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Sunday, December 7, 2014

Knight Versus Bishop Endng -STOP SQUARE for Knight

Superboy, playing out of Denmark at the Internet Chess Club, is very fond of the so called Bishop advantage over the Knight in all circumstances and I have learned to use his misconception against him numerous times to my advantage.

In the diagrammed position arising from the Dutch Defense, White has a protected passed pawn on the e4 square, the Bishop, and pawns on both wings which one would expect to equate to an advantage.

However, the position is more blocked than it is open and Black OWNS the e5 square as a stop square. What is meant by a stop square in chess? It is a square that can NOT be attacked by pawns and in this case completely in the second players control.

Black can play Ne5 in this ending preventing Bc4 since after Knight captures Bishop, White's doubled c pawns at c2 and c4 would be weak and ultimately indefensible leading to a lost King and Pawn ending.

The great magnum opus titled My System by Nimzovitch treated the topic of weak squares very profoundly emphasizing the fact that a square could be organically weak/strong irrespective of whether said square was occupied or not. This is certainly the case with the unoccupied e5 square as White has nothing other than his King to contest Blacks hegemony of this crucial square!


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