Minority Attack

Samantha212

| Oct 28, 2015 at 10:47 PM

| Posted in: Samantha212's Blog

| 2894 reads

| 9 comments

Hello Chess Fans,

During the Classical Period of Chess from the mid
1800s to the mid 1900s, it was believed that

a Queenside Pawn Majority was an absolute,

hands-down advantage to winning because the
pawn majority created a passed pawn. This idea
was staunchly led by Wilhelm Steinitz (1836 to
1900) and during the 100 years of Classical Chess
Theory accompanied by Classical Chess Play, they
were right - the queenside pawn majority often
overpowered their opponent's pawn minority to
successfully promote a passed pawn. Take a peek
at the Pawn Majority article to familiarize yourself with
how it's done.
However, modern chess theory led by Grand
Master and Soviet Chess Instructor Alexander
Kotov (1913 to 1981) changed the theory of Pawn
Majorities upside down - on it's head in the
1950s with the introduction ofThe Minority
Attack.

The Minority Attack

It's exactly what is sounds like... Advancing the
Pawn Minority on the side of the board where the
opponent has a pawn majority. It commonly occurs
in d-pawn openings, which creates the Carlsbad
Pawn Structure after White's c4-pawn exchanges
with Black's d5-pawn and Black's e6 pawn
recaptures d5.

In the above position you'll notice that Black has a

queenside pawn majority with 4 pawns and White
has a pawn minority with 3 pawns. However, by
exchanging his c-pawn, White has an opened c-file
for the rook to exert further pressure on c6.
White's now positioned to execute a Minority
Attack to weaken the c6 pawn by pushing the bpawn to b4 then b5 to attack c6.

His sole intent is to weaken Black's pawn

chain to
1.Prevent his pawn majority from promoting and
2.Create weaknesses for Black on the queenside,
which can later be targeted and captured.

In the meantime, Black has a kingside pawn

minority and can launch a Minority Attack on that
side of the board with f5 then f4 to attack White's
pawn chain.

This was a revolutionary, radical concept in

the 1950s and it soon become common practice
amongst Masters to undermine their opponent's

opportunities to create a passer with a pawn

majority.

Think of it as a Torpedo Attack against the

Majority, attempting to punch holes to weaken
their ship and infiltrate!

Attacking Guidelines

1. Since the pawn structure dictates the direction

of the attack, White's strength of attack will be on
the queenside while Black will be attacking on the
kingside. Black has four choices to handle b4:
Advance the a-pawn to a6 to defend the b5
square a second time.
Allow the b-pawn to capture the c6 pawn,
creating a backward pawn on c6 after the
recapture.
Capture the b-pawn with c6, creating multiple
queenside weaknesses.
Advance the b-pawn to b5, creating a
backward c6 pawn that needs defending.

Let's watch all four options in action:

Minority Attack ...a6 Variation

1... a6If Black attempts to stop the pawn from attacking

c6 by moving ...a6, to put another defender of the b5
square
2. a4Simply push the a-pawn to a4 to create a LEVER
that will continue the attack on c6.
2... f5Any Black move
3. b5Push the b-pawn to attack
3... axb54. axb5cxb5IF the c-pawn captures, Black
gives himself Isolated Double Pawns and an Isolated d5
pawn. This gives White 3 potential targets to attack in
addition to the b4 square as an outpost.
(4... g5If Black makes any other move and doesn't
capture the b-pawn... 5. bxc6White captures the cpawn. 5... bxc6Captures back giving Black a backward c6pawn to defend. )

J#,.@
Minority Attack ...b5 Variation

1. b4White initiates the Minority Attack

1... b5If Black responds with ...b5, he's stopped White's
Minority Attack but given himself a backward a7 & c6pawns to defend and the c5 square is prime real estate
for a knight to use as an outpost. Since White's attack is
on the queenside, both pawns will be targeted for an
attack. Black's pieces could become overloaded
defending them both.

