FCO: Fundamental Chess Openings by Paul Van der Sterren

Author:Paul Van der Sterren [Sterren, Paul Van der]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Chess
ISBN: 9781906454517
Publisher: Gambit Publications
Published: 2013-12-26T05:00:00+00:00

White to play

The situation has changed dramatically in the last eight moves. Thanks to the pawn on f5, Black does not for the moment have to worry about a kingside attack. He also has an impressive pawn-phalanx on the queenside. This latter factor is critical for an evaluation of the position. White’s standard plan is to play 17 a4, starting an attack against these pawns and hoping that they will turn into a row of targets rather than be a threat.

10 Nbd2 0-0

11 Bc2 (D)

Black to play

Now Black faces a fundamental decision. How should he deal with the attack on his knight? The range of possible answers varies from very simple to extremely complex.

It is of course simplest to play 11...Nxd2, yet this is remarkably unpopular – probably because it does not really put up a fight. After the subtle recapture 12 Qxd2! (intending to move the queen to d3 as quickly as possible – after 12 Bxd2 f6 13 exf6 Qxf6 the bishop would be standing in the way on d2), followed, for example, by 12...f6 13 exf6 Qxf6 14 Qd3 g6 15 Bh6 Rfe8 16 Rae1, Black has completed not only his own development but also that of his opponent.

The first alternative that comes to mind is 11...f5 (D).

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.