The Fulcrum Of Chess Understanding
One common weakness I have observed among players rated below 2200, is that they 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘴.
You're leaving a lot of points on the table by not seeing the best plans for both sides.
The video below explains more, while showing you how to beat the most common defence to 1.d4 at the 1600-2000 level, the King's Indian Defence:
Especially in closed positions, 'strong club players' are not sure what 𝐩𝐚𝐰𝐧 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 they should play for, or how to effectively prepare it.
And it is not so easy to 'avoid' this problem, as Black's attempts to quickly open the game by force typically lead to a worse position (Scandinavian, Tarrasch, etc).
Fortunately, the struggle of 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦 can be resolved by going back to the 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠.
And that fulcrum, which ties all positional/strategic play together, is the PAWN STRUCTURE.
You see, the pawn structure 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬' 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬.
By tying the opponent's pieces to the defence of weak pawns, weak squares or a weak king, we 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 (initiative).
By playing a 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲-𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐰𝐧 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤, we give our pieces tremendous energy with the 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬 - as if our rooks and bishops just downed a Red Bull in 10 seconds.
The problem is, 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘴 at all. Then they wonder why it's so hard for them to 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐥 or otherwise find a good idea, when they're 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝟷𝟼 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘴 they started with.
In helping you overcome this problem, in this post, I'm also going to resolve another common issue - ineffective opening study, based on 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯/𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, without 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜/𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 behind the move.
The King's Indian Defence is the most common defence to 1.d4 at the 1600-2000 level, and also also fits well with this discussion on pawn structure.
You're going to see how, by thinking about this opening in terms of the 𝐩𝐚𝐰𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞, you can start playing the second most-popular line at GM level, the Makogonov Variation (h3), in just 𝟐 𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, rather than 200.
The diagram position arises after the moves 𝟏.𝐝𝟒 𝐍𝐟𝟔 𝟐.𝐜𝟒 𝐠𝟔 𝟑.𝐍𝐜𝟑 𝐁𝐠𝟕 𝟒.𝐞𝟒 𝐝𝟔 𝟓.𝐡𝟑 𝟎-𝟎 𝟔.𝐁𝐞𝟑, and you may be wondering - what is the idea of the move h3?
On a superficial level, it's to prevent ...Ng4, harrassing the e3-bishop. But there's so much more to it than that.
You see, there are 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐰𝐧 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠'𝐬 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧 - do you know what they are?
Of course you do - 'Plan A' is 𝟔...𝐞𝟓, and 'Plan B' (especially when White didn't play Nf3 yet) is 𝟔...𝐜𝟓.
Let's now discuss how White should deal with each plan.
𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐀 - 𝟔...𝐞𝟓.
We respond 𝟕.𝐝𝟓, with the point that the 'Mar del Plata' plan of ...f5 doesn't work well (𝟽...𝘕𝘦𝟾 𝟾.𝘨𝟺 𝘧𝟻 𝟿.𝘨𝘹𝘧𝟻 𝘨𝘹𝘧𝟻 𝟷𝟶.𝘦𝘹𝘧𝟻 𝘉𝘹𝘧𝟻 𝟷𝟷.𝘕𝘨𝘦𝟸 and Ng3 is clearly better for White, due to the weakness of the e4-square and Black's open king - this is obvious to modern Makogonov players).
Since Black is unable to get his 'usual' kingside play, he must shift to queenside play, which explains why the main line today is 𝟕...𝐍𝐚𝟔 𝟖.𝐠𝟒 𝐍𝐜𝟓 𝟗.𝐟𝟑 𝐚𝟓. Black is playing as one would against the Petrosian Variation, by securing the knight's position on c5 (against b2-b4).
However, White can play in the same spirit as the 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐡 𝐕𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 (5.f3) with 𝟏𝟎.𝐐𝐝𝟐 𝐜𝟔 𝟏𝟏.𝐍𝐠𝐞𝟐, with the idea of playing Ng3 and potentially going for a kingside attack with h4-h5, if permitted.
This is an easy plan for White to execute, yet not so easy for Black to contend with.
𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐁 - 𝟔...𝐜𝟓.
In the past, it was thought that the best move was to transition to a Benoni structure with 7.d5, but it turns out that 𝟕.𝐍𝐟𝟑! is much more unpleasant.
You see, after 𝟕...𝐜𝐱𝐝𝟒 𝟖.𝐍𝐱𝐝𝟒 𝐍𝐜𝟔 𝟗.𝐁𝐞𝟐 𝐁𝐝𝟕 𝟏𝟎.𝟎-𝟎, we have transposed to a 'Maroczy Bind' with h3 - you may remember an earlier post/value, where I shared the power of 'move order tricks' to lure our opponent into an uncomfortable position.
Interestingly, the h3 move is very useful for White here, but not for the reason you might have guessed.
After the thematic plan of 𝟏𝟎...𝐍𝐱𝐝𝟒 𝟏𝟏.𝐁𝐱𝐝𝟒 𝐁𝐜𝟔 𝟏𝟐.𝐐𝐜𝟐 𝐚𝟓, Black is ready to play ...Nd7 and exchange some more pieces to relieve his cramped position, such as with 𝟏𝟑.𝐑𝐚𝐝𝟏 𝐍𝐝𝟕 𝟏𝟒.𝐁𝐱𝐠𝟕 𝐊𝐱𝐠𝟕.
But this is where White has an important strategic move to secure a clear advantage - do you see it?
The answer is 𝟏𝟓.𝐁𝐠𝟒! - and while the computer will tell you that other moves are also clearly better for White, it's important to understand White's idea.
On a purely strategic level, if White is able to get a N vs. B position, the Black bishop is completely dominated by White's pawns, while White has 'recycled' his typically bad piece in the Maroczy Bind, his light-squared bishop.
However, Black can't avoid this exchange so easily, as 𝟷𝟻...𝘕𝘤𝟻 runs into 𝟷𝟼.𝘦𝟻!, saddling Black with an isolated d6-pawn after the exchange. And 𝟏𝟓...𝐍𝐞𝟓 isn't any better because of 𝟏𝟔.𝐜𝟓!, again giving Black a weak d6-pawn.
So you see, when you 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐰𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞, and think about these more closed/strategic positions in terms of the 𝐩𝐚𝐰𝐧 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐬 for both sides, the moves come naturally.
Would you like to 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲, the way we did with this post?
Comment 'Me' to discover how!
