Mysterious Flank Pawn Advance
Here is a game from the 2009 Reykjavik Open, GM Oleksienko - IM Grandelius with full annotations and commentary:
This game was a very instructive lesson about pawn play, especially flank pawns. When you advance your flank pawns as white did here in this game with the a-pawn it gained valuable space on that side of the board and restricted the opponent on that side of the board. Also, as the pawn advances it comes closer to the all important promotion square and as seen in this game if the opponent gets too relaxed disaster could strike and you may find yourself with a forcing variation to promote the pawn and simply win the game. Never forget about the flank pawns!
