Continued from The Fianchetto.
White usually opens with a strategy of gaining some control of center board and the castling on king’s side, therefore, move king’s pawn to d4. Instead of mimicking white’s play, black is going to slow the response knowing the plan is to fianchetto on black queen’s side of the board. Black’s response is king’s pawn to d6. White’s next move is to move king’s bishop to center board to promote the castling and threaten black, therefore, expect white king’s bishop to b5. An alternative might be bishop to c4 but for the purposes of this discussion we will utilize b5. Black’s response to the white bishop move is to move black queen bishop’s pawn to c6. This move blocks the advance of white and will force a temporary retreat of the white bishop, usually to a4. Black must avoid the temptation to move the black queen knight’s pawn to b5. Remember – s l o w t h e p l a y.
Move black king’s knight to f6. This move will affect the board attention of white. White will shift attention to white’s king side of the board and move white king’s knight to f3. Black now moves queen’s knight pawn to b6. Do not move the pawn to b5 – this is an attacking position and we are still playing defense. White will now castle to king’s side. Black now moves king’s bishop to e7. White now moves white queen’s knight to c3 in an effort to bring into play the pieces sitting stagnant on queen’s side of the row. Black must castle to king’s rook side. Most likely white will now move queen’s pawn forward to support the center board, and free the white queen for movement. Expect queen’s pawn to d3.
Now, employ the fianchetto – move queen’s black bishop to b7. The fianchetto is disguised behind a pawn. The pawn is pushed forward when the time to attack white’s castle position is determined. As the play continues, black will need to bring into play queen’s knight and rook, but let us examine the board after the fianchetto. The black queen is available to move to c7 to support an attack on white’s castle position. The black pawn residing on b6 can move to b5 top drive the white bishop backwards. Black’s queen pawn can move to d5 to threaten the center position of the white pawns. The d5 square is supported by two pawns, a knight and the black queen. White’s position is not generally mutually supporting of its pieces. Knowing that black is planning a fianchetto promotes mutual support of black pieces and a full strategy to get to middle game. There are so many moves involved in the set up; piece movement variations are numerous, based primarily on the placement of white pieces, but this strategy can be implemented almost every time from black. Play the fianchetto from king and queens side: make this seldom-used play an integral part of your s l o w defensive strategy and you will eventually control the field of battle – the board.