The Great Pawn Hunter
Chess Tutorial

Queen's Gambit Declined - Exchange Variation

The White pawn structure of the exchange variation points the way to the Queen's side. So, on that side of the board is where White would naturally want to attack. Since White will most probably be attacking on the Queen's side, Black would be advised to castle on the King's side of the board. If he castled to the Queen's side, he would be running straight into White's pieces there. Usually, the Queen's side attack is quicker than the King's side attack. Now, since Black will most probably castle King's side, if Black tries to attack with his King's side pawns then he must make very sure that the center can not be opened with a pawn break by white with a pawn push to e4 or that the central Black pawns be liquidated with an energetic attack on the Queen's side. If white opens the center, then the Black King will be very badly exposed. Therefore, Black should attack with pieces if the center can be opened. Black would love to have a Black pawn on the f4 square where he could challenge the white pawn chain with his own attack. By trading his f4 pawn for the white e3 pawn Black would have play on the e file against the resulting backward white e3 pawn.

White has a number of attacking plans.

  1. He can use the Queen's side pawns in a "minority attack" against the base of Black's pawn chain at c6 as in diagram #2. A method to try and neutralize the attack, for Black, is to place a piece on the c4 square once the pawns advance. This shields the resulting backward c pawn along the half open c file.
  2. White can adopt the Pillsbury idea of planting a Knight on e5 followed by f4.
  3. White can also adopt the center plan of preparing the e4 pawn break with a knight on g3 and a preparatory f3 pawn push.











(16) Donner,J - Euwe,M [D35]
The Hague m The Hague (4), 1950
[Fealy,Manus]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 Queen's Gambit Declined
3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.cxd5 Exchange variation
5...exd5 6.e3 c6 White can prepare a center attack with the idea (Ne2,Ng3, f3,e4) or they can adopt the Pillsbury idea of planting a knight on e5 followed by f4 or they can choose to implement the minority attack on the Queen's side.
7.Bd3 Bg4 8.Qc2 Bh5 9.Nge2 white has given up the possibility of the Pillsbury knight on e5 for either the center plan or a minority attack.
9...Bg6 10.Nf4 Bxd3 Black has a bad bishop so he naturally exchanges it for Whites good bishop.
11.Nxd3 Na6 12.Bxf6 Bxf6 13.b4 White has their pieces on the Queen's side so they choose the minority attack. A good rule of thumb on where to attack is to follow your pawn chain. Here the white pawn chain points to the Queen's side.
13...0-0 14.0-0 Nc7 Watch how the Black knight maneuvers itself to the c4 outpost square. After white has implemented his minority attack, the idea will be to plant the black knight on c4 shielding the c6 pawn from any frontal assault along the 'c' file.
15.a4 Ne8 16.b5 Nd6 17.Rfb1 Nc4 18.a5 Nxa5 19.bxc6 bxc6 20.Qa4 Nc4 Tactics play an important part in chess. Black is a pawn up and has an outside passed pawn which is great in the endgame where it can lure the white king away from the center of the board. Now, white puts on an impressive display of tactics to capture the passed pawn on the Queen's side giving up a pawn on the King's side.
21.Qxc6 Rc8 22.Qxd5 Nxe3 23.Qxd8 Rfxd8 24.fxe3 Rxc3 25.Rd1 Black has a choice now. Does he give up the outside passed pawn to white or does he try to activate his pieces through counter attack.
25...Bg5 Counter attack!
26.Rxa7 Bxe3+ 27.Kf1 g6 28.Ne5 Rxd4 29.Rxd4 Bxd4 30.Ra8+ Kg7 For all of Black's hard work he is a pawn up in an endgame. However, when the pawns are all on one side of the board the knight is as powerful as the bishop, sometimes even more, since it can cover all squares, not just one color as the lone bishop does. Also, if White can trade his two pawns for the Black 'c' and 'f' pawns, Black will not be able to Queen his remaining 'h' pawn because the White King will be able to sit on the h1 square and can not be removed from there by the Black bishop. The bishop is on the wrong colored square. In this game, the two grandmasters decided it was a draw. 1/2-1/2

Copyright © Manus Patrick Fealy 1994-2004



I truly want you to become a better chess player.
Let me know what you really think about this web page.
I hope it entertained you.
Click on this line to send mail to Manus Patrick Fealy