Last weekend was the MN High School championship tournament. I hung out in the Rochester room and went over a lot of games with the players.
In several games, players had lost because of lack of knowledge of fianchetto mating patterns, so I went over a few with each.
Today (Monday, April 2, 2012), the www.chessgames.com puzzle fits into some of what I was showing the students. White to move and win:
A fianchetto with a bishop in place can be more robust than a flat 3 pawns plus a knight, but not always. One advantage for the fianchetto is less vulnerability to a back rank mate with its built in ability to block the check with the bishop and the luft created if the bishop departs. But back rank issues do arise.
If we fiddle with the Polgar-Angelova game a bit we can create a position where still having the bishop does not help.
Bad things can happen even if your opponent no longer has a bishop to exploit the holes.
There are some patterns to learn to avoid if you like kingside fianchetto's like I do.
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