The Importance of Creating Outposts

A very important concept to understand and dominate very well is the concept of outpost.
Every player who wishes to improve his level must recognize the outposts in the position right
away and of course make the best to exploit this element to his advantage.

An outpost is any square thats beyond your 4th rank to the 7th, that cannot be attacked by an
enemy pawn and that you can use to your benefit by placing a piece in that square. Usually the
strongest piece is a knight, as it controls more squares inside the enemy's territory.

We should also mention that the most effective outposts are those in the central files, C,D,E,F
for obvious reasons. For example, a knight on e6 or on d6 is much more annoying to your
opponent than a knight on a6. Nevertheless, everything is relative in chess, so the real value of
your outpost will be determined only by the influence it has on the position, not necessarily by
the location.

How to create an outpost?

During the game both sides fight for the same. After every pawn move there is usually a weak
square left, defended only by pieces. The task is to eliminate those pieces in order to occupy
that weak square with one of your pieces later on. Another possible way to do this is by forcing
the advance of your opponent's pawns.

This can be done by exchanges or by pawn attacks; the advance of your opponent's pawns
leave weakness that can be exploited.

Importance:

The positive side of having a piece that can't be attacked by your opponent is obvious it
exerts permanent pressure on your opponent's camp and he can't get rid of it. Controlling an
outpost not only helps on the attack, but it can also serve to block your opponent's open files.

Before we move on to the examples, there is one thing our readers must take into account an
outpost is just a means to an end, not the goal itself. It will only be good if it harms the
opponent's position; if not, it's irrelevant.

Let's see now some examples in which the element we are studying took place at some point.
We will see some positions in which one side used the outpost to his advantage and others
where it wasn't so effective. Study them closely and see the difference.

Knights need outposts

Aron Nimzowitsch vs Lajos Steiner
Niendorf, Germany (1927) Spanish Game: Steinitz Defense. Nimzowitsch Attack (C62) 1-0
 10 Nf3-h4, 12 Nh4-f5 the knight heads for e4-pawn's f5-outpost

1. e4 Notes by Nimzowitsch 1... e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 d6 5. d4 Bd7 6. Bc6 Bc6 7.
Qd3 Nd7 8. Be3 ed4 9. Bd4 Black's difficulty is not so much the problem of the pawn-center as
the fact that White's centralized bishop keeps the g-pawn under fire. 9... f6? The move appears
to us to be the decisive mistake. The correct continuation was 9...Nc5 at once, e.g., 10 Qe2
Ne6 11 O-O-O Be7 12 Nd5 O-O 13 Bc3 Re8 followed by ...Bf8 with entirely sufficient central
effect. Or else 12...Bxd5 (instead of O-O) 13 exd5 Nxd4 14 Nxd4 O-O with ...Bf6 and Black has
a good game. 10. Nh4 A diversion in no way premature. 10... Nc5 11. Qe2 Ne6 12. Nf5 Now
Black can longer obtain a satisfactory development; e.g., 12...Be7? 13 Nd5 Bxd5 14 exd5 Nxd4
15 Nxd4 with decisive control of e6. 12... Qd7 Futile would be 12...g6 because of 13 O-O-O Kf7
14 Qc4. 13. O-O Not merely a developing but also a waiting move. for Black is in all
circumstances compelled to create a new weakness if he wishes to arrive at a reasonable
development, and White van afford to wait until Black decides to play ...a6 or ...b6. Therefore
13 O-O, which looks like a developing move, was in a reality a tentative waiting move 13... b6
The alternative 13...a6 also had its drawbacks. Entirely bad, however, would be : 13...O-O-O,
e.g. : 14 Bxa7 b6 15 a4 Kb7 16 a5 Kxb7 17 axb6+ Kb8 18 Ra7 Bb7 (the only move) 19 Rxb7+
Kxb7 20 Ra1 cxb6 21 Qa6+ Kc6 22 Qb5+ Kb7 23 Qd5+ Qc6 24 Ra7+ and wins. Instead of
creating a weakness by ...a6 or ...b6 a Steinitz would no doubt have tried 13...Be7, e.g. : 14
Nd5 Bd8 15 c4 O-O 16 Bc3 Re8 and the black position is terribly constricted, yet not easy to
undermine. 14. a4 Now everything is set. 14... a5 15. Nd5 Nd4 If 15...O-O-O 16 Bxb6. 16. Nd4
Bb7 17. Ne6 Rc8 18. Qh5 g6 19. Nf6 Kf7 20. Nd7 gh5 21. Ndf8 It is clear that Black's game
could have been held, as shown by 9...Nc5 and perhaps later even with 13...Be7 and 14...Bd8
(though this required the defensive powers of a Steinitz). Also 10...Ne5 possessed strength.
Giving up the center is not necessarily a catastrophe.

