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We are about to discuss what may be the most conversational opening for Horde Chess. Is it good? Or is it bad? Maybe it is just ugly? All answers are correct. The games starting from this opening tends to be much more wild and messy, with opportunities for fatal mistakes for both sides.
So what is it all about? For simplicity, we will discuss one variant of the idea, though several more exists. After the moves 1. d5 a5 2. e5 h5 In this variant, black uses the precious time of the first moves to conquer position in the board’s sides. Other variants of this opening leave only the a5 pawns advanced. 3. d4 exchanging the a5 or h5 pawn is possible but does not seem to contribute much to white’s play. 3… Ra7 the idea of this opening. The rook will move back and forth until white will make an advance, assuming defending a position is easier than attacking. It can be thought of as the blockade tactic at a very early stage. 4. e4 Ra8 5. d3 Ra7 6. e3 Ra8 7. d2 Ra7 8. e2 Ra8
White exhausted all of his neutral forward moves and now is forced to make contact with black’s row of pieces. White’s strategy is to move in small, restless attacks to break black’s defenses one by one.
9. g6 other advances are much less promising, for example, 9. d6 c:d6 10. e:d6 e:d6 11. c:d6 B:d6 12. c5 Bf8 when the comprehension for white’s lost pawn is unclear. Recently a more promising gambit was rising, with 9. f6!? g:f6 10. g:f6 e:f6 11. d6! which enables white to break the dark-squared pawns and gain better options for later advances. This interesting strategy deserves a post of its own.
9… f:g6 Keeping the strategy with 9… Ra7 is an interesting alternative. White will respond with 10. g:f7+ K:f7 11. g5 with 12.e6. 10. f:g6 h:g4 11. h:g4 Rh6 12. f5
The first pawn in black’s defense fell. Now white reinforces his frontline pawns to launch the next attack.
12…Rh8 Interesting to try 12… e6!? to proactively attack the advanced pawns. 13. f4 Rh6 14. f3 Rh8 15. f2 Rh6 16. g5 support future advance with f6 Rh5 17. e6
The obvious next attack. Now the d7 pawn will be eliminated. 17… Rh8 18. e5 Rh5 19. e4 Rh8 20. e3 Rh5 21. e:d7+ B:d7 22.e6 Bc8 23. c6
the b7 pawn will go next. It is possible to prepare for this move with 23. e5 and 24. e4. 23… Rh8 24. c5 Rh5 25. c4 Rh8 26. c:b7 B:b7 27. c6 Bc8 28. e5 Rh5 29. e4 Rh8 30. c5 Rh5 31. c4 Rh8 32. c3 Rh5
White’s next attack will lose a pawn. The options are:
(a) 33. d6 e:d6 34. c:d6 c:d6 35. d5 d:e5 36. f:e5 Ne7 A crucial move to block white advances with c5 or f6 37. d4
Now white face the final challenge. After using some of his pawns to break black’s pawns, he needs to go through black’s pieces and achieve a promotion or a checkmate. Eventually, d6 is likely to be played, which will cause black to sacrifice his knight on c6 and/or his bishop on e6. See for example the game Stubenfisch – Best-In-Horde.
(b) 33.b6 c:b6 34.c:b6 Qxb6 35.c5 Qa7 36.b5
With an advanced attack on the queenside, white will try to take as many black pieces as he can so the remaining pawns will be able to break through and win. See the game Stubenfisch vs Summer-Marathons for example.
(c) 33. f6 is less promising, since after 33… e:f6 34.g:f6 34.d6 g:f6 35.f5 f:e5 36.d:e5 B:e6!
White’s kingside becomes dangerously weak. See for example PhilippeSaner – S00PERMAN.
For summary, we saw an opening that derives unusual play philosophy: Don’t try to break into the pawns, but wait for the pawns to advance and break. This is an important opening for those who want something different from time to time, and for the white player to respond effectively and overcome.
