Understanding before Moving 51: The black squares!

by ChessBase
10/31/2021 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books about chess training and chess strategy. In the 51st instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman talks about the black squares. | Photo: Tommy Grooten

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Some players are in love with the black or with the white squares. Eduard Gufeld, for example, liked to play the King's Indian Defense and he was quite fond of his black-squared bishop. That may come as a surprise – after all, Black often puts a pawn on e5 in the King's Indian that blocks the bishop.

But Gufeld liked to wait until the long diagonal became open and often even sacrificed material to give the bishop space. And when White was willing to exchange his black-squared bishop against a knight,  Gufeld was in his element.

The English Grandmaster Julian Hodgson also loved these pawn sacrifices. In the diagram position, White has just played d5xc6, capturing the black pawn on c5 en passant. How should Black take back? Given this introduction, finding the  answer will not be difficult, but perhaps you would light to come up with a possible sequence after Black's recapture.

 

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