How to handle hyper patient White buildups against the French Rubenstein defense?

 Austrian chess player obt(apparently this stands for obituary which places him in the company of the infamous attacking ICC player Widowmaker), playing blitz at the Internet Chess Club, was in a prophylactic mood when he played the square weakening f3 pawn move with the White pieces. The square he fatally weakened was the e3 square. 

It was his reaction to a tepid system advocated by Rubenstein in the French Defense. The move f3, ostensibly, blunts Black slowly developed fianchettoed Bishop at b7. The move is a lemon as it denies the White Horse the natural and superior f3 square. Obt's plan was to place his horse on e4 hoping that Black would cooperate by capturing leaving White with the sought after pawn duo d4,e4. 

Author Hannes Langrock writes about this "solid defense"  to 1. e4, but his book does not address the very slow buildups that the first player has against this Black defense that cedes pawn control in the center.  So Ich habe eine frage. What does Black do about the almost Zugzwang positions that occur when White plays ultra patiently? Thank you in advance for your well informed and erudite response. Auf wiedersehen!

Advanced Pawn Triples win in all Variations!!

As a weak USCF class player with a rating usually a little under 1500, one of my major weaknesses is being too materialistic. I go out of my way to win a pawn in the opening only to be slaughtered like a lamb by stronger players who see the pawn I won as a gambit pawn!!!

In the game above, Denmark player Superboy seemed to be well on his way to another crush of the weaker player. The skilled Danish player was up a piece and attacking my f8 Rook with his a3 Bishop. There is a spectacular move in the position that allows the second player to mobilize his blockaded pawn phalanx at f4,e3, and d4. Hint: The winning move also threatens to pin the White Queen to the White King!

Now, of course, I did not find the move over the board, but just imagine a tactical sequence that creates a PAWN TRIPLE. We all know about the potency of a pawn duo(couple), but how about at Fuckin pawn triple my chess loving friends??? Scroll down to see the winning conception figured out by StockFish.

Rf5!! putting the Rook en prise to the d3 Bishop. Capture allows for the winning mobilization of static pawn wedge!!!!!

Winning pawn Duo

Canadian chess player HotCanary missed a grand opportunity to create an oppressive/winning pawn duo by failing to capture Black's f5 Bishop with a pawn. The Maple Leaf stud must have been worried about his hanging h4 pawn, but it is curtains for Black  after the formation of the f5 g5 pawn duo.

The e pawn recapture at f5 also clears the e4 square for the Ricardo Martinez marauding White Monarch. Note that Black's pawns have zero mobility, whereas the White counterparts are lusting to advance producing   a winning passed g or f pawn. White's prelate at c8 prevents Black's King from chasing down the passers by controlling the vital d7 and e6 entry points!

Final takeaway is the creation of pawn duo on the 5th rank or higher is a goal worth sacrificing pawn or even the exchange  in some cases!  Ask Sergey(Not Garry) Kasparov if you doubt this writer's claim.

Piece Sac to Mobilize Two Center Pawns

ChessIsMyWife is a low rated, very aggressive United Sates player who loves playing at the internet chess club. He is equally enamored with the King's Indian Defense.

Any serious KI chess player is acutely aware of the weak d-pawn that helps keep his d6,e5,f4 pawn chain intact while he organizes a pawn storming King side attack. It is also well known that if White can crash through on the Queen side, Black's King's field can become a bit breezy if not indefensibly weak.

In the diagrammed position, Black is guarding his d6 pawn with Queen, Knight at e8, and Bishop at f8.

White recognizing the long term benefit of the center pawn duo, sacrificed his b2 Bishop at e5. After the c4 Knight recaptures the capturing pawn at e5 with a tempo on the f7 Rook, White can slowly prepare the steamrolling effect of his d and e  pawns.

