An ideal center... so now what?

Hello! Amateur player here making a first time post. I recently had a game in which my opponent allowed me to develop an ideal center. By the time I was done building it, my opponent had also created a very tempting hole in their kingside defenses. I was eager to launch an attack, but I couldn't figure out how to do so while maintaining the solid power base I had. From my point of view, I'd reached a position where black had plenty of moves they could make to start fighting for position but White had few to no offensive options that wouldn't slowly cede away their dominance of the board.

I tried using the forums chess board to show the entire game, but I'm on mobile only and I seem to be having problems with it. As my next available option, I'm posting a picture of my game log at the point where I was really struggling to find a method of attack.

For the past few turns I'd been reluctant to allow the pin on g4 so I hadn't castled. After a great deal of thought I realized I could use the castled Rook as part of my attack. Once that descision was made, my plan proceeded naturally. Looking back, it seems like the heart may have gone out of my opponent sometime around here. 

My question for the group is: if you've built up a huge center and have a plan of attack in mind, how do you make that attack without shattering your own position? One of the things I considered at the point which the picture shows was attaempting to smash through black's middle. But it seemed like the trades required would have ended with a weaker position and less options. I'm not sure what the best choice would have been here.

    Sorry, I was experimenting on how to post a position on chess.com.  My post was not relevant to your post. 

Black to move.  What is the best move?

RunsAmok,

I didn't look at the game very long, so you *might* have a tactical win there, but here are some generalities that apply to every game:

(1) Castle before you start attacking, especially since in this case that's the one remaining thing White needs to do, then the freed rook can join in the attack. Here O-O-O is best, of course, since that negates Black's premature kingside attack, and immediately puts a rook in line with Black's queen.

(2) However, in cases like this when you are so far ahead in development, you can start to attack immediately. Bh6 would be powerful, since no matter what Black does he won't be able to castle kingside. That means you know he's either going to castle queenside or be stuck in the center (the most likely outcome), which indicates how to attack. Usually after so many tempo losses the better developed side has a tactical win. I just don't see it here, though.

(3) Once you have properly created a strong center, usually the first thing to do is to start to expand your control of the central zone with either a pawn push (c4-c5, d4-d5, e4-e5, or f4-f5) or knight advance (Nf3-e5 or Nc3-d5), depending on the position.

Above is the game from the screen print.

After 7...Nfd7?? 8.Qh5!Qe7 9.Bg5! White wins.

Thanks for printing the game, Rat.

Fieldsofforce: oh! Well spotted. I'll try to look for that in the future.

Sqod: thank you for the advice. I'll take it to heart. During the game I'd felt embarrassed about taking a half hour to think before realizing I could just castle and then move out of the pin. Luckily it was a correspondence game and I could afford to 'lose' the time.

I was confused by what you meant by a tactical win, however. Nothing specific seems to come up on a google search. The term seems to imply something more specific than one side resigning after recognizing a hopeless position.

Fieldsofforce already found the "tactical win" above: When Black lost another tempo with 7...Nfd7?? White had a quick win using tactics (that's what I meant by "tactical win") rather than needing to go through the normal buildup of pressure through the many positional moves that characterize well-played chess between two nearly equal players. I hadn't played through the game, only looked at the screen snap. That's why I didn't see a tactical win at the screen snap and was confused why I didn't: White had already had the opportunity to win tactically on the 7th move, and neglected to take advantage of it, so the position wasn't very normal by the 9th move. The game hadn't unfolded as it should have. Normally White would already be winning by the 9th move in a very obvious way.

Ah hah! So can I conclude from this that if one side is being given such a massive tempo lead that they can build an uncontested center then they should probably be spending more effort looking for workable tactics rather than building pressure? (Which is to say: continue building up until you've spotted your chance.)

It sounds like the reason I didn't know the 'general advice' for how to proceed is that in practice you never get that built up before you're on the offensive.

Exactly! Now you understand one of the main secrets of spotting winning combinations: Start looking for extra strong moves and tactical shots if your opponent loses a tempo, and a combination almost certainly exists if your opponent loses two tempi. Since accepting a gambit (here, the King's Gambit Accepted) already loses one tempo from the start, just one more lost tempo in such a position results in an almost guaranteed, quick loss--if the opponent can spot how to pull it off.

Here's the formula: 1 tempo = 1/3 pawn, or equivalently, 3 tempi = 1 pawn (which usually means you win the game). In practice, at least in open games and usually even in closed games, you can generalize:

1 lost tempo = 1/3 lost pawn: the player goes on the defensive

2 lost tempi = 2/3 lost pawn: the player goes very heavily on the defensive, and most likely will lose material and/or the game

3 lost tempi = 1 lost pawn: the player is virtually guaranteed to lose

----------

(p. 46)

   Spielmann's strategy to this point

and the decisive combination that

follows would have pleased Lasker,

who once said, "In the beginning of

the game ignore the search for com-

binations, abstain from violent

moves. Aim for small advantages,

accumulate them, and only after

having attained these ends search for

the combination--and then with all

the power of will and intellect, be-

cause then the combination must ex-

ist, however deeply hidden."

