If you haven't yet, be sure to read the previous article in this series on the Minority Attack, or start right at the beginning.
Q: Do any openings guarantee a Minority Attack?
A: No, but certain opening lines greatly increase the chances of a minority attack occurring.
For those readers energised by Volokitin - Radjabov in the last article to play a minority attack game as quickly as possible, probably the most popular means of reaching a minority attack position right out of the opening is the Queen's Gambit Declined, Exchange Variation, resulting in the famous Carlsbad pawn structure:
It would be standard procedure for me to discuss that line here now. Instead, given Jamie has broached that subject already in his excellent Queen's Gambit blog post, I'd much rather examine the mirror structure that occurs in the Caro Kann Exchange Variation, as pictured here with black's heavy pieces on their ideal squares:
The queen and the rook on b8 support the ...b4 push, while the rook on c8 prevents white playing c4, in the event of ...b4, and targets the resulting backward c3 pawn. White, meanwhile looks to play on the kingside.
As Stean asks and answers about the similar two black pawns versus three white pawns on the queenside in the Sicilian, if the minority attack there is so strong
"Why doesn't black win every game? The problem is of course that white has a lead in development in the early stages, which may prove difficult to survive. Black's prospects lie later in the game when the winds of white's initiative have blown themselves out."
This is somewhat true for the Caro Carlsbad as well. But here, just as black must work harder than in the Sicilian to enact the minority attack, white will have to work much harder to generate kingside play. This is because the Sicilian features what could be described as an accelerated minority attack, with an instant half-open c-file and the a and b-pawns often immediately extended.
This pawn structure can, of course, arise from move orders other than via a pure Caro-Kann exchange variation. Here's an example of black forcing a transposition to the Carlsbad from the highest level of the modern game:
Magnus Carlsen - Viswanathan Anand. Chennai, 2013. World Championship. Game 2.
1.e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 de 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 6. h4 h6 7. Nf3 e6 8. Ne5 Bh7 9. Bd3 BxB 10. Qxd3 Nd7 11. f4 Bb4+ 12. c3 Be7 13. Bd2 Ngf6 14. 0-0-0 0-0 15. Ne4 Nxe4 16. Qxe4 Nxe5 17. fxe5 Qxd5!
And like that, black turns a mainline Caro into an exchange/Carlsbad structure. White is forced to exchange queens, owing to the attack on a2.
18. QxQ cxQ!
Giving black the half-open c-file and the conditions for a minority attack. Here white has castled queenside, so the minority attack is also a potential attack on the king.
19. h5
Essential. Here, with the kings castled on opposite sides, the attack on one flank must be answered with a counterattack on the other.
19... b5!
The minority attack here is also an attack on the king.
20. Rh3 a5 21. Rdf1
This move not only threatens f7 after a doubling of the rooks, in doing so, it prevents black from putting rooks on b8 and c8 and establishing the ideal position for the minority attack.
21... Rac8
The resulting small but necessary concession that keeps white in the game.
22. Rg3
Threatening Bxh6.
22... Kg7 23. Rgf3!
Threatening f7. Black has to repeat moves.
Kg8 24. Rg3 Kh7 25. Rgf3 Kg8
0.5-0.5
The threat of the minority attack was strong, but not so strong white couldn't find a way of generating kingside play.
Now, a Carlsbad in which black demonstrates the ingenuity required to realise his queenside play when his minority attack is frustrated by white. Witness the determination and precision required to go through the multiple phases (again, see The Transformation of Advantages) to win such a game against world class opposition. Further proof, if proof were needed, that not only is the minority attack not an 'easy' thing, but that understanding it in theory and winning with it in practice are two very different things.
Levon Aronian - Vladislav Artemiev. Chessable Masters, 2021.
1.e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. ed cd 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 Nf6 6. Bf4 Bg4 7. Qb3 Qd7 8. Nd2 e6 9. Ngf3 Bd6 10. Bxd6 Qxd6 11. 0-0 0-0 12. Rfe1 Qc7 13. Ne5 Nxe5 14. Rxe5 Bh5 15. a4
Anticipating and preventing the standard minority attack.
Black to play.
15... Bg6 16. Bxg6 hxg6 17. g3 Rab8 18. h4 Qa5!
Black intends to force through ...b5 despite white's pawn on a4 and Queen on b3.
19. Ree1 Rfc8
Bringing his second rook to its ideal square. When the b-file opens black will have the backward b-pawn to aim at. What does it matter if white takes on a7? If he loses b2, c3 becomes the typical backward pawn otherwise created by the minority attack.
20. Kg2 Qa6!?
20... b5 is playable here.
21. Nf3 b5
22. axb Qxb5 23. Qxb5 Rxb5 The next phase begins.
24. Re2 a5 25. Ne5 Kf8 26. Kf1 Rc7 27. Ke1 Ke7 28. Kd1 Ne4 29. Nd3 g5!
This liquidates the annoying h4 pawn that was impeding black's kingside pawn majority.
30. hxg Nxg5 31. Nc5 Ne4! 32. Nxe4 dxe4
Now it's the battle of the pawn majorities. But such is black's queenside pressure, only black's kingside majority can move.
33. Kc2 f5 34. b3 Kf6 35. c4 e5!
The decisive phase begins.
36. Rd2 ed 37. Rxd4 Kg5 38. Kb2 Re5 39. Kc3 Kg4 40. Re1 g5 41. Re3 Rce7 42. Rd8 f4!
The black king is heading to f3.
43. gxf4 gxf4 44. Rg8+ Rg5 45. Rxg5+ Kxg5 46. Re2 Kg4 47. c5 Kf3
The game enters the technical phase.
48. Ra2 e3 49. fxe3 fxe3 50. Rxa5 e2 51. Ra1 e1=Q+ 52. Rxe1 Rxe1 53. Kd4 Kf4 54. Kd5 Kf5 55. Kd6 Rd1+ 56. Ke7 Rc1 57. Kd6 Kf6 58. b4 Rd1+ 59. Kc7 Ke7 60. b5 Rd5 61. Kc6 Rh5
0-1
An awesome demonstration by black. Play through it. As with all of the Grandmaster games on this blog, a cursory examination does not do it justice. Only by playing through such games and seeking to understand why the Grandmasters play the moves they do - especially the moves we find mysterious - can we even hope to replicate their technique in our own games.