rules, tactics, strategies and history

Castling and the Middle Game - Example III

Ordinarily both players castle on the same side of the board so that neither of them can advance its Pawns in an attack against the opposing King without weakening its own King's position. Only if a player holds more territory and has a greater number of pieces on the King's wing than the opponent he can embark on an attack which involves an advance of the Pawns in front of its King. The game below offers a typical example.

								8
								7
								6
								5
								4
								3
								2
								1
a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Black has a preponderance on the Queen's side, while White has more mobility for its pieces on the King's side. Considering that Black cannot easily throw its pieces over to the King's wing, White can risk to loosen its Pawns on this wing without fearing that Black will be able to obtain a foothold on the weak points which are necessarily created by the advance of the Pawns in White's camp.

White will start the attack with (1) P-g4 and (2) Kt-g3. Then he threatens to occupy the dominating square f5 with its Knight, and Black has hardly any other move than P-g6; for if he permits Kt- f5 with the view to exchanging the Knight with its Bishop, he opens the g-file for White's Rooks. P-g6 on the other hand enables White to open the h-file by advancing the h-Pawn after the necessary preparations such as K-g2, R-h1, P-g5, etc.