"Hexagon of pawns" thing. (What do you call it? Is it good?)

Hey guys,

(~1400 online/turn-based player). I play the English opening pretty often. I find that I end up in with the following type of pawn structure in many games.

Note the "hexagon of pawns" in the middle of the board. Sometimes you see one of these on the edges of the board, and they typically mean a deadlock.  Sometimes I try and outpost a knight on d5, which seems to work well.  Sometimes I bust it up by playing d4, or f4 at the right time (pop the bubble, my bishop pair starts looking good). Which is fun. Some questions:

1) Does this structure have a name?
2) What are some common openings that lead to this?
3) When is it "good", when is it "bad"?
4) Any strategies? Tricks? Traps? 

Thank you. Happy chess!

I don't know much about this, but I'd think it's not desirable, since it saddles each side with a backward pawn.

I used to play this type stuff as White.......besides, as you mention the  f4 break, white could also try for gaining more space on Q-side with  a3, Rb1 and b4.

not a lot of tactics in beginning, so you should be able to hold your own, with this type English setup against anyone :>)

I prefer White's Horse on e2 than it's counterpart on f6, as then f4 happens in 1 move.    Horse to d5 is good with option of supporting it with your other stead to c3

Yeh, I think Fiveofswords nailed it.  The reason you rarely see this pawn formation at the top level isn't so much that it is bad, it's that it is hard to do anything with it.  With the c-, d-, and e-file blocked, the rooks and bishops can't do much, and trying to start an attack when the center is clogged is generally an act of futility.  Without an open line somewhere, you have a pretty lifeless game.  Masters have better things to do with their time.      

play h3 f4 and proceed. taking white any day

If the knight pawns are pushed up to N3, then it's a Stonewall formation. (http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2012/03/stonewall-in-black-and-white-annotated.html) I don't know if it's still called a Stonewall without those pawns at N3.

I run into this type of position all the time when playing against my computer. In fact, it's my favorite defense against the Sicilian. I describe it as my "Sicilian killer": 1. e4 c5 2. c4. It immediately kills Black's plan to have a tactical game, and instead steers the game into a symmetrical, locked, drawish position. I have a lot of experience with it. I agree with the above comments: it's a very locked, slow position, and so play shifts to the side pawns to try to open lines. I like it because it's relatively safe as White against a better Black player. When I can keep the flanks from opening up, there's typically nothing for either side to do but shift bishops back and forth in the endgame behind closed lines until somebody offers a draw. Both sides typically play N-Q5, and the best response I've found is to keep a knight covering that target square, then just trade off the knights. I admit I've lost some games in a humiliating fashion with it from both human and computer, but that's always when they succeed in opening up a flank.

The position can also arise from the Symmetrical English (1. c4 c5 2. e5).

P.S.--Here's a game I played as White against my computer (Chess Titans, on Level 10) this month that shows a typical game with that formation, with the usual N-Q5 tradeoffs, the usual opening of the c file, the symmetrical pawn formations, and both sides with worthless bishops that just shift about aimlessly in the endgame, ending in a draw.

the stonewall has outposts on e4/e5 (K5)

Interesting comments, pfren. It's nice to hear experienced opinions. But why do you say that the knights cannot be exchanged immediately at the Q5 holes?

Some other generalities I could make, from what I've often noticed in this formation: (1) When Black can open up two or more files at once (especially the a, c, and f files), it becomes difficult as White to challenge all those files at once with a rook or queen on the first rank. (2) I also lost some games because of my backwards d pawn getting attacked by Black's bishop in the endgame. That pawn is a constant liability to watch. (3) A common tactical mistake made on lower level computer settings is when Black overlooks the pawn fork that results when Black has a piece (knight) at c6 and (bishop) at e6, whereupon ...Nd4 Nxd4 ...cxd4 Nd5 ...Nxd5 cxd5 forks Black's bishop and knight with White's pawn.