The Carlsbad & the Minority Attack

The Carlsbad structure (White: d4+e3, Black: c6+d5, from the Exchange QGD) hosts chess's most famous named plan — the MINORITY ATTACK:

White marches his a- and b-pawns (a MINORITY of two) against Black's a-, b-, c-pawn majority. The goal is not promotion — it's sabotage: after b4–b5 and the exchange on c6, Black is left with a BACKWARD pawn on c6, sitting on White's half-open c-file, guarded forever.

It sounds paradoxical — attacking where you have FEWER pawns — until you see that every trade the minority forces leaves the majority with a cripple.