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Outposts are squares in the opponent’s territory where a knight can be placed that is either immune from attack, or at least, very difficult to attack. Strategically, these knight outposts are like jamming a stick into a machine – they make it difficult for the opponent to manoeuvre without some sort of disadvantage. In the game I played today, a Grand Prix Attack, my outpost knight on d6 was important in creating winning chances, and then, a mating net even when I played inaccurately.

The idea of outposts weren’t really on my radar as a concrete strategy until I played this game. To be honest, my placing of the knight in that square was more of a happy accident than strategically planned, as demonstrated by my moving it out of that square temporarily, before recognising that it was indeed the best place for the knight. This is something that I’ll need to look for more deliberately in my future games. Also, I’ve been finding that I’ve been having good success with the Grand Prix Attack as a response to the Sicilian Defense. Along with the Vienna Game, this is now one of my favourite openings!

I hope you found this video interesting, and thanks for watching!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/38107802171

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2022.02.08"]
[Round "?"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "Eder_jpm"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "1272"]
[BlackElo "1288"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[EndTime "17:29:22 PST"]
[Termination "vitualis won by resignation"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 g6 4. Bc4 e6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. O-O Qc7 7. d3 Na5 8. e5  Nxc4 9. dxc4 b6 10. Nb5 Qc6 11. Nd6+ Kf8 12. Nb5 a6 13. Qd6+ Qxd6 14. Nxd6 Ne7 15. g4 f6 16. exf6 Bxf6 17. Ne4 Bg7 18. Rb1 Bb7 19. Nd6 Bc6 20. Ne5 Bxe5 21. fxe5+ Kg7 22. Rf7+ Kg8 23. Rxe7 Rf8 24. Bh6 Rf3 1-0