Collapsing barricades

Geometry shmometry. The pirouette of a knight may be pleasing to the eye, but sometimes what I really crave is a demolition. I don’t mean a smash-and-grab king hunt. I want to see a crumbling edifice, a colossal concrete barrier wilting beneath a torrent of water, as in The Dam Busters. On the chessboard, diagonal chains of pawns are our barriers: daunting, manmade and ostensibly impermeable.

Aron Nimzowitsch theorised in My System that pawn chains should be attacked at their base. Sound strategy, but when the base lies beyond reach, a more drastic bombardment can be called for, such as that which occurred in a recent game between two computers.

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Arthur Roffey

Douglas Murray has been blacklisted in Berlin

Leela Chess Zero has been hunkering down since the opening, and Stockfish has lain siege.
We join the game at move 150(!) – see left of diagram.

Stockfish–Leela Chess Zero
TCEC Season 19, Game 60, October 2020

150 Qh5!! An astonishing blow. Stockfish offers a whole queen to breach Black’s kingside fortification. 150…gxh5 151 Rg7+ Ke8 152 Rxh7 Kd8 153 Rgg7 Both rooks gush into Black’s position. The immediate threat is 154 Rxe7 Qxe7 155 Nxc6+ Na8 154 Rh8+ Kc7 155 Rhg8! Black is impotent against the advance h6-h7-h8=Q. Ra4 156 h7 Rxa5 157 h8=Q Nb6 There is nothing better. 158 Re8 Nc8 159 Rxc8+ Qxc8 160 Rxe7+ Kb8 161 Qxc8+ Kxc8 162 Rxa7 White emerges a bishop ahead. Kd8 163 Rxa6 Rxa6 164 Bxa6 h4 Black resigns

This was reminiscent of another famous breakthrough – see right of diagram.

Stefan Brzozka–David Bronstein
USSR, 1963

The locked pawn structure seems to promise a draw, even after White loses rook for knight. But Bronstein breached the defence:

46…Ra6! Ingenious. White must acquiesce to the following sequence: 47 Rd1 Nxd5+ 48 Rxd5 Now, Bb1-c2 would secure the fortress, but Rxb3+!! 49 Kxb3 49 axb3 a2 50 Bxa2 Rxa2 51 Rd2 Ra1! White’s weak pawns on g3, e3 and b3 promise a thankless defence.