Breaking the pwnth wall

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[Playing BLACK] So I'm having a little trouble with my games. I'm having some issues figuring out where to tackle a strongly defended pawn wall. In this game (my best to date) I make the decision to reduce the amount of pieces then create an opening in the center to break rooks through for the game. This doesn't pan out the way I wanted, but I am fortunate in that my opponent blunders on a potential fork check threat after 14. Bxf3 Kd4 and I manage to capitalize.  Even so I feel that there must have been somewhere I could have broken through the wall. Had he instead moved 15. Bc3 instead I feel that the game would have been much less favorable and I would have likely succumbed to the pawn wall.

Anyone have any advice or alternative lines I might have taken to perhaps give it a bit more punch?

Strangemover

Quite an odd game with all the hanging of pieces. But in general the way to break through a pawn wall is to attack it and undermine it with your own pawns. eg. if white has pawns on b2 c3 d4 and e4 a good way to chop this up for black is with c5. If dxc5 it doesn't necessarily matter if you can't immediately recapture on c5 because whites pawn chain is now broken and weak (b2 c3 c5 and e4 - yuk) and can be attacked with pieces. If white plays something else then you can go cxd4. White recaptures cxd4 and now there is no pawn supporting d4 so it can be attacked by blacks pieces.

Convenient
Strangemover wrote:

But in general the way to break through a pawn wall is to attack it and undermine it with your own pawns. eg. if white has pawns on b2 c3 d4 and e4 a good way to chop this up for black is with c5. If dxc5 it doesn't necessarily matter if you can't immediately recapture on c5 because whites pawn chain is now broken and weak (b2 c3 c5 and e4 - yuk) and can be attacked with pieces. If white plays something else then you can go cxd4. White recaptures cxd4 and now there is no pawn supporting d4 so it can be attacked by blacks pieces.



I see, is this the fundamental idea behind the Sicilian then? To undermine the center using the c-file pawn? I will go about doing some investigation into 6.g3 c6 and see what I come up with. I was not aware of the strength of the C file pawn. Thank you.

Strangemover

Well every situation is different and there are a lot of different plans/ideas in the different types of Sicilians. But usually cxd4 is played by black which gives him a semi-open c file to play on with Rc8, Qc7, Nc6-e5(or a5)-c4 for example, sometimes exchange sacrificing RxNc3, especially if white has castled queenside and is attempting to storm black on the kingside, this type of counterplay is quite common. But the basic point is that if you are faced with a wall of pawns or a big pawn centre you must strike at them and try to undermine them, whether that is with the c pawn or any other pawn (usually best to attack the base of the pawn chain because it's like a tower, if the base crumbles the whole thing will collapse). If you do nothing they will slowly advance, suffocating your position.

Convenient
Strangemover wrote:

... But the basic point is that if you are faced with a wall of pawns or a big pawn centre you must strike at them and try to undermine them, whether that is with the c pawn or any other pawn (usually best to attack the base of the pawn chain because it's like a tower, if the base crumbles the whole thing will collapse). If you do nothing they will slowly advance, suffocating your position.

 

Thank you for your assistance. I'll try and adjust my game as you are quite clearly correct. I have a foundation to look for answers now; greatly appreciated.

Strangemover

No worries, all the best with your chessing.