Friday, October 26, 2007

The Attack Must Turn

The Attack Must Turn

or How to utterly blow an h-file attack

I found out last night that I utterly suck at conducting the attack along the h-file. My opponent served me up a great combination, but I played a bunch of inaccurate moves and suddenly the attack rebounded.



My h-file attack was one dimensional and it ultimately attacked nothing but an empty h-file. The Bh5 move would have created the second dimension that I needed. It's no good to to be a super fast predator if you can't change direction while chasing your prey.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

HI Ernie, I'm not a great attacker either, but I think the lever "g4" would have good at some point so that your Bishops have more scope. Gafni's King looks pretty exposed, which might make it worth a pawn or possibly two.

Unknown said...

i just posted a game i just played where i actually got the h file attack right. go figure.

color you linked.

frenez said...

hi ernie, i'd back up a little bit in analyzing where the attack went wrong. i think 31. ef was better than e5. it seems that rx's is forced and then bg4 and you have the h file, all the diaganals after d4, e6 is almost gone etc. the white king is safe on g2.

also, does 33 bh5 g3 34. qe2, sacrificing the bishop work?

tim

Anonymous said...

Regarding frenez' comments:

After 31.exf5, if Black responds 31...Rxf5, then White's best plan is still to stack the rooks beginning with Rh3, but now Black is out on the open ground. I'm more comfortable trying to dig him out of the hole, even though I failed in this game. 32.Bg4 runs into 32...Rc5 and Black is gaining some counterplay and initiative.

Fritz prefers 31.exf5 exf5 and Black looks vulnerable on the a2-g8 diagonal, but his pieces now have space to maneuver e.g. 32.Rae1 Qf7 33.Rh2 Bf6. White has the pathetic isolani at d3 and White's King seems more vulnerable than Black's. Still, Fritz has White ahead by 180 centipawns. 34.Bc3

33.Bh5 g6 34.Qe2? is no good. After 34...gxh5 35.Rxh5 Qg6 helps shore up the defenses around the king. Black may have to give up the queen for two rooks, but Black already has the bishop in this line.

Regarding eric's comments:

36.g4 was suggested by a player who will probably be the next master/champion in our club. If Black takes or allows White to take, either way, the bishops start to rake the diagonals. Fritz likes it among the top three moves, but 36. Bh5 is ahead by 60 centipawns. One other defense I hadn't annotated was 36...Bc8, but Black has to suffer 37.Bxc6 Bd7 38.Bf3 Rc8 and then I have to figure out that 39.Qb3 is the right move with the plan of g4, opening the diagonal as prescribed by you. Interesting how the themes come back in different lines, huh?

frenez said...

don't feel too bad about this game. look at black's pieces after rd8 ... you'd never lose a position like that ever again to anybody. just getting to an overwelming position is good, you just got a little unlucky at the end.

Unknown said...

Hi Ernie, it's nice to know that my "g4" is approved of. You're probably winning that game and sacrificing a pawn or two is unlikely to lose since Gafni is probably going down to a possible mate at any moment.