Hi everybody, and welcome to the third post in the Horde Chess Game Analysis series. Previously on the series, we saw the intrusion tactics for black and the Phalanx tactic for white. In this post, we will show a second Horde Chess strategy for the player in the black pieces, namely the blockade tactic. This playing method consists of 2 steps: First, black positions his pawns and pieces in a way that prevents any white pawn advancement. Then, he moves one of his pieces back and forth, forcing white to eventually make advancement and lose pawns.
We will go through the game DjAlber – wgoto744, which took place on Lichess on the 6th of June 2020, as part of the daily Horde arena. This game was the only loss of DjAlber during the whole competition.
The Game
1. a5 h5 2. e5 d6 3. e4 dxe5 4. dxe5 e6
This is the kingside opening, non-mainline variation. White is facing some pressure on the kingside, but nothing too severe for now. 5. g6? This causes a pawn loss. 5.d4, for example, is a better alternative. fxg6 6. fxg6 Ne7 7. g5? reduce the mobility of the pawns, as we will see soon. 7… Nxg6
White got stuck on the kingside. g4 will lose the h4 pawn, while f5 is futile since the pawn will be just captured. All white can do is attacking the queenside now. 8. d4 Ne7 Adding a threat to counter 9.d5. 9. d3 c6 10. b6 a6 11. a4 g6
The blockade was set. Any frontline white pawn advancement will cause a material loss. White can advance his back pawns, but eventually, he will run out of waiting moves. 12. e3 Rh7 13. a3 Rh8 14. d2 Rh7 15. e2 Rh8 16. a2 Rh7
Now it is decision time. Which advancement is the least worse? 17. d5 The other alternatives are not better: 17. b5 a:b5 18. a:b5 R:a5, or 17.f5 g:f5 18. e:f5 N:f5, or (as was actually played in another game) 18.g4 h:g4 19.h:g4 R:h4, all loose material while not solving the problem of insufficient advancement options. 17… cxd5 18. cxd5 exd5 19. exd5 Nxd5 20. c4 Ne7 21. d4 Nbc6 22. c3 Be6 23. d3 Rh8 24. c2 Rh7
A few moves passed by, and black has yet another blockade. 25. e4 Nxd4 26. cxd4 Qxd4 27. e3 27.c3 could prevent the queen intrusion for now, but white’s position does not seem good anyway. Now black practically won the game. 27…Qxb2 28. d4 Qxb1 29. b5 axb5 30. axb5 Rxa5 31. c6 Bc8 32. d5 Qxa2 33. a4 Qxc2 34. g4 hxg4 35. hxg4 Rxh4 36. g3 Rh3 37. d6 Nxc6 38. bxc6 bxc6 39. f5 gxf5 40. gxf5 Qxb3 41. e6 Bxd6 42. f6 Qxc4 43. f4 Qxe6 44. e5 Bxe5 45. fxe5 Qxe5 46. f4 Qxe3 47. f2 Qxb6 48. g6 Kf8 49. g2 Ra7 50. g4 Rxh2 51. g5 Rxh1 52. f5 c5 53. g4 c4 54. f4 Qc6 55. g7+ Kg8 56. g6 Qxa4 57. g5 c3 58. f7+ Kxg7 59. f8=Q+ Kxf8 60. f6 Qxf4 61. f7 Qxg5 62. g7+ Kxg7 63. f8=R Kxf8#
Key takeaways
As black:
- Keep an eye on the white’s advancement options. If there are one or two of them, consider blocking them to accomplish a blockade.
- If you achieved a blockade, it can be a good idea to just wait for white to move. Moving a piece back and forth can be a good strategy, and sometimes you can even slowly improve the positioning of your pieces.
As white:
- Be careful with moves that drop further advancement options.
- When encountering a blockade, first move the back pawns. After this is done, find the pawn advancement that does the least harm, and enable the most advancement moves later.
