Pawn Structures II
More structures and the plans they call for: pawn chains, the Stonewall, pawn majorities, backward pawns and holes, doubled pawns, the Hedgehog and the Benoni.
This course continues Pawn Structures and Plans with seven more structures. Each one decides where the play belongs: which pawn to push, which square to fight for, which weakness to aim at.
Each lesson takes one structure and its plan, then gives a checklist: the conditions the plan needs, each shown in a position where it works and one where the same idea fails. Then the plan move by move, a model game where one could be checked, and positions to solve.
Lessons
- 1Pawn Chains: Attack the BaseLocked pawn chains decide where each side plays. Attack the chain at its base, the one pawn no other pawn protects, and do it before the opponent's attack on the other wing arrives.
- 2Playing Against the StonewallBlack's pawns on c6, d5, e6 and f5 build a wall and give Black the e4-square. The price is the e5-square and a bad light-squared bishop. Challenge the knight on e4, take back on e5 the right way, and put your own knight there.
- 3Pawn Majorities: Healthy Against CrippledA pawn majority is worth something only if it can make a passed pawn. In the Exchange Ruy Lopez, White's kingside majority can; Black's, with doubled c-pawns, struggles to. Trade the pieces, and the pawn ending decides.
- 4The Backward Pawn and the HoleWhen Black plays …e5 in the Sicilian, the d6-pawn becomes backward and d5 becomes a hole. Trade the pieces that guard d5, put a knight there, and keep one there.
- 5Doubled PawnsDoubled pawns cannot protect each other. In the Nimzo-Indian Sämisch, White gets the bishop pair and a centre for them; Black blockades, then aims everything at the front pawn on c4.
- 6The HedgehogPawns on a6, b6, d6 and e6, pieces behind them: the Hedgehog looks passive, but it is full of energy. Wait, prepare, and break with …b5 or …d5 at the right moment, never before.
- 7The BenoniIn the Modern Benoni White has a central majority, Black a queenside one. Restrain Black's …b5, press on the weak d6-pawn, and break with e4–e5 when your pieces are ready, not before.
How these lessons were checked
Every position is reached from a real opening line, so every board is legal and every move can be replayed. Plans change the evaluation by fractions of a pawn, so this course uses smaller margins than the attacking course: every recommended move is within 0.3 pawns of Stockfish's first choice at depth 22; a move shown as working is the engine's choice and keeps an edge; one shown as failing is at least half a pawn worse than the engine's move; and every exercise has a single solution, at least half a pawn better than any other move. Every number in the text comes from the engine.