The tutor continues his exploration of chess.

Since I always play Black, the king’s bishop pawn’s home square is f7. Advancing that pawn, especially in the opening, potentially weakens Black’s king side, especially if White still has the white bishop.

On the other hand, advancing the pawn from f7 hinders White’s use of the king side; the pawn can even be used in an attack on White’s castled king. Furthermore, it develops Black’s rook, if it’s still on f8. The rook and the pawn can coordinate good attacking chances, if the risk to Black’s king is properly managed.

I had a good win against GNU chess (easy setting, although, as I comment here, it’s not necessarily easy) after advancing the f7 pawn during the opening. However, it’s a new strategy for me; I’m not sure it’s sound.

I’ll keep you posted about my findings with this new strategy:)

Source:

Pachman, Ludek. Modern Chess Strategy. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1963.

Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.