Today, we shall now look on a very very common plan which happens in closed positions: flank attacks. In an open position, flank attacks are very uncommon and are practically a death wish if you do it on the K-side. So why are they so popular in closed positions? 2 words: piece activity.
In a closed positions, pieces often get much less squares than they would be granted in an open position. Because of this, pieces cannot get behind pawns as easily and hence flank attacks become much stronger. These attacks are often stronger than other plans in some cases because with a flank attack, you may:
1. Gain more space on one side of the board (other plans do not grant space as easily)
2. Make your opponent become defensive (if it works out)
3. Create a passed pawn OR expose the enemy K
So, seeing the benefits of a flank attack in a closed position, do we do it on the K-side or the Q-side? The answer lies in something called the 'direction of the pawns'. What I mean by this is that you look at how the central pawns are protecting themselves and advance pawns in their direction. This can be seen in the position below:
As you can see, this is a typical way on how flank attacks can arrise. Black has a lot of Q-side space and may even castle onto that side while white has a lot of K-side space and will perform his flank attack on the K-side. The position is dead equal according to stockfish, but they in fact hardly ever result in a draw as it is either one side or the other who succeeds. Often, the best way to make sure that your flank attack succeeds is to inconvenience or stop your opponent's flank attack.
In the position below, it is black to play and to hinder white's flank attack (the position is quite typical in KID and the move played is extremely important to play):
If a flank attack succeeds, it can often be extremely dangerous and much in favour of the side with the flank attack:
In the flank attacks seen so far, they have all been in the direction the pawns were aiming. But what if you could also do this on the other side? Well, this is often quite rare, but it can still happen:
So, my Queenside attack failed? Nope. Far from it. Because of my Queenside attack, my King is now almost permanently safe! At first it appears I have no counterplay if you follow the direction of the pawns. But who said I could never attack their Kingside!
Well, why did this flank attack against the direction of the pawns succeed? One thing you must note is that the reason flank attacks often do not work is because your King is just unsafe. As they overextended on the Kingside, their King became incredibly weak. Also, my King was practically impossible to attack, so it made it possible to attack like this. One thing you can note from this is that rules (such as pawn direction) can be broken if you truly understand the rules to a very high level. In fact, the very common fianchetto breaks the rule of putting "2 pawns in the centre if you can". This is because the Bishop x-rays and puts a huge amount of pressure on the centre without being actual targets.
A final note I will end with is this: an intermediate player beats a beginner because they know some of the rules. An advanced player beats an intermediate player because they know all the rules. A master beats an advanced player because they understand all the rules in detail. A grandmaster beats masters because they know when to break all the rules.
Hi again,
Today, we shall now look on a very very common plan which happens in closed positions: flank attacks. In an open position, flank attacks are very uncommon and are practically a death wish if you do it on the K-side. So why are they so popular in closed positions? 2 words: piece activity.
In a closed positions, pieces often get much less squares than they would be granted in an open position. Because of this, pieces cannot get behind pawns as easily and hence flank attacks become much stronger. These attacks are often stronger than other plans in some cases because with a flank attack, you may:
1. Gain more space on one side of the board (other plans do not grant space as easily)
2. Make your opponent become defensive (if it works out)
3. Create a passed pawn OR expose the enemy K
So, seeing the benefits of a flank attack in a closed position, do we do it on the K-side or the Q-side? The answer lies in something called the 'direction of the pawns'. What I mean by this is that you look at how the central pawns are protecting themselves and advance pawns in their direction. This can be seen in the position below:
As you can see, this is a typical way on how flank attacks can arrise. Black has a lot of Q-side space and may even castle onto that side while white has a lot of K-side space and will perform his flank attack on the K-side. The position is dead equal according to stockfish, but they in fact hardly ever result in a draw as it is either one side or the other who succeeds. Often, the best way to make sure that your flank attack succeeds is to inconvenience or stop your opponent's flank attack.
In the position below, it is black to play and to hinder white's flank attack (the position is quite typical in KID and the move played is extremely important to play):
If a flank attack succeeds, it can often be extremely dangerous and much in favour of the side with the flank attack:
In the flank attacks seen so far, they have all been in the direction the pawns were aiming. But what if you could also do this on the other side? Well, this is often quite rare, but it can still happen:
So, my Queenside attack failed? Nope. Far from it. Because of my Queenside attack, my King is now almost permanently safe! At first it appears I have no counterplay if you follow the direction of the pawns. But who said I could never attack their Kingside!
Well, why did this flank attack against the direction of the pawns succeed? One thing you must note is that the reason flank attacks often do not work is because your King is just unsafe. As they overextended on the Kingside, their King became incredibly weak. Also, my King was practically impossible to attack, so it made it possible to attack like this. One thing you can note from this is that rules (such as pawn direction) can be broken if you truly understand the rules to a very high level. In fact, the very common fianchetto breaks the rule of putting "2 pawns in the centre if you can". This is because the Bishop x-rays and puts a huge amount of pressure on the centre without being actual targets.
A final note I will end with is this: an intermediate player beats a beginner because they know some of the rules. An advanced player beats an intermediate player because they know all the rules. A master beats an advanced player because they understand all the rules in detail. A grandmaster beats masters because they know when to break all the rules.