How to beat the Fianchetto?

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JulioGQM

Which book would you recommend to beat the Fianchetto?

guardianx9

Kill it with the same color bishop

poucin

Which fianchetto?

Many ways to play a fianchetto, if we dont know which one...

Charetter115
 

 

Pawn chains are also good for blocking the long diagonal

DrFrank124c

Look at games in the database where the same opening is played as the games that you play where the fianchetto appears. For example if you are playing against the KID and want to know how to play against this defense go to the database. Same for the dragon or whatever. 

DrFrank124c
verylate wrote:

OK, now we're getting serious answers. That's a good place to start,DrF

One thing I ran into wayyyyyy back when I was a young player was, I believe, in Edward Lasker's Chess Strategy. He used an illustrative game (good way of teaching, imo) to show a strategy white could try against the king's side fianchetto that has become popular in modern chess. White sets up the dark Square B on e3, Q on d2, castles Q-side,marches the h-pawn down to h5 and then trades it for the g6 pawn, then plays Bh6 to exchange dark square Bs. Then the Q comes into h6, supported by the Rh1. That's the same process Bobby Fischer called "sac, sac, mate" in his 60MG. (I think that was the dragon in that game)

It's not the only arrow in white's quiver, but the idea is pretty straightforward, and it can be used against a few (not all!) fianchetto opening systems. Personally, I'm not a very subtle guy, I like to play directly for mate, so it appeals to me.

 

Can you let us know which games this technique appears in so we look them up in the databases? Or better yet why not publish the games that you are referring to.

akafett

I played a game recently in which I turned my opponent's fianchetto B into a sitting duck. I'll post it if you like.

Play2Lose

Two main ways to neutralise fianchettoed bishops; try and trade it off for you bishop which may leave weaknesses eg. if they played g6 and Bg7 you could play Be3 Qd2 and Bh6.  After the trade black's kingside dark squares are weakened due to the g6 move.

The other way is to block it.  As posted by Charetter a good way of doing this is setting  up a pawn chain along the bishop's diagonal.  This often leads to a scenario where the bishop is "biting on granite" ie.  it's not really putting meaningful pressure on the pawns and just lacks scope.  

You can also sometimes force your opponent to block their own bishop; eg. if they play g6 and Bg7 if you could somehow force them to play e5 they block their own bishop and this can sometimes be even more effective than blocking the bishop with your own pawns because your opponent may be able to capture your pawns, but he can't capture his own so in certain scenarios the bishop may be permanently blocked. 

DrFrank124c

Another way to deal with a fianchetto is to move all your own pieces and pawns off the diagonal so that the bishop is now biting on air. Now that I think about it Nimzovich writes about fianchettoed bishops in his book "My System."

CJ_P

Trade it for the rook in the corner while keeping the bishop pair.

I've done this in the dutch defense both otb and online blitz. It may not always be correct but it can lead to fun wild play

DrFrank124c

 Edward Lasker's book "Chess Strategy" is available for free on the internet.

 

https://ia600400.us.archive.org/30/items/chessstrategy05614gut/chsst10.txt

mcostan

tag for later.

DOD6666

 

This is how to mate a fianchetto castle. Obviously in a real game it will be harder to reach such a position as white wont make it this easy for you.

Pikelemi

This one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fianchetto-Solution-Complete-Flexible-Repertoire/dp/9056916637/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502356325&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=fienchetto

ToothlessTigerTim

One of the best ways is capturing the bishops. wb.pngbb.png

JonoKobal23

I find locking the centre works the best, especially if they try a Kings Indian.

Sea_TurtIe

so something like this?

Let_me_be_a_winner

nah just h4 when they play g6 wink.png. You create a pawn storm to break the defense and you simply keep attacking on king's side and castle queen side. Try to open files for your rooks and sac pawns if you need to. Avoid closing the position on kingside because you would be losing. I also like to have the bishop on c4 to help aid the attack by pinning the pawn on f7 to the king on g8. Last thing is to never ever trade queens.

JonoKobal23

I find the kingside attack creates too many weaknesses in my own position. I love your reasoning behind pinning the f7 pawn. Will keep this in mind. Thanks!

bidyutjorhat

With white you no need to worry much, but with black you should restrict it by your central pawn chain....