Chess: The Unsounded Center

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 4 cxd5 Nxd5 5 e4
Nxc3 6 bxc3 Bg7 7 Bc4 O-O 8 Ne2 c5 9 O-O
9 ... Nc6 10 Be3 Qc7 11 Rc1 Rd8

12 Qd2



Arranging for the comfortable defense
of his center (12 Qd2 followed by 13 Rfd1).
Black now needs to find a way forward.
The solution is not to keep hitting at
White's formation but to force it to
advance or dissolve and then exploit
the resulting weak squares.


12 f3
12 f4
12 Bf4
12 Kh1
12 Qa4
12 h3
12 Qe1

12 ... a6



12 ... b6
12 ... Bd7
12 ... Ne5
12 ... Qa5

13 f4



13 a4
13 Bh6

13 ... b5



14 Bd3



14 ... f5



15 exf5



15 ... c4