Hi all, and welcome to yet another Horde Chess Blog post. In this post, we will discuss a simple yet effective technique for the white player to achieve victory, which I call the Phalanx tactic. This tactic is as simple as that: just advance all of your pawns until you get to promote one of them to a queen. Once you have a queen, in most cases winning is straightforward.
Of course, this easier said than done. The black player will do everything to block the advancing pawns and to eliminate as many of them as possible. But with enough patience, caution, and a little bit of luck this method will work flawlessly.
The example game for today is the game felistime-rubdub, in which I lost convincingly against that practice.
The game
d5 e6 2. a5 d6 3. cxd6 cxd6 4. fxe6 fxe6 5. h5
The first moves are always a fight over controlling the center and gaining space. In this case, white got some space on the board sides, while black exchanged some white pawns off the center. The position is balanced.
5… Be7 6. d4 Bxg5 7. fxg5 Qxg5 8. f4 Qe7
Black exchanged his bishop for two pawns. This is a classic maneuver, which is not particularly good in this position but not bad either.
9. f3 Nf6 10. d3
Now Black missed an opportunity for a nice tactic: 10…e:d5 11. c:d5 N:d5!
The black knight is safe from capturing by the queen threat on e3, so Black obtained a pawn for nothing.
The game continued: 10… b6 11. a6 Bxa6 12. bxa6 Nxa6 13. d2 Rc8 14. a4 Nc7 15. a3
After exchanging his other bishop for two pawns, Black has to find a good plan onward. Since the board wings are supported too heavily, he decides to act on the center.
15… exd5 16. cxd5 Nfxd5 17. exd5 Nxd5 18. e4
Now the right move is 18… Nf6. White has some edge, with 27 out of the initial 36 pawns still on the board. Yet Black can put a fight and make it hard to advance these pawns. However, with so little pieces left, Black got anxious and went for an adventure.
18… Nxf4?! 19. gxf4 Qh4
This can be a good position for the queen, but only when there is a decent reinforcement to perform a meaningful offensive, which is not the case. Now the queen is wasted there, with no way to advance and no significant influence on the board.
20. f2 Rf8 21. e3 Ke7 22. e2 g6 23. hxg6 hxg6 24. c4 Qh8
Finally, a plan for Black emerges. The rook will move through f7 to h7, making a battery of heavy pieces on the h-file. This is a good plan, and could possibly save the game for Black, but it came too late and performed way too slowly.
25. c3 Kd7? I honestly can’t tell what was in my mind while playing this move. The correct move is 25…Rf7 immediately. 26. c2 Rf7 27. a5 Kc7? again, too slow. 27… Rh7! could be so better. 28. axb6+ axb6 29. a4 Kb7 30. a3 Ra8 31. c5 dxc5 32. dxc5 Rh7 33. d4
Slowly but steady, White built a threatening wall of pawns. Now breaking into the pawn structure with 33… R:h3 would be the best option, but not sufficient to change the result. After a sequence of moves like 34.d5 bxc5 35.bxc5 Rxh2 36.gxh2 Qxh2 37.b4 Qxh1 38.c6+ Kc7 39.b5
The queen can’t catch up with the pawns advancement.
33… Qe8 34. d3 b5 35. a5 Rd8 36. d5 Qf8 37. d4
Black moves his pieces back and forth, helpless against the white Phalanx. White is in no rush, making sure to advance the backward pawns for backup before advancing in the front ones.
Qf7 38. c4 bxc4 39. bxc4 Ka6 40. b3 Rb8 41. e5 Qe8 42. d6 Qd7 43. e4 Rf7 44. e3 Qe8 45. g3 Qh8 46. h4 Qd8 47. h3 Rbb7 48. g2 Rb8 49. h2 Rh7 50. f5 gxf5 51. exf5 Qg8 52. f4 Rhb7 53. c3 Ka7 54. f3 Ka6 55. e4 Ka7 56. d5 Rd7 57. g5 Qh7 58. b2 Qh5 59. e6 Rdd8 60. e5 Kb7 61. f6 Kc8 62. f5 Rh8 63. b5 Kd8 64. b4 Ke8 65. c6 Rc8 66. b6 Qh7 67. g6 Qh5 68. g4 Qxh4 69. a6 Rf8 70. d7+ Kd8 71. e7# 1-0
Takeaways Points
- As the white player, time is your best friend; As black, time is your worst enemy.
- When the white pawns are advanced enough, even a queen intrusion can become unusable.
- Tactic tricks in the opening can heavily tilt the game in your favor.
nice