Minority attack

The minority attack describes an attack strategy in chess . A prerequisite for a minority attack are asymmetrical pawn structures, such as those that arise in the exchange variants of the rejected Queen's Gambit or the Caro-Kann defense .

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

Minority attack by white pawns a and b against black pawns a, b and c

Attack idea

In a minority attack, a peasant minority attacks a majority of peasants (usually 2 against 3 peasants). This is a paradoxical situation because an attack usually requires material superiority. The aim of the minority attack is to weaken, destroy or dissolve the opposing pawn structure, which in turn can be attacked or blocked by pieces .

The minority attack is often combined with pressure from heavy figures in a line. In the example opposite, White in the c-file, in which a backward pawn would arise after b5xc6 and b7xc6 . This moves the base (b7) of the pawn chain b7 – c6 – d5 forward (c6) and makes it the target of attack.

Defense options

Black can initiate the exchange even with c6xb5. Then he keeps attackable pawns on b7 and d5.

A black defense idea is to answer after b4 – b5 with c6 – c5, since the white pieces are mostly not ideally positioned for the fight against the black Isolani emerging after d4xc5 on d5. The rooks would be on the side lines of the Isolani, and a bishop, usually positioned on d3, would be in the way on the d-file and would rather have the Isolani d5 in his sights. White would also prefer his b-pawn on b2 in the fight against Isolani. The raised pawns a4 and b5 could more easily become the target of attack by enemy pieces after a settlement at the endgame than if they had not yet moved.

Another defense idea is to radically stop the minority attack with b7 – b5. This makes the pawn c6 backward , which is why Black often associates this idea with moving a knight to c4 and thus blocking the c-file.

literature

• Anatoli Karpow et al.: Chess - encyclopaedic dictionary , Sowjetskaja enzyklopedija, Moscow 1990, ISBN 5-85270-005-3 , pp. 23-24. (Russian)
• David Hooper and Ken Whyld : The Oxford Companion to Chess , Oxford University Press, 2nd edition 1992, ISBN 0-19-866164-9 , pp. 260-261. (English)