What is the point of the Maroczy Bind?

Kunsoo

Only Chess

01 Jan 16

Kunsoo

Joined: 03 Feb 07
Moves: 201753

01 Jan 16

I mean, if black fianchettos on the king side and you want to attack it, you're probably going to castle queen side. So what's the advantage of the advanced c pawn in a kingside attack?

DeepThought

Losing the Thread

Quarantined World

Joined: 27 Oct 04
Moves: 87415

01 Jan 16

Originally posted by Kunsoo
I mean, if black fianchettos on the king side and you want to attack it, you're probably going to castle queen side. So what's the advantage of the advanced c pawn in a kingside attack?

No, the plan is different. The idea is to have a vice-like grip on the d5 square. In the classical lines of the Dragon the freeing move is d6-d5, the c-pawn stops that idea in its tracks. I'm playing the Smith-Morra at the moment (great fun btw.) and don't really claim to know what to do with the Maroczy bind, but the 0-0-0, Qd2, Bh6, h4, h5 plan isn't the only way of attacking a financhetto in Morphy plan Sicilians (I think it was he who first advocated Nf3, d4 and Nxd4).

SPswindler

Joined: 22 Dec 15
Moves: 267

02 Jan 16

This is probably the hardest structure to play against a good player

Without pawn breaks things can get ugly fast.
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1388298

Paul Leggett

Chess Librarian

The Stacks

Joined: 21 Aug 09
Moves: 114269

02 Jan 16

Originally posted by Kunsoo
I mean, if black fianchettos on the king side and you want to attack it, you're probably going to castle queen side. So what's the advantage of the advanced c pawn in a kingside attack?

Castling queenside is only one of many ways to play against a fianchetto, and it may not be the best- for instance, the strongest lines against the Gruenfeld and King's Indian Defense all involve white castling kingside.

Back in the day, Sicilian Dragon players began the game with 1. ... c5 and 2. ... Nc6, and the Maroczy Bind almost put it out of business. Later on Black players (I think Botvinnik was at the forefront, but I can't remember) innovated with 2. ... d6 in order to avoid the Maroczy Bind.

Even now it's impact is strong. The Accelerated Dragon offers many significant advantages against systems such as the Yugoslav Attack, but the main reason it is not more popular than the regular Dragon is because it allows the Maroczy Bind.

In the Dragon, if black can get in ...d5 without severe negative implications, he is at least equal. The Maroczy Bind makes that plan extremely difficult if not impossible, and also does not give black an easy target to attack. It is NOT the kind of game most Dragon players seek when they decide to play the opening.

I think the answer to the question is to begin by reassessing the assumptions behind the question.