3 Check Strategy: How to Beat Fianchetto Systems Part 2

In Part 1 I demonstrated some typical methods of exploiting the weak squares that fianchetto systems can create. Now I will cover the other method of exploiting a fianchetto, the h-pawn advance. Why is it a good idea to advance your h-pawn against a fianchetto? Because the opposing pawn on g6/g3 acts as a hook or a lever that you can use to pry open the h-file for your Rook. Once the h-file has been opened your opponent's King usually won't be able to survive for long, assuming you can quickly get other pieces involved in the attack.

Sometimes you have to look for creative ways to bring in additional pieces. You may need to adjust your perception of what is and what isn't possible in 3 Check. The first game I will share is a good example. It's one of my favorite 3 Check games from recent memory mainly due to a very unusual King move I was able to find.

Here are 2 more quick victories resulting from an open h-file:

As you saw in my game against @qart2003 from Part 1, even if your opponent prevents the advance of your pawn by advancing their own h-pawn this does not solve all of their problems. In fact it can create other problems. Not only do the squares around one's King become weaker whenever a pawn is advanced, but the pawns themselves can become targets of attack as well. We've already seen how effective targeting the opposing g-pawn can be, but you can also target your opponent's h-pawn as these last 2 games illustrate.