The well known dictum of a secure, locked center being a necessary precursor for a flank attack is exploited in the first player's favor with this piece sacrifice. Note that White would likely not capture the poorly placed Rook if Black chose not to move it although the beautifully placed e5 Knight might want to get out of the way of the e4 pawn lusting to expand. Johathan Rowson, I am sure would have a humorous conversation with his obstructive steed to see if Horse agreed.

Rowson wrote,perhaps, the most seminal chess psychology book in our game's voluminous body of literature. He spoke of the circular motion of the Knight conjoined with the linear motions of the other pieces. The Scottish GM illustrated the value of gumption and the perils of over thinking and wasting time being overly concerned about the outcome of the game.

Battle of the Pawn Duos

In this interesting struggle between competing pawn duos, precise calculation is required. Black has just played pawn to g4 producing a menacing looking duo at g4 and h4. White's duo at c5 and d5 turns out to be stronger than ICC plyer Nc3-4Me estimated.

With White to move, pawn to c6 threatening a center pawn roller is in the air and impossible to stop owing to the fact that the d6 square is protected by the b7 White Knight.

White's King and Rook are adequate to block the advance of the the Black pawn duo deciding the game in White's favor. Also observe that the Black Rook at a6 is in hot water after pawn to a5 and Bishop to d3 where minor pieces and a pawn conspire to trap and inter the Black Castle.

The ICC user named Nc3-4Me may have known about the late Houston master Larry Englebretson who was familiar with all the transpositional nuances associated with 1. Nc3 . Damian Nash, a very strong chess player out of Colorado, is also quite fond of essaying Nc3 on the first move. I believe he sometimes gets Black defensive systems with the colors reversed which can be very dangerous and effective against unsuspecting opponents.

Damian Nash and Harold Stevens used to reside in Moab, Utah and wrote that Moab has the highest concentration of good chess players in the United States from a sheer percentage point of view. William Barefield is still smarting from losses to Nash and Mark Schwarman of NM

Central Pawn Duos ALWAYS worth something

I recall Peter Kappler a computer scientist residing in Austin, Texas USA, who was also a strong A player in the United States Chess Federation , stating that central pawn duos were evaluated separately by all evaluation functions that were worth their salt.

The following game played at the internet chess club hosted in the United States is an excellent example of why.

Pozarek decided to disconnect and forfeit rather than resign like a gentleman in the following position. He was apparently very afraid  of Black's passed a pawn while not giving any value to the his own passed pawn duo at d5 and e5.

Black would probably try Bb3, clearing the a file for the advance of his a pawn, in the diagrammed position and Pozarek would play the natural Bf5 check pushing the Black King to f7 when the pawn advance d6 would be the strongest move.

Pozarek, quit by disconnection because he did not notice the drawing deflection resource Bg6 ! The Bishop is immune to capture, otherwise the d pawn will queen. Moves like this are also called attraction sacrifices in this case attracting the King away from the square of the pawn!

In The Square of the Pawn

The following King and Pawn ending looks very winning for Black owing to his central pawn duo at e4 and d4. There is a little wrinkle after one observes that White has a protected passed pawn at a5 which is three squares from Queening.

The pawn at a5 forms a square with vertices at the chess squares a5,d5,d8, and a8. As long as the White King remains within this square, the Black passed pawn must remain frozen.

This leads to the formulation of the simple plan of attacking the protecting b4 pawn and destroying the support of White's only hope. Now capturing the b4 pawn with the King would be an egregious blunder as it would land the discombobulated Black King outside the aforementioned quadrangle/square.




So the winning idea is to get the King to b5 which facilitates the pawn dissolving c5 pawn advance leaving two capturable pawns and White's resignation imminent. Incidentally, players of the French Defense are often rewarded after patiently defending with strong central pawns which also sometimes happens in Sicilian Defense games.

Kaalzar from the country of Guadeloupe(a group of Caribbean islands and an overseas region of France) is an uncompromising chess player who would rather lose "his way" than acquiesce to the will of his opponent.