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2. Support the Attack: White needs one or two
minor pieces to support the Minority Attack. Rooks
unaided by minor pieces is often inadequate.
3. Placing a knight on the c5-square in front of the
backward c6-pawn is very powerful.
4. White is usually attacking on the queenside with
these lines:

Defending Guidelines
1. Black defends by creating counter attacks and
threats on the kingside to keep their opponent
busy elsewhere. Simply defending against the
minority attack will encourage it and possibly
enable it to succeed.
Instead of passively
defending, create active attacking threats!
2. Black is usually attacking on the kingside with
these lines: Looking to place a rook on the e-file, a
knight on e4 and attack with the queen and
bishops
along
the
diagonals.

3. Black usually executes a rook lift to ...Re6 and

slides it over to g6 or h6 to assist in a mating net.
4. If your opponent executes the Minority Attack
it's best to exchange the a-pawn. Why? Because
White will have a queenside attack and the a-pawn
will only be another weakness Black will be
distracted defending. Many Masters play ...a6 after
b4 for that reason. Once White's pieces infiltrate
the queenside, white eventually wins the weak cpawn and if the a-pawn is still on the board, it too
will be lost or tie up Black's pieces defending when
they could be attacking on the kingside.

Masters Execute The Minority

Attack:
Anatoly Karpov vs. Joel Lautier
cat.17,It | Dortmund, Germany | 1995 | ECO: D45 | 1-0

1. d4d52. c4c63. Nc3Nf64. e3e6Semi-Slav Defense

5. Nf3Nbd76. Qc2Bd67. Be2O-O8. O-ORe89. Rd1Qe
710. h3h611. a3dc412. Bc4e513. Nh4Nf8This is a
common maneuver to swing the knight over to f8 to
reposition on g6 to attack the kingside.
14. de5Be515. Bd2Bc716. Nf5Qe517. Ng3Be618. Bd
3Rad819. Nce2Bb620. b4The Minority Attack begins
20... Ng621. a4a622. Bc3Karpov can't push the pawn
to b5 until the queen is off the rank. He makes several
attempts to kick her off.
22... Qg523. Bd4Bd424. Nd4Bd525. e4Be626. Nf3Qf
4Brilliant play...Every square along the 5th rank is
defended and with no other square to slide over to, she's
forced off.
27. b5BAM! Now Karpov strikes to undermine Black's
pawn majority.
27... ab528. ab5Ne529. Ne5Qe530. bc6bc6Leaving
one wee little pawn on the queenside for white to attack.
31. Rac1He immediately doubles up the power on the cfile.
31... Rd6Defends
32. Qc3Nd733. Be2Karpov wants to simplify his position

by trading pieces. The queens and rooks are both

attacking one another.
33... Rd134. Bd1Qc335. Rc3Rc836. f4f637. Ne2c538
. Nd4Bf739. Bg4Re840. Nb5Nb641. Nd6Na442. Ra3
Ra843. e5Bd544. e6The passed pawn is defended by
the bishop and the queening square is defended by the
knight. If Black wants to stop it he'll have to sacrifice a
piece. Instead, he resigned.

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Yasser Seirawan vs. Dean Ippolito
US Championships | 2003 | ECO: E10 | 1-0

1. d4Nf62. c4e63. Nf3d54. cd5ed55. Nc3c66. Qc2Na

67. a3Pushes the pawn to prepare for a future b4
7... Nc78. Bg5g69. e3Bf510. Qb3Rb811. Be2Be712.
Bh6Ne613. Ng5Ng514. Bg5O-O15. Bf4Bd616. Bd6Q
d617. Qb4Qd818. O-ORe819. Rfe1Ne4Black uses the
e4 square for the knight
20. Ne4Be421. Bf1Defends the g2 pawn

21... Qg5Queen and bishop are coordinated and eyeing

g2, but it's well defended.
22. Qd6Infiltrates into Black's side to attack the base of
the pawn chain
22... Rbd823. Qc7Qe724. Qe7Re725. b4BAM! The
Minority Attack begins
25... Bf526. a4a627. Rec1White brings all his pieces
into play to apply move pressure on the c6 pawn
27... Ra828. b5ab529. ab5Ra130. Ra1cb5After the
capture, Black has 3 juicy targets to attack. With the
queens off the board it's more difficult for black to defend
them all.
31. Bb5GULP - First pawn picked up.
31... Rc732. Be2h533. h4The pawn defends against
the g-pawn from pushing to g5.
33... Kf834. Bf3White switches his attack to the e5
pawn to create a passed pawn of his own.
34... Be6Defends
35. Rb1Ke7The king swings around to lend a hand in
defending the pawns.
36. Kh2White's king goes to assist with capturing Black's
pawns.
36... Kd837. Kg3Rd738. Kf4f639. Rb6Ke740. Be2Rc
741. Bd3Bf742. f3Be843. e4The pawn pokes at the e5
pawn
43... de4Capturing creates a passed pawn on e4.

