Game Spotlight: Good Adventures

While unsupported attacks can be a bad thing, as mentioned last week, there is a way to turn them into a good strategy.  An “adventure” can be good if it creates weaknesses in your opponent’s position that you can exploit later.  The classic example of this is the main line of the Two Knights Defence:

White’s adventure with the Bishop and Knight has punched large holes in Black’s position, winning a pawn and isolating two more.  White’s strategy from this point onward needs to involve taking advantage of these weaknesses, either by tying down Black’s pieces to the isolated pawns and winning them, or by infiltrating Black’s position through the weakened files and diagonals.  (Black, as compensation, has freer piece play, and needs to use this to attack and get back their material.)  Let’s see this in action: