Temposchlucker: Pawns

 The previous post showed a holistic view of the chess game. I knew for long that I needed one, but was always too easy overwhelmed or distracted to concoct one. But since my tactical prowess is on the rise, I feel more confident to trust on my own conclusions.

The reason for a holistic logical framework is that it is a way to get feedback from my games. It is no problem how primitive or ridiculous or simplistic such framework currently is, since it is adjusted on the fly after every game. It is not supposed to be rigid, is is flexible by design. 

There are three directions you can follow in a game.

• Go for the King (Vukovic)
• Go for the pawns (Nimzowitsch)
• Go for the endgame (Arkell)

Go for the King

The PoPLoAFun system offers a good guide in this area. The nec plus ultra for the assault on the king is piece activity. The pawns form a LoA landscape. The squares around the king are the focal points (PoPs). The battle is for the domination of the lines of attack.

Chessable courses: 

All by CM Can Kabadayi

In the assault of the king is a clear decision moment. The moment before the preconditions of the attack are met and after that moment.

Before that moment, you must try to keep all three options open. When all preconditions are met, you can commit yourself to the attack. Usually that commitment shows itself by a committal pawn move that rules out the Nimzowitsch option (attack the pawns) and the Arkell option (convert to and ending).

The attack of the pawns must be worked out. Nimzowitsch describes a way to block or restraint the enemy pawn chain and to attack the chain from the base, thus encircling and weakening the pawn at the base. With options to blockade the pawns with pieces. I have no clear picture jet, but at least I know where to start. A pawn base is usually to be undermined with a pawn attack of your own.

Go for the endgame

GM Arkell chooses his openings based on the pawn structure. His positional play is governed by the pawns. He tries to trade most pieces without doing concessions to the pawn structure. This way he mostly plays risk free. He tries to get two attacks going, a minority attack on the queenside and a g-pawn push on the kingside.

Given the three options, I guess that pawn moves are the most difficult moves to master. At the same time, under positional pawn moves you probably will find the most multi purpose moves which can get you an advantage.

That seems to be a good weapon to get your positional things done. The pawns create the LoA landscape, and the LoA landscape tells you which pieces are promising and which pieces you won’t miss.