Playing on the Queenside: When Your King is in Danger
Hello!
Welcome to my second installment on playing actively on the Queenside. I hope you enjoyed the first. This will likely be my last because the Sinquefield Cup is coming up, and I may blog a little bit about that.
Anyways, if I could choose one word to describe the game I am about to display, it... was... CRAZY! Sometimes, when we chose to attack the Queenside, Black, in turn, decides to shift his forces onto the Kingside (playing for checkmate). This frequently happens in the King's Indian Defense, which was the opening Black employed in this game.
In positions like this, it is important to A) DO NOT tend to your Kingside unless you absolutely have to. Because Black wants targets on the Kingside to attack! And B) ATTACK, ATTACK, and you guessed it... ATTACK (On the Queenside of course). The idea is that logically, as long as White's King is safe, he will not get mated too quickly, and White will expose enough weaknesses on the Queenside to obtain a winning advantage. This game illustrated what I am describing to you. It was not a perfect game, and I did almost get mated, White's Queenside attack ended up trumping even though I did not end up winning. Enjoy:
