Removing the Cover

The pawn cover in front of the castled king can be demolished from a distance: h2-h4-h5 fixes the structure, and the exchange on g6 leaves the king bare. The chapter follows Botvinnik's idea in the classical King's Indian structure — once the cover is removed, the f7-f5 advance becomes risky and the attacker is handed the g5 square.

The position in the diagram is typical. Such a pawn structure arises in many systems. Black's plan is the f7-f5 advance. After the exchange on f5 (otherwise the attack f5-f4, g6-g5-g4), the two black pawns are ready to drive back the white pieces and revive the g7 bishop. And the king will go to h8, under the cover of the h7 pawn, freeing the "g"-file. Botvinnik's idea is to remove the cover by h2-h4-h5-hxg6, after which the f7-f5 advance is very risky. Besides, White get the g5 square.