Karl Gilg vs Aron Nimzowitsch

"Oh, What a Knight" (game of the day Aug-06-12)
Karlsbad (1929) Indian Game: Yusupov-Rubinstein System (A46) 0-1

Black knight pair uses outposts on the c4-, e4-, f5-squares

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 c5 4. Bd3 b6 5. O-O Bb7 6. Nbd2 Nc6 7. c3 Be7 8. a3 O-O 9. e4 d6

10. Re1 Rc8 11. Nf1 Re8 12. Ng3 d5 13. e5 Nd7 14. b4 Nf8 15. Ne2 Nb8 16. h3 Qd7 17. Rb1
Ba6 18. Ba6 Na6 19. Bg5 Nc7 20. Be7 Qe7 21. Qb3 Ng6 22. g3 f6 23. ef6 Qf6 24. Kg2 Rf8 25.
Neg1 cd4 26. cd4 Nb5 27. Qe3 Rc2 28. Re2 Re2 29. Ne2 Nd6 30. Neg1 Nf5 31. Qd2 Nd6 32.
Rc1 Ne4 33. Qe3 Qd8 34. Ne2 Ne7 35. Rf1 Nf5 36. Qd3 Qf6 37. Nd2 Ned6 38. Nf3 Nc4 39. Rc1
Nfe3 40. fe3 Qf3 41. Kh2 Ne3.

Peter Leko vs Levon Aronian

Linares 2006 (2006) Spanish Game: Closed Variations (C88) 0-1

21 .. Ng6-f4 knight settles into f4-outpost provided by e5-pawn

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4 b4 9. d3 d6
10. a5 Be6 11. Nbd2 Qc8 12. Nc4 Rb8 13. Bg5 Kh8 14. h3 Ng8 15. c3 bc3 16. bc3 f5 17. Ba4
fe4 18. Bc6 ef3 19. Be7 Ne7 20. Bf3 Ng6 21. Bg4 Nf4 22. Ra2 Qb7 23. Bf3 Qb3 24. Rc2 Nd3 25.
Qd3 Qc4 26. Qc4 Bc4 27. Bc6 Rb3 28. g3 g5 29. Re3 Ra3 30. Be4 Ra5 31. g4 Bd5 32. f3 Be4
33. fe4 Ra1 34. Kg2 Rff1 35. Ree2 Rg1 36. Kh2 Rh1 37. Kg3 Rag1 38. Rg2 Re1 39. Rgf2 Re3
40. Kg2 Reh3

Jan Willem te Kolste vs Aron Nimzowitsch

Baden-Baden (1925) Nimzowitsch Defense: Scandinavian. Advance Variation (B00) 0-1

