Pawns On The Attack!

Hello again! I’m finally back and ready with another action-packed game for you! I played the following game online, where I used a pawn break on the kingside to attack my opponent’s king.

New York vs New Jersey Friendly, Board #5 Game 1

I played the Scotch Gambit to reach this position, although this position can arise from the Italian Game as well. White has a strong e5 pawn and knight in exchange for the bishop pair and black’s knight on e4. Here, my opponent and I are still preparing to develop our pieces and castle.

Here, I have made my intentions for a kingside attack clear. Although advancing f2-f4 has opened the a7-g1 diagonal to my king and pined my d4 knight, black’s lack of pieces on the kingside makes the f4 and e5 pawns almost unstoppable.

After 15. f5, it is clear that black will have trouble stopping these pawns from breaking into the kingside. My rook has a lot of control on the f file, and my other pieces will quickly flood to the kingside to support the attack. However, due to my pawn formation, the black bishops cannot blockade the pawns or capture them, which proves to be really annoying. The kingside attack is brewing.

Here, my pawns finally break open black’s fortress. Black’s g7 and f7 pawns are about to fall, exposing the king - a piece never to see safety again.

That black bishop I took is just the beginning of my kingside feast. With the king now overwhelmed and weaky protected (now that the pawns are out of the way), I can call in the rest of my pieces to “clean things up.”

Now I have brought in all three of my heavy pieces. My rooks control the f file and my queen and rook dominate the 7th rank. The control of the 7th rank is especially important in pressuring the king, as most attacking pieces will be on the 7th rank when giving checkmate.

In just two moves, my opponent resigned. My e7 pawn is now threatening to promote to a queen, and the combined pressure of 3 (soon to be 4) heavy pieces is too much for black to handle. The position is a forced mate in 6, and some lines are played out in the diagram above.

But how did black fall so easily?

Black did not lose because he was down a bishop. However, my pawns were about to remove my opponent’s pawns in front of his king, and I was able to take advantage of it and threaten his king faster than he could defend. After I made too many mate threats, black’s position fell completely.

When you are trying to attack, whether it’s against the Sicilian, Slav, or (almost) any opening, it’s critical that you utilize your pawns to weaken the opposing king’s defenses.