lichess.org
Donate

Early pawn moves

I am playing against a player rated around 1400.He plays an early h6 moves (or h3) as soon as I can pin it's knight.I am an attacking player.How do I defeat this?
These moves are (if anything) a small bonus for you, no more, no less. You can't "defeat" them immediately.

Be happy that your opponent might have wasted a tempo and weakened their king's position (but don't forget: sometimes a3/a6/h3/h6 make a lot of sense by giving other benefits),
but don't try to force some "refutation" because you think you stand better - the move probably didn't hurt your position, but it's only one tempo after all, not a piece-losing blunder, so you won't win the game off of it alone.
You can always go for a kingside attack by pushing your g and h pawns, if they've castled and committed to an early h3/h6
Later in the game you can exploit the forward h pawn if they castle on that side. Sometimes you can sacrifice a bishop for that pawn and blast open the king's defenses.

Depending on the position, but it can sometimes be worth just pulling back to a4/a5/h4/h5 to maintain the pin (just be careful not to trap your bishop). Sometimes your opponent will chase with the b/g pawn and create further weaknesses in their position. Attacking doesn't mean you won't often need to relocate your pieces in response to your opponent's threat.


Usually attacking players take the knight, to keep initiative and prevent castling kingside. It's not a terrible position for black though as he wins the bishop pair.

This topic has been archived and can no longer be replied to.