26 .. Ne7-d5 Black establishes his knights in outposts on d5,f5

1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 f6 4. f4 Bf5 5. Ne2 e6 6. Ng3 fe5 7. fe5 Qd7 8. Nf5 ef5 9. Bb5 a6 10.
Be2 g6 11. O-O Bh6 12. Bh6 Nh6 13. Qd2 Qg7 14. Nc3 Ne7 15. Bf3 Rd8 16. Ne2 g5 17. c4 O-O
18. Qb4 c6 19. g3 f4 20. gf4 g4 21. Bg2 Nhf5 22. Qb3 dc4 23. Qc4 Kh8 24. Qc3 h5 25. Rad1 h4
26. Rd3 Nd5 27. Qd2 Rg8 28. Bd5 cd5 29. Kh1 g3 30. hg3 hg3 31. Kg2 Nh4 32. Kg1 Rdf8 33.
Ng3 Qg3 34. Rg3 Rg3 35. Kh2 Rg7 36. Qd3 Rfg8 37. Rf3 Nf3 38. Qf3 Rh7

Rob Bertholee vs Judit Polgar

Amsterdam Euwe-mem (1990) English Opening: Symmetrical. Two Knights Variation (A35) 0-1

25 - b7-b5! creates beautiful outpost on d5 for Black f6-knight

1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 e5 4. e3 Nf6 5. d4 cd4 6. ed4 e4 7. Ne5 Bb4 8. Be2 Qa5 9. Nc6 dc6
10. O-O Bc3 11. bc3 Qc3 12. Rb1 O-O 13. Rb3 Qa5 14. Rg3 Bf5 15. h4 e3 16. Re3 Rfe8 17. Qb3
Qc7 18. h5 Bg4 19. Bg4 Re3 20. Qe3 Ng4 21. Qf4 Qf4 22. Bf4 Rd8 23. Rd1 h6 24. f3 Nf6 25. g4
b5 26. cb5 cb5 27. Be5 Nd5 28. Rc1 f6 29. Bg3 b4 30. Rc5 Nc3 31. a3 Ne2 32. Kf2 Ng3 33. Kg3
Rd4 34. Ra5 b3 35. Ra7 Rb4 36. ab4 b2 37. Ra5 b1Q 38. Rf5 Qb4 39. Kg2 Kf7 40. Kf2 Ke6 41.
Kg2 Qb2 42. Kg3 Qb1 43. Rf4 Qb8

ROOK OUTPOST ON AN OPEN FILE

Anatoly Karpov vs Garry Kasparov
Kasparov - Karpov World Championship Match (1990) Gruenfeld Defense: Exchange
Variation (D85) 1-0

26 Rc1-c6! exploits outpost on open c-file from White d5-pawn

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cd5 Nd5 5. e4 Nc3 6. bc3 Bg7 7. Be3 c5 8. Qd2 O-O 9. Nf3 Bg4
10. Ng5 cd4 11. cd4 Nc6 12. h3 Bd7 13. Rb1 Rc8 14. Nf3 Na5 15. Bd3 Be6 16. O-O Bc4 17.
Rfd1 b5 18. Bg5 a6 19. Rbc1 Bd3 20. Rc8 Qc8 21. Qd3 Re8 22. Rc1 Qb7 23. d5 Nc4 24. Nd2
Nd2 25. Bd2 Rc8 26. Rc6 Be5 27. Bc3 Bb8 28. Qd4 f6 29. Ba5 Bd6 30. Qc3 Re8 31. a3 Kg7 32.
g3 Be5 33. Qc5 h5 34. Bc7 Ba1 35. Bf4 Qd7 36. Rc7 Qd8 37. d6 g5 38. d7 Rf8 39. Bd2 Be5 40.
Rb7
 Anatoly Karpov vs Judit Polgar
Las Palmas (1994) King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation. Uhlmann-Szabo System (E62) 1-0

26 Re1xBe6 White e1-rook occupies e6-outpost on open e-file

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O Nc6 7. Nc3 e5 8. d5 Ne7 9. e4 Nd7
10. Ne1 f5 11. Nd3 Nf6 12. Bg5 fe4 13. Ne4 Nf5 14. Re1 h6 15. Nf6 Bf6 16. Bd2 Kh7 17. Bc3
Bd7 18. c5 b6 19. c6 Be8 20. f4 ef4 21. Nf4 Bf7 22. Qd3 Bc3 23. bc3 Qg5 24. h4 Qf6 25. Ne6
Be6 26. Re6 Qg7 27. h5 Ne7 28. Rae1

