The Minority Attack | Chess Middlegames

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Using the Minority Attack to create weaknesses in your opponent’s position is a very strong strategic weapon.

This attack was implemented into chess practice not so long ago, somewhere in the late 19th century. Before that, some openings which resulted with one side having a 3 to 2 pawn majority on the queenside were thought to have a superior position.

The minority attack changed that idea and made the variations sound and playable on the highest levels. The idea behind this aggressive pawn storm is that you use your two pawns to attack your opponent’s three, thus causing structural damage. The resulting structure often leave the defending side with a backward pawn he is condemned to defend for the rest of the game.

The minority attack most often occurs out if the Queen’s Gambit Declined and from the Exchange Caro-Kann. The prerequisites for it are a 3 to 2 structure on the queenside (with the c pawn advanced to the third/sixth rank to be used as a target) and pieces on the board. Without pieces to exploit the newly created weakness, the attack would make no sense, as the target couldn’t be pressured.

Here are example games in which the minority attack won the game. I would advise you to analyze them in order to get a feel for how the attack works in practice (you can find them all on chessgames).

Yasser Seirawan vs Mikhail Tal 1983 (Nimzo-Indian, Classical)

Larry Melvyn Evans vs Haakon Opsahl 1950 (QGD, Modern)

Anatoly Karpov vs Joel Lautier 1995 (Semi-Slav, Stolz)

Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian vs Nikolai Krogius 1959 (Gruenfeld, Three Knights)

Loek van Wely vs Nigel Short 2010 (QGD, Barmen)

#chess

59 Comments

  1. You'll never stop surprising me. Another great material. Amazing middlegame idea. Thank you!

  2. What a good chess lesson! Well done, very easy to understand, concise, examples, good stuff 👍

  3. this is some great quality content… Hope your channel grows just like that of agadmators

  4. Thank you a lot
    Very nice video for wonderful instructor This topic a bout how to weaken pawn structure
    We need some videos about pawn structure
    Best wishes
    Thank you

  5. This is explained very well thank you again for an excellent video I hope more will come in this series.

  6. Thank you for your thoughtful instructional videos.

    Yasser Seirawan is a chess hero of mine since a few years after the Bobby Fischer chess boom in the United States.

  7. Thanks Sir for an important idea for us to apply in our chess games.

  8. Love your vids the thumbnails are gorgeous. Please do an end game series. I heard it was the most important part of chess studying and I need some video material

  9. I look forward to your videos everyday. Thankyou

  10. I’m new to your channel. Thank you for this lesson. You explain things very well. I’ll be going through your other lessons.

  11. This video has changed my way of thinking. Great work sir.
    Please do make more of middle game ideas. This is more important and beneficial than openings. Although openings video are very good too

  12. Excellent exposition! I wish you support this with some examples of real games of the masters like Karpov 🙂

  13. I really love your videos, just have a question. Is three a good line for white in the caro-kann where he fianchettoes his LSB?

  14. Great video as always. Can you make a video on grünfeld defense. Thanks in regards.

  15. Plzz u didnt do kings indian defense plz do it bro asap i need it for a tourney

  16. Thank you for all your efforts, your channel helps me more than anything. As soon as you have time, please post another problem in the commons section on these "lessons". Maybe viewers don't realize they are there, they haven't many views.

  17. A good minority attack example could have been Sicilian defence

  18. Thank you very much this helps a lot because I play queens gambit and I struggle in the middle game and i will use this in my upcoming tournament

  19. "Hi everyone, Stipen Here". The best line to start with

  20. Does this means that exchange QGD is better than exchange caro Mann for white?

  21. it could have been a little more informative… but still overall a nice explanation of the topic!

  22. Chess coaching is very costly, if after spending money people will not get better learning than this,
    U r much helpful for the needy people,
    Please reply if u read

  23. Brilliant! It could also happen in the London System.

  24. perfect explanation, this channel is a gold mine i'm going through all the videos. I found it due to the content on my main Black opening the Philidor but stayed for the rest. Thanks for sharing!

  25. You should do a video about YouTubing. Covering how you make your thumbnails, how you record the screen, how you make the animations in the beginning. And maybe other things too ?

  26. Who in their right mind would take the pawn isolating their own

  27. After passing it in a book, its beautifful to watch the plan like this

  28. After watching so many of your videos,my ratings are going higher than I hoped. Thanks for the hard work

  29. I am 1850 elo, playing for over 30 years and believe it or not I have never understood the minority attack until I watched your video! Thank you! I finally completely understand the minority attack and have won my last three games with the Catalan because of it! Would love to see more pawn formation videos.

  30. Dude, this s by far the most instructional chess channel on youtube, and it gets waaaaaaay less credit than it deserves. You've helped me improve tons my chess

  31. Stipen, you should seriously consider becoming a chess coach to new players. The way you explain things is so much better than anyone else i have encountered.

  32. So how do you defend properly? Try to get your rooks over there first and/or trade asap?

  33. hey thanks

    I'm learning Simple Chess book, and got stuck about the Open File and Half-Open File, with the combination of The Minority Attack.
    until I watched this video. thank you very much

  34. Nice concept. I'll try out this strategy the next time I get this pawn structure.

  35. I think for this much information other youtubers might have charged money through various courses …but you did it free of cost ….heads off to you

  36. Thank you, i was looking for a good video on minority attack no video explained this to me this well.

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