^ Click here to remove ads! ^

The 3rd Rank Barrier

« Articles home
Submitted by GM vbhat on Tue, 06/30/2009 at 12:21am.

I just finished playing in a reasonably strong round-robin in Montreal. I finished with 6.5/9 in the category 7 field (2411 FIDE average). In the third round, I played an interesting game with IM Thomas Roussel-Roozmon. The game was not perfect by any measure, but I thought it contained a few instructive moments. It's a common adage that you shouldn't make weaknesses in front of your king by pushing your pawns. But what defensive ideas do you have if you've already committed one or two of them forward? A defensive front is usually strongest when the pawns are all next to each other, which means bringing the stragglers up to the 3rd rank as well! This isn't always to be recommended, but it's a useful tool to have in your defensive arsenal in my view.

 

Question 1: How would you evaluate the position after 11.h4?

 

Question 2: After 18...Be8, what would you play as white?

 

Question 3: With the 3rd rank barrier set up, how would you continue as black?

 

Question 4: After 34.Qd1, what would you play as black?

 

Question 5: Black is threatening ...a3. Would you play 38.Kb1 or 38.Ka2?

 

Here's the full Roussel-Roozmon game in one viewer:

 

I had used this 3rd rank defensive formation earlier, against the young Colombian IM David Arenas. The game didn't end as well for me in that one (it was the only game I lost in the 2008 Pan-Am Championship), but it did secure an advantage. As a supplement to the Roussel-Roozmon game above, I'll include it as an example with some brief notes.

» posted in Middlegame
| 2879 reads | 18 comments |
3 votes:
 

Comments:

by abcfls - 4 months ago
Brazil
Member Since: Mar 2008
Member Points: 74

Thanks for such a brilliant article, for sharing that level of knowledge at chess.com! Keep this good work.

I guess a defensive block Bg7+Bf7+f6,g6,h6 is strong enough and I´ll keep this pattern in mind. Peace and Harmony.

by GM vbhat - 4 months ago
Richmond, CA United States
Member Since: Jan 2009
Member Points: 177

This is a late comment to the post, but I was playing at the World Open in Philadelphia and wasn't getting online much.

Just as a reminder, this defensive idea isn't something you should strive for in all your games. Rather, it's an idea to keep in mind so that if you're struggling to find a way to defend your king, you might remember this setup and use it to your advantage.

As for the name, after rethinking it a bit, I'd probably go with 3rd rank phalanx. Semi-hedgehog is definitely interesting though, and is more along the lines of the hedgehog name in the first place (as a defensive setup that is cramped but difficult to attack). =)

by da_tornado - 4 months ago
Honolulu United States
Member Since: Mar 2009
Member Points: 1018

very instructive

by normajeanyates - 4 months ago
london [often in calcutta india] England
Member Since: Jan 2008
Member Points: 2597

Now this is a really good article, not only because it is well presented, but because it is about an *idea*. I like this semi-hedgehog idea! Always remembering the author's final words: "This isn't always to be recommended, but it's a useful tool to have in your defensive arsenal in my view."

But perhaps this 'semi-hedghog' idea can be further developed and actually used to enrich opening theory by discovering new provocative lines for black! I'll give it a try in IECC or elsewhere in computer-correspondece-chess; meanwhile interested GMs might try to find prepared 'semihedgehog' variations!

GM Bhat calls it 'the 3rd rank barrier', but I like 'semi-hedgehog' because:

a. '3rd rank barrier' sounds like the 3rd rank 'incredible flying rook' tablebase-defence in Q v R endgames

b. *I* thought of the term 'semi-hedgehog' ;)

by saldy - 4 months ago
Santa Rosa, Laguna Philippines
Member Since: Jun 2009
Member Points: 65

Very informative! thanks for sharing your ideas and games!

by Fastball - 4 months ago
United States
Member Since: Jun 2009
Member Points: 1

Vinay:

You point out that bishop to f8 at 30 was intended to put black bishop in attack mode, and I agree, yet at move 31 you didn't take what appears to be black bishop's best attack opportunity with bishop to b4, skewering White's Queen and Rook. Am I missing something?

Thanks

by CSR - 4 months ago
United States
Member Since: Nov 2008
Member Points: 95

Fascinating article. Thanks

by spassky - 4 months ago
Gaithersburg, MD United States
Member Since: Oct 2007
Member Points: 270

Vinay:

You may want to reiterate to some of your readers that the "3rd rank barrier", as you call it, is not something one should strive for, but may be used as sort of an emergency defensive front.  You allude to this at the beginning of the article, but some of the posts lead me to believe that people might play ...g6 in order to fianchetto a bishop to g7 and then think "Vinay said 3 pawns abreast is stronger, so I'll play ...h6 and ...f6 on my next two moves."  I don't believe that is what you had in mind.

by SkillzTurtle - 4 months ago
England United Kingdom
Member Since: Apr 2009
Member Points: 216

now we know why u are a GM!

by penguins_at_war - 4 months ago
Russia
Member Since: Jun 2009
Member Points: 6

Wow, very instructive game.

by anuj_manerikar - 4 months ago
Pune India
Member Since: Dec 2008
Member Points: 199

great article

by Dexman - 4 months ago
Houston United States
Member Since: Mar 2008
Member Points: 190

Wow! I've played chess for about 2 years now, but this is the first time anyone has explained  to me that a 3rd rank barrier can be a strong defense.

Thanks,GM Vinay. I'll keep this idea in mind.

by ajitsampat - 4 months ago
Lawrence, KS United States
Member Since: Mar 2009
Member Points: 86

GM Vinay...Simply wonderful. Your explanations are very detailed and touches upon many ideas in addition to the main theme...here third rank barrier.

by Prooz - 4 months ago
Netherlands
Member Since: Nov 2007
Member Points: 52

Very instructive. Great article!

by littleAlekhine - 4 months ago
Stuttgart Germany
Member Since: Jun 2009
Member Points: 203

Very good and interesting article!

by Alex_Belsley - 4 months ago
Portugal
Member Since: Apr 2008
Member Points: 19

Really interesting. Thanks for the instructive game!

by Glaedr - 4 months ago
Karachi Pakistan
Member Since: Sep 2008
Member Points: 146

very instructive!

by Politicalmusic - 4 months ago
Alabama United States
Member Since: Feb 2009
Member Points: 2454

Very very nice. 

"The logic is simple - when Black's pawns are on h7, g7, and f7, it's not so simple to attack the kingside. White needs a weakness and so he must either use his pieces or sacrifice some material. Since Black couldn't put all 3 pawns on the 7th rank, he makes do by putting them all on the 6th rank."

Thanks for explaining the details.

 
^ Back to top

Add your comment:

Join Chess.com for free to add your comment! Already a member? Then login now to comment.