Viswanathan Anand vs Garry Kasparov

"Anand Sequitur" (game of the day Oct-13-05)
Kasparov - Anand World Championship Match (1995) Sicilian Defense: Scheveningen. Classical
Variation (B84) 1-0

27 Rd1-d5! Nf6xRd5?? 28 e4xd5 creates protected passed d5-pawn

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cd4 4. Nd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e6 7. O-O Be7 8. a4 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O
10. f4 Qc7 11. Kh1 Re8 12. Bf3 Bd7 13. Nb3 Na5 14. Na5 Qa5 15. Qd3 Rad8 16. Rfd1 Bc6 17.
b4 Qc7 18. b5 Bd7 19. Rab1 ab5 20. Nb5 Bb5 21. Qb5 Ra8 22. c4 e5 23. Bb6 Qc8 24. fe5 de5
25. a5 Bf8 26. h3 Qe6 27. Rd5 Nd5 28. ed5 Qg6 29. c5 e4 30. Be2 Re5 31. Qd7 Rg5 32. Rg1 e3
33. d6 Rg3 34. Qb7 Qe6 35. Kh2

Magnus Carlsen vs Zhao Zong-Yuan

World Chess Cup (2007) Bogo-Indian Defense: Nimzowitsch Variation (E11) 1-0

25 Rc7-c6! Bb5xRc6 26 d5xc6 convert rook outpost into c6-passer

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. d4 Bb4 4. Bd2 Qe7 5. g3 Nc6 6. Nc3 Bc3 7. Bc3 Ne4 8. Qc2 Nc3 9. Qc3
O-O 10. Bg2 d6 11. d5 Nb8 12. O-O e5 13. c5 Bg4 14. Rac1 a5 15. Rfe1 Na6 16. cd6 cd6 17.
Nd2 b6 18. Qe3 Nc5 19. b3 Bd7 20. a3 Bb5 21. b4 ab4 22. ab4 Nd7 23. Ne4 Rfb8 24. Rc7 Qd8
25. Rc6 Bc6 26. dc6 d5 27. cd7 de4 28. Be4 Ra4 29. Bc6 Rb4 30. Qe5 Qf8 31. Rd1 Rd8 32. Rd3
Rg4 33. Re3 Rg6 34. Qe7 Re6 35. Re6 fe6 36. Qe6

The Octopus Knight

A. Karpov vs. G. Kasparov
World Championship Match-16th game | Moscow | 1985 | 0-1

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4Nc6 5. Nb5 d6 6. c4 Nf6 7. N1c3 a68. Na3 d

5?! The mentioned gambit.9. cxd5 exd5 10. exd5 Nb411. Be2!

