Exeter Chess Club

Isolated Queen's Pawns - another go.

If you have an Isolated Queen's Pawn, you have outposts on c5 and e5, a half-open e-file, more space, more mobility, and more chances of attacking - on either side, I guess, but the e5 outpost suggests the King's-side. On a good day, it works like this:

Botvinnik-Vidmar 1936

[pgn]
[Event "PC2 12/7/11 23:45"]
[Site "Palm Handheld"]
[Date "2011.07.12"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Southall, Chris"]
[Black "NN"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r1bq1rk1/2pn1pbp/1p1p1np1/pP2p3/2P5/2N1PN2/PB1PBPPP/R2Q1RK1 w - - 0 10"]
[PlyCount "26"]

10. d4 {Chris says: "Move 10 was where I wasn't sure what to do. I had
developed my minor pieces and felt like I needed to challenge black's solid
setup and open lines for my bishop which is somewhat blunted. I was also wary
of black's knight getting into c5. I also had an eye on the c6 square as black

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WLVXuY1rH8&feature=player_detailpage#t=700s

[Just testing pop-up games using PGN4Web]

"We perceive after a careful consideration of the evolution of the chess mind that such evolution has gone on, in general, in a way quite similar to that in which it goes on with the individual chess player, only with the latter more rapidly." -- Richard RETI

I was struck recently when discussing this position with the coaching group: