How to Use the Boleslavsky Hole to Beat the Sicilian

How can White continue the game?

You can see that, despite being up a pawn, Black has a lot of weaknesses. There’s the backward pawn on d6, which sits on the semi-open d-file. Also, the square in front of that pawn is weak (usually, squares in front of pawn weaknesses are great spots for a piece).

But there are two problems for White that stop them from placing a knight on the d5-square - which is a perfect outpost. Those problems are the knight on f6 and the bishop on c4.
So White simply removes them:

Now that White fully controls the center, they can choose where to attack. The best plan here is a pawn storm on the kingside.

You can check how White managed the attack on the kingside below:

LESSONS TO REMEMBER

• The Boleslavsky Hole is the weak d5-square in a typical Sicilian structure (Black pawns on d6 and e5).
• The square in front of a pawn weakness (like an isolated or backward pawn) is usually a great outpost for one of your pieces.
• When you're attacking a pawn weakness, step one is usually to block it so it can't move forward.
• With opposite-side castling, the default plan is to launch a pawn storm against the opponent’s king - faster wins!
• If you control the center, you can usually choose any area of the board to attack.