Chess: The Unsounded Center

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 4 cxd5 Nxd5 5 e4
Nxc3 6 bxc3 Bg7 7 Bc4 O-O 8 Ne2 c5 9 O-O
9 ... Nc6 10 Be3 Qc7 11 Rc1 Rd8 12 Qd2 a6
13 f4 b5 14 Bd3 f5 15 exf5 c4

16 Bb1



16 ... gxf5



17 Ng3



17 ... e6



18 Nh5



18 ... Bh8



19 Rf3



19 ... Ne7



20 Bf2



20 ... Bb7



Now d5 and h1-a8, thanks to the e4 pawn's
forced trade, are readily available for
Black's use.

To sum up, there's two approaches to defeating
an imposing center:

(1) Attack it directly
(2) Force it to advance or liquidate
and then take advantage of the weak
squares it leaves behind. One exploitative
tool is to post men on the vulnerable squares.

21 Re3



21 ... Kf7



22 Rce1



22 ... Rd6



23 Bh4



23 ... Ng6