A very important feature of the position and one that we should pay special attention to during every game we play is the pawn structure and the changes that it might suffer throughout the game, as your plans should also change with it.
The study of the most important pawn formations will not only help you find the best plans during your game with ease, but you will also be able to choose correctly the type of position you want to achieve in relation to the pieces you have on the board.
Having active, well-coordinated pieces is all a chess player can dream about. It is one of the most important principles that you have to keep in mind during the game. Always improve your pieces and look for the most active squares they can occupy. Treat your pieces well and they will help you deliver the blow in the decisive moments. You will see how everything connects and every piece will have its specific and important role.
Pawn breaks are powerful tools that can change completely the character of a position. Generally, they are known to be freeing moves that help improve our position and are meant to create problems in our opponent’s – weaknesses, dangerous open files, etc. In positions with the isolated queen’s pawn specifically, the typical break that we learn from the very beginning is the advance of the central pawn.
Most chess players are all familiar with the concept of prophylaxis; it is one of the most important elements in the chess battlefield. By definition, prophylactic thinking means “to prevent the opponent’s plans beforehand”. Certainly easy to understand; however, as it happens with every chess concept it is much more difficult to play in practice.
There were many great players who developed a prophylactic style of play, the most notorious one being Tigran Petrosian, but before him, Aaron Nimzowitch had already mentioned the importance of not always thinking on the attack but make moves to safeguard your position instead.
It is never a good idea to disobey chess principles. Although we live in modern days, where the powerful engines have taught us that in chess the principles or “rules” are not always mandatory, for a human it’s helpful to have an understandable guide on how to play the opening phase.
Therefore, the principles are useful, shortlist of to-do things. Fight for the center, develop your pieces and secure your king by castling. However, sometimes this can get you into trouble without even noticing it.
Positional sacrifice is a very important topic for those who wish to take their positional understanding to the next level.
The importance of positional chess cannot be underestimated. It is a fundamental understanding of the game, it’s core principles and ideas. And it is one of the key reasons why Masters beat club players in almost every game. They simply read and interpret what’s happening on the board better.
A game of chess goes through many phases and changes. Every strategic game must be complemented by the good tactical vision. Every good attacking player needs to have good positional skills.
It doesn’t matter how great a positional player one is if tactical opportunities are missed. Just the same, there are many good attacking players who commit basic mistakes when it comes to playing a quiet, positional game.
The structure we are going to talk about in this lesson is, in fact, a form of hanging pawns.
From a strategic point of view, it represents a weakness for the side having it.
However, it can be successfully used in combination with a dynamic play.
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In every game we play, trading pieces in inevitable. However, this shouldn’t be done automatically and it is important to choose the right moment and the right pieces to trade.
Today we are going to talk about queens and when you should decide to trade them off and when to keep them on the board. As always in chess, there are no rules without exceptions, but we have tried to outline a few guidelines that could help you take the right decision in such a moment.
The Carlsbad pawn structure refers to the formation that arises usually, but not exclusively, from the Exchange Variation of the Queen’s Gambit.
It can also be reached from other Queen’s Pawn openings such as the Nimzo-Indian and Grunfeld.
We find the same structure, but this time with reversed colors, in the Exchange Variation of the Caro-Kann.
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