Karpov's new move, but Kasparov had a suprise waiting. 11 Bc4 Bg4! had lead to a
short draw in the 12th game of the match.
11... Bc5?! A fantastic idea lies behind this move, as well as a tactical flaw. Better was
11...Nbxd5 12 0-0 Be7 13 Nxd5 Nxd5 14 Bf3 Be6 15 Nc2.
12. O-O?!12 Be3! Bxe3 13 Qa4+ refutes Black's idea, and retains the extra pawn
without falling into a bind.
12... O-O 13. Bf3 After 13 Bg5 Nbxd5 14 Nxd5 Qxd5 15 Bxf6 Qxd1 16 Rxfd1 gxf6,
black should drasw easily.
13... Bf5!Preventing the knight from returning via c2 and securing d3 for his own
knight.
14. Bg514 Be3 Bxe3 15 fxe3 Qb6 was an alternative, and leads to an unclear
position. 14... Re8!Black's plan unfolds smoothly, as he now secures the e4-square
before playing b5.
15. Qd2White should be returning the pawn by now, like with 15 Nc4!?. Then 15...Bd3
16 a3 Bxc4 17 axb4 Bxb4 18 Re1 Rxe1+ 19 Qxe1 with complicated play.15... b5!The
knight is now denied c4, and the pawn fork b4 is now a threat.
16. Rad1Alternatives were 16 Qf4 Bg6 17 Bxf6 Qxf6 18 Qxf6 gxf6 or 16 d6 Ra7 17
Rad1. 16... Nd3!
17. Nab1?Karpov drifts, not noticing what his position will soon be like. Better was 17
d6, although the exchange sacrifice 17...Qxd6! 18 Bxa8 Rxa8 is good for
black. 17... h6!A good time to nudge the bishop, as it cannot drop back to e3.
18. Bh418 Be3?! gives black a choice between 18...Rxe3!? 19 fxe3 Qb6 or 18...Bxe3 19
fxe3 Qb6 20 Be2 Rxe3 21 Kh1 Bg6. 18... b4!Now that h6 has been gotten in, this exiles
the knight to a4.
19. Na4Or 19 Ne2 g5! 20 Bxg5 Nxf2 21 Rxf2 Bxf2+ 22 Kxf2 hxg5 23 Qxg5+ Bg6 24
Nd2, after which black must play energetically to exploit white's position.19... Bd6

20. Bg320 Qc2? loses to 20...Rc8 21 Qb3 Nf4 22 Rc1 Rxc1 23 Rxc1 g5! 24 Bg3
g4. 20... Rc8!20...Ne4? allows 21 Bxe4 Bxe4 22 Qe3, when white has no problems.

21. b3Now 22 Nb2 is intended, after which white will slowly unravel his
pieces. 21... g5!!The first sign that things have gone badly for Karpov. White's pieces
will soon have no mobility.

22. Bxd622 Nb2? loses to 22...Nxb2 23 Qxb2 g4 24 Be2 Rc2 winning the
bishop. 22... Qxd6

23. g3Now again black is faced with the threat of Nb2. 23... Nd7!!

24. Bg224 Nb2 Qf6!! is good for black: 25 Nxd3 Bxd3 26 Bg4 Ne5! gives him a large
advantage.24... Qf6!Black's masterplan has reduced white to a state of helplessness.
25. a3 a5 26. axb4 axb4 27. Qa2Only to bring a knight to d2 (where it does
nothing), this move shows white's helplessness.27... Bg6!Opening a line to f2 and
preventing white's active ideas.
28. d6If white does nothing, then black will have no problem finding a way to make
progress. 28 Nd2 Re2 and f2 collapeses.28... g4!Black is not interested in the pawn
(28...Qxd6? 29 Nf2) and nails down the light squares near white's king instead.

29. Qd2Back again, mission unaccomplished. 29... Kg7There is no rush, white can do
nothing constructive.

30. f3Short of time, Karpov breaks out to see what is in store for him.30... Qxd6This
frees the d7-knight for more active service.

31. fxg431 Qb2+ is more tenacious, but it would not have changed
anything. 31... Qd4+

32. Kh1Nf6!Threatening 33...Ne4 or 33...Nxg4.

33. Rf433 h3 gives black a choice between 33...Re3 or 33...Ne4. 33... Ne4!

34. Qxd3The knight survived for 18 moves on d3, and played a major role in destroying
white's position. 34... Nf2+

35. Rxf235 Kg1 Nh3++ 36 Kh1 Qxd3 37 Rxd3 Re1+ 38 Bf1 Nxf4 also loses for white.
35... Bxd3 36. Rfd2 Qe3! 37. Rxd3Rc1! 38. Nb2 Qf2! 39. Nd2Rxd1+39...Re2!
actually mates next move.
40. Nxd1 Re1+White resigns.