Understanding before Moving 52: Space advantage

by ChessBase
11/7/2021 – 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 52nd instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman talks about the pleasures of having a space advantage. | Photo: Tommy Grooten

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I like to have a space advantage. When the pawns are advanced I have beautiful squares for my pieces. And I noted that Tigran Petrosian also liked to push his pawn to d5 when he was playing against King's Indian structures.

When they see how much of a space advantage I sometimes have in my games, my fellow club members like to joke that I could rest my arms on the first few ranks of the board because the position allows it!

Joking aside, if you have a space advantage it is easier to maneuver, e.g. switching the rooks from one side of the board to the other.

In the diagram position I had just switched my rooks from the h-file to the a-file to enter the enemy position. In view of his good pieces (the knight on d4 and the "good" bishop on f3) it is not surprising that White could convert his positional advantage by tactical means. What did White do?

 

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