The quiet game-part 1
Despite the title, this post isn't about the Giuoco Piano opening, but about queen pawn openings from white, and more specifically, how black effectively counters them.
As a player matures and develops his/her playing style, a shift from the more provoking king pawn openings to the relatively sedate 1. d4 openings is often inevitable. King pawn openings are more likely to run into complicated tactical patterns early on and dangerously unclear positions often arise. Hence, the more logical approach to white's opening plan has become to ease into the game and focus on building a sound centre rather than go for gambits or anything of that nature straightaway. Of course, it's entirely up to the player what opening he/she chooses, but players should keep in mind that in the long run, it is not feasible to engage in tactical battles and unclear positions early in the game. This, incidentally, was the style of players like Adolf Andersson, Paul Morphy, and others who belonged to the romantic era of chess.
White has various options when it comes to the formation of the centre. The most popular openings are the Queen’s gambit, the Slav defence, the London system in recent times (with Bf4), and many others. The main ideas of these openings are to maintain central tension and release it at the appropriate time (to open a file, generally the c-file, or to avoid complications). Systems like the Catalan involve a fianchetto with a bishop on g2 bearing down on the long diagonal. White moves for minute advantages such as control of the e5 square, or gradually forcing black into passivity by inducing queen side weaknesses. Since black opts for a solid set up most of the time, king side attacks, if executed at all, are rare. However, due to the nature of the centre, f4-f5 advances are held in abeyance, since diagonal weaknesses aren’t worrisome. Pawns cluttered in the centre are characteristic of these openings. Both sides try to plant knights in the centre (like a knight on e5) and manoeuvre their pieces. An important motif in queen pawn openings is the paradoxical beneficial doubled pawn structure with pawns on f2, g2, and g3. This usually arises in the English system when the dark squared bishop is exchanged off. This structure opens the h-file and claims space. It also provides pawns as ‘ballast’ to push forward and sacrifice for an initiative (note that this applies for black too).
Advances such as a4-a5 seem peculiar but help in endgames very often. Many a time, white does not find any active plan to implement and so gaining space on the queenside, especially with structures like an a6-b7-c6 one, seems like a good idea (like in the Slav defence proper).
White should be wary against gambit and fianchetto lines, which aim to disrupt the centre to get black some dynamic activity. Examples of this are the Benko gambit, the Grunfeld defence, and Modern Benoni, and many more. Black usually cedes space in the centre in these positions, so white should look for outposts and restrictive play. In the Benoni, for example, black has some good dark square control, but has to sort of work around white’s pieces, so white should build the pressure with gradual pawn advances such as e4-e5.
I’ll be continuing about some more ideas for white and as well as for black in part 2 of this blog.
Despite the title, this post isn't about the Giuoco Piano opening, but about queen pawn openings from white, and more specifically, how black effectively counters them.
As a player matures and develops his/her playing style, a shift from the more provoking king pawn openings to the relatively sedate 1. d4 openings is often inevitable. King pawn openings are more likely to run into complicated tactical patterns early on and dangerously unclear positions often arise. Hence, the more logical approach to white's opening plan has become to ease into the game and focus on building a sound centre rather than go for gambits or anything of that nature straightaway. Of course, it's entirely up to the player what opening he/she chooses, but players should keep in mind that in the long run, it is not feasible to engage in tactical battles and unclear positions early in the game. This, incidentally, was the style of players like Adolf Andersson, Paul Morphy, and others who belonged to the romantic era of chess.
White has various options when it comes to the formation of the centre. The most popular openings are the Queen’s gambit, the Slav defence, the London system in recent times (with Bf4), and many others. The main ideas of these openings are to maintain central tension and release it at the appropriate time (to open a file, generally the c-file, or to avoid complications). Systems like the Catalan involve a fianchetto with a bishop on g2 bearing down on the long diagonal. White moves for minute advantages such as control of the e5 square, or gradually forcing black into passivity by inducing queen side weaknesses. Since black opts for a solid set up most of the time, king side attacks, if executed at all, are rare. However, due to the nature of the centre, f4-f5 advances are held in abeyance, since diagonal weaknesses aren’t worrisome. Pawns cluttered in the centre are characteristic of these openings. Both sides try to plant knights in the centre (like a knight on e5) and manoeuvre their pieces. An important motif in queen pawn openings is the paradoxical beneficial doubled pawn structure with pawns on f2, g2, and g3. This usually arises in the English system when the dark squared bishop is exchanged off. This structure opens the h-file and claims space. It also provides pawns as ‘ballast’ to push forward and sacrifice for an initiative (note that this applies for black too).
Advances such as a4-a5 seem peculiar but help in endgames very often. Many a time, white does not find any active plan to implement and so gaining space on the queenside, especially with structures like an a6-b7-c6 one, seems like a good idea (like in the Slav defence proper).
White should be wary against gambit and fianchetto lines, which aim to disrupt the centre to get black some dynamic activity. Examples of this are the Benko gambit, the Grunfeld defence, and Modern Benoni, and many more. Black usually cedes space in the centre in these positions, so white should look for outposts and restrictive play. In the Benoni, for example, black has some good dark square control, but has to sort of work around white’s pieces, so white should build the pressure with gradual pawn advances such as e4-e5. 
I’ll be continuing about some more ideas for white and as well as for black in part 2 of this blog.
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