what is carlsen (white)'s planned attack here?
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in my chess book it says at this point in the game magnus carlsen (white) is planning an attack on the kingside, but I can't figure out what it is... can you please tell me? this is move 12 in magnus carlaen vs sipke Ernst wijk aan zee, Holland, 2004
Jul 5, 2017
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#2
Here is the position just before white's 12th move. It is the sort of position that arises often (in the Sicilian, for example). White will castle queenside with the aim of launching an attack against black's king. This will often involve, for example, leaving the rook on h1. If white were to castle kingside here the rook would move to f1 and it would not be so easy to attack.
The following diagram shows the position after white's 18. Ng6. Note that white is surrounding the king with pieces and still has the rook on the h file.
Now we have the position after white's 20th move. Note the h file is now half open. White can attack by playing Bxh6.
Now this is not what happened in the game. But imagine that black played a meaningless move here such as a6. Let's see what white could do.
Checkmate!! Now can you see the attack. For this to work it is essential that the rook stays on h1. That means castling queen side or leaving the king in the middle. The latter is not usually advisable. So, by playing O-O-O it was obvious that white was hoping to exploit that rook on h1 and attack along the h file.
In the game black tried to defend and played Ng6. So,