Queenside attacks
The wing where nobody is castled, which changes everything about how the attack is conducted and what it is actually trying to win.
- 120 positions in the course
- Difficulty 708–2352
- Section: Attacking
- 5 levels
What a queenside attack is for
Because the enemy king is usually elsewhere, a queenside attack rarely aims at mate. It aims at a weakness: a backward pawn, an open file, a square for a knight, a passed pawn that will matter in the endgame.
The classic form is the minority attack -- advancing two pawns against three to provoke a weakness in the enemy structure, then occupying it. It is one of the few genuinely long-term plans in chess that works at club level, because the resulting weakness does not go away.
How to spot it
- Look at the pawn structure first. A queenside attack is a structural operation, not a piece operation.
- Find the pawn break -- usually b4-b5 or c4-c5 -- and ask what weakness it creates in their camp.
- Occupy the file it opens before you push anything else.
- Check that the kingside is safe enough to spend six moves elsewhere. That is the usual refutation.
Three queenside operations
Three positions from the 120 in this skill, easiest first. The highlighted squares are the move your opponent has just played. Work it out before you open the answer.
Position 1
Black to move. Find the best move.
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26.d5 26...Qxc2#
The line ends in checkmate. The move shown is about a file, a square or a pawn weakness rather than about the enemy king, which is what makes queenside play different.
The position comes from an endgame of a real game, rated 783 for difficulty. The answer reaches checkmate.
Position 2
Black to move. Find the best move.
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30.Bxb8 30...Bb2+ 31.Kb1 31...Nc3#
The line ends in checkmate. The move shown is about a file, a square or a pawn weakness rather than about the enemy king, which is what makes queenside play different.
The position comes from the middlegame of a real game, rated 1354 for difficulty. The answer reaches checkmate.
Position 3
White to move. Find the best move.
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17...f5 18.Bxd7+ Rxd7 19.Qxh8+
The line wins a rook. The move shown is about a file, a square or a pawn weakness rather than about the enemy king, which is what makes queenside play different.
The position comes from the middlegame of a real game, rated 1872 for difficulty. The answer reaches a winning advantage.
Defending the queenside
The standard counter to a slow wing attack is a break in the centre. Queenside operations take many moves and a central break is faster; if you can open the middle, the attacker's pieces are usually on the wrong side of the board.
If you cannot, the alternative is a counter-attack on the kingside, where the enemy king actually lives. Trading blows on opposite wings usually favours whoever is attacking the king.
Questions people ask
What is a minority attack?
Advancing a smaller group of pawns against a larger one -- typically two against three on the queenside -- in order to force a weakness in the opponent's pawn structure, then attacking the weak pawn or the square it leaves.
Why attack on the queenside at all if the king is elsewhere?
Because the target is not the king. It is a permanent structural weakness or a passed pawn, both of which persist into the endgame in a way that a failed kingside attack does not.
Nearby patterns
Queenside Attack sits in Attacking. The rest of that section: