Pawns play an important part of every chess game. Although they are have the lowest point value of all the chessmen on the board, they provide a line of defense as well as being a source for an offensive battle, often setting the tempo of a game.
Here we are going to discuss basic pawn strategy while briefly covering pawn structure, doubled pawns, the pawn chain, passed pawns, and lastly pawn weakness. Use these basic pawn strategies as a guidelines while you play, and you will quickly improve your game play and skills.
An introduction to pawn structure.
The pawn is the foot soldier of chess. Unlike the other chessmen on the board, the pawns can move in only one direction, and that direction is forward. As the pawns move forward, they open up diagonals for the bishops to move, offer protection for other pieces, and often lead the way for attacks. Pawns often pry open an opponents' kingside, but they can also spell disaster when they become unprotected, weak, and are easily subject to capture.
If a pawn is successful in reaching the final rank during play, it can then transform itself into any other piece it chooses to be, the most common choice is a pawn into a Queen. You are allowed to have more than one Queen on the board, albeit, it is very rare for a pawn to advance to the final rank, or to see more than two Queens on the board. If you are fortunate enough to advance a pawn to the final rank, and have more than one Queen, either borrow a Queen from another chess set, or if you have a captured Rook, turn it upside down. Chess players understand that an upside down Rook represents a second Queen.
In the diagram to the left, white's pawns are considered very strong despite the fact that they have not yet moved. In chess speak, we say that there are no pawn weaknesses in the white camp. By contrast, all the pawns in the black camp are isolated, and therefore making them weak. This is because without any additional captures, it is not possible for any of the black pawns to protect each other. As a game progresses you should generally try to keep your pawns coordinated.
General rule of thumb, try not to double your Pawns.
When Pawns wind up one in front of the other, we refer to them as doubled Pawns. Generally, doubled Pawns happen after a capture has occurred, and only a Pawn can recapture. There are exceptions, but you should most often try to recapture with a piece in order to avoid the weakness of doubled pawns.
As you can see in the diagram to the right, black has not one, but two sets of doubled pawns. Whites strategy quickly becomes clear, White will first double the rooks on the c-file. Black will need to respond to this attack to protect his pawns from being captured using the black rooks. Black is now faced with having to defend the c-pawns rather than actively pursuing an attack upon the white pawns, there by loosing tempo in the game.
In most situations you will be able to take advantage of thier weakness, and capture these weak pawns once all of your chessmen are well developed. This being the case, it is worth noting that you should generally not be in a hurry, or ruch to attack these weaknesses. Keep in mind that weaknesses such as doubled pawns are known as 'structural weaknesses,' in that these weaknesses usually will be there for the duration of the game. However, if a clear win is a result by capture of a weak Pawn, by all means do so.
The Pawn structures often define the ways in which the middle game battle will be carried out. In many openings, the Pawns form chains of Pawns. In order to understand the nature of the Pawn chain, often use the somewhat violent analogy to shooting ducks. When ducks fly overhead in formation, the best strategy for a large holiday meal is to shoot at the bird in the rear. The other birds may hear the shot, but they won't actually see that the duck in the rear was shot.
This analogy is used in chess, to learn that the pawn in the rear of the chain is the weakest of the pawns, precisely because the other pawns can no longer protect it. So, just like in our duck hunting analogy, the best strategy therefore is often to aim your attack at the rear of your opponents pawn chain. In the diagram above, black has prepared, and will now play the Pawn ...c5. Now, if white should capture this c-pawn, you can see that both of whites pawns will be weak, and subject to capture.
The diagram to the right shows a more practical example of attacking the pawn in the rear. White, in this attack, moves the pawn to e6 where it attacks the base of the black pawn chain. If black captures the pawn, white will be able to respond with Qxg6 check! You can now see this is a strong move by whites pawn, that by attacking blacks rear pawn, puts the blacks King at a disadvantage, and highly likely to being put into check.
Passed Pawns like to be pushed.
Just as rooks become more powerful on open files and the value of the knight increases towards the center, so too the pawn becomes more powerful and more threatening as it nears the queening square on the final rank. You will often find that your opponent will have to give up a knight, a bishop, or sometimes more in order to prevent a pawn from reaching the queening square.
In the diagram above, the white pawn on e6 is a very powerful weapon in no small part because white has placed a queen to help guide in the pawn. After white pushes the pawn, black must give up the knight immediately or else a rook when the pawn reaches the e8-queening square.
Every pawn move creates a weakness.
By virtue of how they capture, pawns control two squares. In contrast, it is true that every pawn move creates a weakness in structure. As pawns move forward, they lose control over the squares they had just controlled. Think twice before moving your pawns.
Pushing pawns is especially dangerous when you do so in front of your king like in the example above. In the diagram above, black has pushed forward the g-pawn leaving two weaknesses on f6 and h6. White is attempting to take advantage of the weakness on h6 orienting his pawns and pieces towards that square.