The Process of Decision Making in Chess Volume 2: Practice positions and solutions. Position 9.1

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Spochman

Solve for black:

Diagram 9.1- going through positional observation, black notices white’s doubled c pawns, a typical structure in the Nimzo-Indian opening. The goal becomes to see if it’s possible to take advantage of the potential weakness, and it’s therefore not surprising that one of the main lines for black includes the plan of b6-Ba6-Na5-rc8 and at a later point cxd exposing the c4 weakness.
Challenge: in the proposed plan, black centers his whole game on the potentially weak c pawns. Does this plan involve positional concessions?

atrolhavecome

b6 creates imidiate light square weaknesses on the queen side, but somethink like bb7can be done to remove the weakness but it do not help our attacking plan. e4 do not work for white beacause we have e5 this makes it so we maybe need yo use a tempo on protecting the pawn but the queen and light square battery s hitting their own pawn and if they do d5 after d4 we just do Na5. so if there is something I have not seen there should be no real counterplay for white agianst this idea

 

alton_mies

Is there anything wrong with the move pawn e5 right away? It frees up the e6 square for our light squared bishop which attacks the doubled pawn, but is more centralized then a6. It also threatens pawn e4.

atrolhavecome

nothing wrong with e5 right away but the thing to evaluate is if white have counterplay or if black make potitional concession with an idea to take the c5 pawn

 

Gulfam_Fisher

Black's center is not the strongest, there are threats of e4,e5; busting open the center and white's attacking lines will be black's major positional weakness. After b6, white can immediately push e4 and stop black's plan of pressuring the doubled pawn due to the fragile center. Black's resources will have to move from from the queen side to the center to help maintain equaity. Deviating from b6 and pursing another plan: pushing the immediate e5, does nothing to expose the weakness of the doubled c pawn.