Outposts in Chess – Kavinayan Sivakumar

During the chess game, we try to place our pieces in good positions. We can accomplish this task with the use of outposts. Outposts are squares where an enemy pawn cannot attack your piece. Knights usually are the pieces who utilize these outposts. The below position is from Smyslov-Rudakovsky, Moscow, 1945.

White: Smyslov

Black: Rudakovsky

[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1125461]

 

This position is after Black’s 11^th move, e5. This move attacks the white bishop, but also creates a hole in d5.

12. Be3 Be6 Black should try to go d5 in the future, so his d6 pawn is not backward and there will not a hole in d5. With this move, Black keeps d5 next move as an option.

13. f5 White breaks the tension. He wants to make sure that Black will not be able to cover d5 with his bishop.

13. …Bc4 13. …Bd7 14. Rd1 Bc6, where Black’s bishop can still keep an eye on d5, and well as attacking the pawn on e4 is a good try as well. If 14. Bb5, trying to still trade off Black’s good bishop, then just 14. …Bxb5 followed by Qxc2.

14. Bxc4 Qxc4 15. Bg5 A typical idea. As well as defending the e4 pawn, White now wants to take off the last defender of the d5 square: the f6 knight. This will result in a good knight vs. bad bishop, since the central pawns of Black are the bishop’s color. Black’s bishop will be passive.

15. …  Rfe8 The next move of white’s cannot be prevented.

16. Bxf6 Bxf6 17. Nd5 Alright. So White took advantage of Black’s weakness on d5. Now, with the help of the knight, white will start an attack.

 

17. …Bd8 18. c3 White is taking his time against the threats of Black. Why give him counterplay?

18. …b5 19. b3 Qc5+ 20. Kh1 Rc8 21. Rf3 With all business taken care of in the queenside, White now looks at Black’s monarch. Notice how White’s knight defends c3 and guards b4, so Black won’t get any pawn breaks. The c7 and e7 squares are attacked, so Black’s king cannot run to the queenside if the kingside gets busted up.

 

21. …Kh8 22. f6 gxf6 23. Qh4 Rg8 24. Nxf6 White’s knight, after helping white’s queen and rook get into the attack, joins the fray. Mate is threatened.

24. …Rg7 (24. …Bxf6 25. Qxf6+ Rg7 26. Rg3 transposes to the game.)

25. Rg3 Bxf6 26. Qxf6 Rg8 27. Rd1 It is over. Finally, you can see that White has exploited both weaknesses: both the d5 square and the weak d6 pawn!

27. …d5 28. Rxg7 Rxg7 29. Rxd5 1-0

 

            This game shows that if your opponent makes a hole in his position, you should try to make it an outpost for your pieces, especially for your knight. In this game, the knight was on a light square, so the opponent bishop could not exchange it off. But it controlled the dark squares, restricting the opponent bishop. Finally, White stopped all of his opponent’s queenside play and attacked the king. Black’s passive pieces could not defend. The next game is Piket-Smirin, Biel izt, 1993.

White: Piket

Black: Smirin

[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1108797]

 

            This  position is after Black’s 20^th move, Nd4. Here, Black has an outpost on d4. However, White has pressured it twice, and after the d2 knight moves, it will be thrice, forcing Black to exchange that knight.

21. Nc4 Nxe2 22. Qxe2 When your opponent has placed a strong piece on an outpost, then you should attack that piece so you can exchange it off. Now white wants to establish an outpost with his knight on d6.

22. …b6 Black tries to hammer down the pawn chain which supports d6. White should not take, or else Nd6 is not an outpost. White’s pawn structure gets broken, but it lets him get active pieces.

23. Nd6 Qe6 24. Rfd1 Since c5 is under pressure, White puts his rook on the open file, and defends the strong knight.

24. …bxc5 25. Rac1 (25. bxc5 Nxc5 26. Rac1 Ba6! 27. Qc2 [27. Qe1 Nd3; 27. Qd2 Nb3] Nb3 and White’s rook will have to move back. )

25. …cxb4 26. Rxc6 bxa3 27. Bxa3 I think it is obvious that White is winning. Black’s pieces are not developed, and he is getting attacked.

 

27. …Rd8 28. Rdc1 Qg8 29. Rc7  With the support of the bishop on a3, the knight on d6 pressures the c8 bishop along with the two rooks on the open file. Now, the d7 knight is attacked by the rook.

29. …a5 Threatening Ba6 next. This was the drawback of Rc7. It does not guard a6 anymore.

30. Qb5 Ba6 31. Qxd7! And the game ended after 31. …Rxd7 32. Rxd7 Rd8 33. Re7 Be2 34. Nxe5 Qa2 35. Rcc7 Rg8 36. Ne8 1-0

 

It is funny how white’s knight dominated Black and assisted the rooks in attacking the 7^th rank. Finally, after its last move 23. Nd6, the brave knight goes to e8, forcing the opponent to resign. For 13 moves, it stayed on d6, which put tremendous pressure on the opponent. This brings us to another advantage of having an outpost: It weakens your opponent psychologically. It is troubling to see an enemy piece sit comfortably in your half of the chess board!

            Overall, outposts are only outposts if you put a piece in it. With a strong piece infiltrating your opponent’s position, they will start playing defensively. Also, if your opponent has an outpost, then try to exchange that piece off, like Piket did. Your opponent might get nervous or even scared when he sees you have an outpost. Therefore, you should try to use outposts in your arsenal, and remember what damage they can cause if used properly.

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