Chernev, Irving. 1998. Logical Chess: Move by Move. London: Faber & Faber.

It's a conceptual error to try to dominate a position entirely because that's very often impossible. I believe it was Fischer who reminded us "you have to give squares to get squares."

It's also an error to think of space (like the ideal pawn center) as an end in itself. Space is a tool that gives your pieces more maneuvering options and advanced outposts (while limiting your opponent's space in that area at the same time). If your pieces can't make use of the space, then it may even end up being a weakness your opponent can attack (lets say in an edngame and you have many far advanced pawns scattered around the board, but few pieces to make use of the space).

Out of the opening, you  typically make use of space by playing a pawn break. After a pair (or more) of pawns are traded, your non-pawns can use the newly opened files, ranks, and diagonals.

In your OP immediately the move white wants to play is e5. The only reason it's not ideal is black can respond with d5 avoiding opening all those lines.

However in the game you realized yourself that you already had open lines to a weak point. Your bishop on c4 and a rook on the f file had lines to the f7 weakness, which you used. In that case it's fine to keep the center pawns where they are as you did in the game. In the future though, you shouldn't be hesitant to break up the center duo after your development is complete and your king is castled.

For example here are some typical pawn structures.

In the diagram below white's basic pawn break is to play a pawn to f5. White does this on the kingside because that's where he has more space (since white has more space on the kingside, he can also simply attack with pieces). Black on the other hand should try to stir up trouble with the move c5.

This structure can come from the french opening.

Here is the reverse. White's space is on the queenside (the d pawn is the furthest advanced), and white wants to play for the c5 pawn break. Black want to play f5. This structure can come from the king's indian defense.

I did notice right off you had not castled yet. That would be a good move before an attack commences. (Echoing other sentiments before me.)

"...Sounds like the reason..." is the correct conclusion.

In practice you make a written list titled:

            Things to do before I  make a move

1. Am I sitting on my hands  now t I am seated at the chess board table?

2. Is my written list in my possession?

3. What is my opponent  threatening to do?

4. What is the pawn structure  on the board and what are the pawn break points? 

     a. Are there any pawn majorities on either side board?

     b. Are there any open or half-open files on the board?  Who is in control of that file?

     c. Are there any pawn weaknesses on the board?  You will have to learn about (doubled pawns,

         isolated pawns, backward pawns, etc.) and how to exploit those weakenesses

     d. Is the center blocked.  Flank attacks succeed more often when the center is blocked

5. Are there any enemy undefended Pieces and/or Pawns?

   a. Beware of pieces and or pawns that are defended indirectly.

   b. Beware of pieces and or pawns that are defended backwards. 

6. Are there any weak square complexes in the position?   Learn what these are and how to exploit.  

7. Have I checked all of these items above 2x before I make a move? 

Thank you all so much for your awesome advice. I'll do my best to put it into practice. I used to think that I had a good grasp on the fundamentals of chess, but I've been working through Silman's "Complete Book of Chess Strategy" lately and I've seen that I have much left to learn. I'm really excited about the game though. Lots of times in the past I'd get bogged down in a complex position and become frustrated because I couldn't form a plan. The recent lessons have made the game interesting again and I've been playing a lot more.

 
"After 7...Nfd7?? 8.Qh5!Qe7 9.Bg5! White wins."
Well winning: as either 8. ... Qf6 might be better than ... Qe7 and or then black has 9. ... Nf6

I got the impression RunsAmok that you seem to think the "d" and "e" pawns are meant to stay static. Not the case they often push on to the 5th as part of a tactical assault.
If your king is castled and safe and the opponent's is stuck in the centre you really do want to rip the centre open to get attacking files and diagonals for the pieces.

See this game here where Keres rips the centre open, okay he is sacrifice happy, but I hope you get the point.

I cried after seeing 9.Qd3??

Try explaining why the move was bad.

I have often noticed chess books tell you about the importance of the center and how to try and get there but rarely mention what you should do when you get it. General rule of thumb is that you want to advance your center at the appropriate moment so that it splits your enemy's forces in two, not allowing one side of their board to come to the aid of the other, while you have plenty of room behind it to maneuver.  Sometimes you have to back up your (usually pawn) advance with heavy pieces. 

RunsAmok's brain is going to be in over load as it is.
Personally I would move the bishop to b3
But after Nf6-d7-b6xc4 the loss of that many tempo would spring to mind.
So I know I would be tempted by Qe2 (weak relying on worse)

The only think better than a mental breakdown to learn chess is learning chess via osmosis.