
Black might first look for where that player has one of the following:
* A pawn majority
* A half-open file
* A space advantage.
Black not only lacks a pawn majority but is down a pawn.
With regard to half-open files, Black has two: the a- and b-files. Black also has a space advantage on each file:
* on the a-file, four squares up to the first pawn, compared to White's three squares up to the first pawn;
* on the b-file, five squares up to the first pawn, compared to White's two squares up to the first pawn.
However, so long as each of those pawns is protected by a pawn, attacking them with pieces is futile.
Can Black create pawn tension against this formation? The only pawn available for this is the c-pawn. Advancing it to c4 would result in the following pawn structure:
Would the advance of Black's c-pawn tangibly weaken any of Black's pawns? Yes, Black's d-pawn, which sits on a half-open file. This would tend to contraindicate advancing the c-pawn.
On the kingside, Black has a space advantage only on the h-file and has the same number of ranks of space as White on the other files. If Black were to play ...f5, this would bring about the following pawn structure:
Would the advance of Black's f-pawn tangibly weaken any of Black's pawns? If Black's f-pawn were exchanged for White's e-pawn, this would result in the following pawn structure:
The half-opening of the e-file exposes Black's e-pawn, but it's firmly held by Black's d-pawn.
So, the pawn structure makes ...f5 reasonable. Let's see whether that remains true after all of the pieces are restored:
If Black were to move the knight and then play ...f5, that pawn would then be supported by the d7-bishop and the f8-rook, and it would be attacked by White's e-pawn and queen (indirectly). Moreover, White doesn't seem to have a viable way to control the f5-square with another piece or pawn.
If Black's knight were to now unblock the f-pawn, where should it move? Going to h5 would give the knight access to the f4-square, from which it would attack White's queen, pressure g2, and possibly help create tactics along the f-file and a8/h1 diagonal. If White played g3... to keep the knight out of f4, this would weaken the light squares near White's king (which is particularly concerning because only Black has retained a light-square bishop).
Black indeed played 15...Nh5, reaching the position depicted below.
One drawback of 15...Nh5 is that it leaves the d7-bishop unprotected, which White might try to exploit by 16. Nxe5. (For one continuation, see the following chess movie.)
Rather than enter these complications, White played 16. Nd5, which controls the f4-square and attacks the e7-bishop. (See next diagram.)
Of the various ways to meet the threat to the e7-bishop, two of them strike me as instinctively bad: ...Re8 because it withdraws the rook from the file that Black plans to open, and ...Bf6 because it blocks the pawn of that file.
Perhaps ...Bd8 should seem instinctively bad because it blocks communication along the back rank. But this isn't as significant as it might first appear. Black probably doesn't want to withdraw both major pieces from the queenside, because this might permit White's passed a-pawn to advance. And Black's queen could reach the kingside using diagonals (provided that the d7-bishop gives way). (See next diagram for the position after 16...Bd8.)
It seems that White could no longer prevent 17...f5, which would give Black counterplay.
(A list of the threads I've initiated at this forum is available at http://www.davidlevinchess.com/chess/RHP_my_threads.htm .)
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