Defending Against Sicilian Attacks: White's E5 Push: Part 2

In this second installment of Defending Against Sicilian Attacks we feature an amazing displace of positional acumen by none other that Caruana plus another great match up where White's premature e5 push totally blows up in his face as Black is able to dominate the center and create serious threats against the White King which the first player is unable to deal with.

If you missed the first installment, you can get up to speed HERE. And don't forget to check out MY CHANNEL on YouTube for tons of other chess videos.

Dealing with White's e5 push is quite complex which is why we're going to look at two more games today each featuring a different response to White's aggression.

First up is Caruana. Pay close attention to his control of the e5 square or lack thereof. Notice how Caruana abandons e5 in favor of a Minority Attack which directly affects his decision not to capture on e5 which would give White a free hand on the Kingside.

Wasn't Qc4 a cool move? It created so much pressure on the Queenside that White, not for lack of effort, never managed to generate an attack, especially after Caruana was uncooperative in regard to his refusing to capture on e5.

In our next match up, there are two important concepts worth remembering.

• Use of the g4 square for a Knight to create pressure against e5.

• Use of the g1/a7 diagonal to create threats against the King still on g1.

Combing these two idea, Black is able to engineer crushing pressure against the White King. There is never a moment when White even hints at a counter attack.

I found it funny that White's castled King was far more exposed than Black's King still sitting on his home square. Clearly such a feature was only possible due to Black's complete control of the center which was only possible due to his ability to use g4 to attack e5. Exciting stuff!

That's it for Part 2! Do you want more e5 games? Or are you ready to move on to f5 or g4? Perhaps we could change openings entirely and go look at the King's Indian or even go back to the IQP. Leave a comment and let me know!

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