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Thursday, October 14, 2010

King’s Indian Four Pawns Attack

In the words of National Master Randy Bauer, The Four Pawns Attack is, in some respects, white's most principled response to the King's Indian. White says, in effect, "If you don't want to stake a claim to the center, I will." While the pawns look imposing, standing four abreast and controlling or occupying literally the entire center, it does come at a price. White's development lags, and black will have his opportunities to take pot shots at that center. The f-pawn may also get in the way of the white pieces - the queen bishop in particular may be left to "stare at the backside" of the f4 pawn. For this reason, white often seeks to liberate that piece with either f4-f5 or e4-e5, intending to meet ...dxe5 with fxe5.”

The Four Pawns Attack was sometimes a weapon of GM Arthur Bisguier although if memory serves, he usually played Bg5 before advancing the f-Pawn. Many years ago while in Spain, I purchased a few small opening booklets and the K-Indian, 4 P’s Attack was one of them and I’ve liked it ever since. It may not be the best opening at the master level, but if you are playing anybody under that it may be worth giving a try. You can probably glean enough from the Wikipedia article to see if it’s something you’d like to try.
In the game that follows my mid-1600 opponent, who would no doubt be a couple hundred points higher if he wasn’t one of those fast movers, played the ill-considered 6…Nb6 and the N was immediately forced back with a loss of time.

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