44. fe4Bd745. e5fe546. Ke5Rc347. Bg6Rg348. Be4K

d849. Rb7Re350. d5Ba451. Kd6Kc852. Rb4Bd753. B
f3The bishop defends e5 and attacks Black's remaining
pawn on h5, giving white 2 more passed pawns on the
kingside. Black resigned.

J#,.@
Defending Against The Minority
Attack:
Lajos Portisch vs. Garry Kasparov
Queens Gambit Declined - Exchange Variation |
Shelleftea, Sweden | 1989 | ECO: D02 | 0-1

1. d4d52. Nf3Nf63. c4e6We've arrived at the Queen's

Gambit Declined
4. cd5Exchange Variation
4... ed55. Nc3c66. Qc2Na67. a3Nc78. Bg5g69. e3Th
e Carlsbad Pawn Structure
9... Bf510. Bd3Bd311. Qd3Be712. O-OO-O13. b

4White executes the Minority Attack

13... Ne4The knight occupies the e4 square and attacks
the bishop
14. Bf4Nc315. Qc3Bd616. Bd6Nb5BAM! Instead of
capturing the bishop with the queen, Garry forks the
queen & bishop.
17. Qb3Nd6The knight is on a key outpost.
18. a4a619. Ne5(19. b5If White pushed the pawn to
b5....Watch how the queen & knight coordinate to stop
the attack 19... axb520. axb5Rxa121. Rxa1Qb6POW!
Garry pins the pawn to the queen. Even if the rook
doubles up with the queen, the knight will pick-up the b5
pawn for
free. )19... Re820. Rfe1Qg521. h3Kg722. Qc2Re623.
Rac1Rae824. Qb1Qh525. Qb3f626. Nd3g527. Qd1Q
g628. Qc2R6e729. Red1h530. Qb1h431. Qc2g432.
Nf4Qc233. Rc2g334. Rd3Kh635. Kf1Kg536. Ne2Nc4
Garry's knight looks like he's doing a Knight's Tour and
picks up another pawn
37. Rcc3Nb238. Rd2Na439. Rb3Nb640. Ng1Nc441.
Nf3Kh542. Rdd3a543. ba5Ra844. Rd1Ra545. Re1b5
46. Re2Ra147. Re1Rea748. fg3Re149. Ke1Ra150. K
e2hg351. Ne1Ra252. Kd1Rd253. Kc1Re254. Kd1Re3
55. Re3Ne356. Ke2Nf557. Nc2Nh458. Nb4Ng259. Kf
3Nh460. Kg3Nf561. Kf4Nd462. Ke3Nf5Not the best
play by White but Kasparov shows us how to use pieces

defensively to prevent the Minority Attack coupled with

kingside counter attacks.

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Let's Review:
1. The Minority Attack advances the pawn
minority to provoke a weaknessagainst their
opponent's pawn majority.
2. The weakness will then be attacked during the
course of the game.
3. If the opponent pushes the a-pawn to a6,
respond with a4 to create a lever to continue the
attack.
4. Support the attack with additional pieces.
5. When
playing
against
the
Minority
Attack it's best to trade off the a-pawn with ...a6
to eliminate a potential isolated pawn.
6. Avoid capturing the b-pawn with the c-pawn. As
we saw, it creates three weak pawns that can
easily be attacked in the endgame.
7. Create kingside counter attacks to divert your
opponent's attention away from executing the
Minority Attack.

8. Black can also execute a kingside minority

attack of his own against his opponent's pawn
chain.

I hope this has shed some light on How to

Execute and Defend Against a Minority
Attack. Look for the next in the series and feel
free to send a friend request to be notifed of future
articles. Until then....Cheers.