Pawns Adventures Episode 2

Posted on February 28, 2012 by iPlayooChess in Beginner's Corner, Classic Games (Pre 2010), General Chess Articles, Strategy & Game Review

There would be no chess without humble and courageous pawns and their heroic sacrifice in chess battles everywhere.

The Sacred Work of Pawns

For starters, the pawns, supported by friendly units behind them, are used to create strong points in the center early in the opening. The central pawn structure and well-protected strongholds guard important squares and generally prevent the other warring side from expanding and conquering your territory. The solid pawn set-up in the center restricts the enemy actions and reduces fighting potential of the opposing army overall by imposing restraint on them (there is a law that anything which is fixed and immobile tends to grow weak).

This follows the main strategic principle of any conflict: Put the brake on the enemy, use restraint whenever possible while aiming to generate greater freedom of action and movement for your pieces. And how can you do that? By advancing your pawns which creates room for maneuver for your men regrouping behind and preparing for the upcoming battle. The more space you make by forcing your infantry, the more active and mobile become your fighting units. As you know from here, mobility and and maneuverability are one of the central principles of warfare.

Pawns E and F (I remain deeply indebted to Samuel Bak for his fascinating chess art collection). By the way, the E-pawn deserves to be put on the pedestal for his genuine greatness shown in the chess battle below

For these reasons it is important for your pawn formation to remain mobile, possibly in the center and on the wings. With a mobile center you create ground for the next stage of the battle — moving your troops forward by breaking through in the center. Sometimes, this thrust is supported by pieces, other times the pawns simply sacrifice themselves for a higher aim.

The breakthrough in the center achieves several objectives: pawns clear communications and open lines for rooks and bishops situated behind which up to this point have been restricted by their own infantry. This is also a preparation for the invasion into the enemy camp.

At the same time, the pawns, having vacated the central squares, enable the slow-moving cavalry to occupy important strategic outposts and join the attack.

On top of everything, by crossing the middle-line, attacking pawns drive back enemy units and disrupt their coordination (breaking the enemy’s lines of communications is the second principle of warfare by the venerable strategist Sun Tzu, On War, c. 500 B.C.).

No pawns, no chess!

For all these achievements your foot soldiers should be revered. You should “therefore come to realize that the main actors in the game of chess are the pawns. The pieces without pawns on the board would not battle for long. Were it not for the pawns, there would be no game. You and I would not have played chess: without pawns, how can there be any strategy, any creative, far-reaching plans, any defensive fortifications or mobile pawn ranks for offensive aims!”

“And this is only the very minimum of that for which pawns exist in chess, and the minimum of those tasks which you and I must resolve, before deciding which pawn to move when and where.” — David Bronstein, The modern chess self-tutor, Cadogan Chess 1995.

Hey, too much talk here! Yet, this is so important if you want to improve in chess. Let’s examine a game (Pilnik – Geller, Gothenburg 1955) to see what marvelous things pawns can do for you and your pieces. The commentary by A. Sokolsky, from his Pawns in motion, Moscow, 1962 (just checked online, there is the English translation Pawns in action, publisher The chess player, 1976).

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.O-O O-O 9.Be3 Be6 10.Bf3 a5 11.Nd5 Bxd5 12.exd5 Nb8 13.c4 Na6 14.Bd2 b6 15.Bc3 Nc5 16.Nxc5 bxc5 17.Qe1 Nd7 18.Bd1 a4 19.Bc2 f5 20.Rd1 g6 21.Qe2 Bf6 22.f3

Pilnik-Geller, Gothenburg 1955 (after 22.f3)

Black has better chances: he has a pawn more in the center and a mobile pawn mass on the K-side (meanwhile, White cannot easily use his pawn majority on the Q-side).

What plan may Black work out here? Should he play f5-f4 and then force the g-pawn to open lines on the K-side where he has the space advantage?

Of course not! The advance f5-f4 would make white squares weak and reduce the scope of the dark-squared bishop. This will devalue the structural advantage the Black’s pawn formation possess. White would respond with Be4 and block the e-pawn.

The general set-up in this position calls for the advance e5-e4 which opens way for the K-bishop and, importantly, by vacating the central e5-square, this push will secure a magnificent post for the knight. If Black wants to make preparations for this breakthrough (by playing Qe7 and Rae8), Black can respond with Re1. However, the a4-pawn is under pressure and the solution should be quick.

22…e4!! 23.Bxf6 Qxf6 24.fxe4 f4 25.Rf2 Ne5

Position after 25...Ne5

The results of the positional pawn sacrifice are now quite evident. The knight occupies an ideal post, while the bishop is restricted by its friendly pawns. With his pawns superiority on the K-side, Black can launch a pawn offensive there. The extra e4-pawn is securely blocked having only harmful effect as the bishop is suffocated behind the pawn wall. White has no counterplay!

26.Rdf1 Qh4 27.Bd1 Rf7 28.Qc2 g5 29.Qc3 Raf8 30.h3 h5 31.Be2 g4 32.Rxf4 Rxf4 33.Rxf4 Rxf4 34.g3 Nf3+ 35.Kf2 Qxh3 36.gxf4 g3 37.Kxf3 g2 38.Kf2 Qh2 0-1

Long live the pawns!

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Momir Radovic is a chess instructor at Kennesaw State University. He maintains a chess blog at http://iplayoochess.wordpress.com/