
The Nerd Club - Space and Pawn Breaks
Hi chess friends,
This is the blog for the CMT-group chess club. The idea is to teach a bunch of theoretical phycisists how to play chess.
Today we are going to learn about space. Space might be a bit hard to grasp as an advantage since it is not as tangible as say weak pawns or a material advantage. But nonetheless it is an important factor in chess. If you lack space, it becomes increasingly hard to move your pieces around and your pieces may get in each others way, while the side with more space has an easy hand moving his pieces around and maximizing their potential. Sometimes therefore, if you have a space advantage you can afford to be patient, since your opponent's lack of space restricts his possibilities of active counterplay. Let us see a great example by the former World Chess Champion, Anatoly Karpov: (Here I am again stealing a lot of stuff from "How to Reassess Your Chess" by Jeremy Silman, highly recommended.)
Let me just reiterate a very important point from the game: In closed positions, pawn breaks are necessary to open lines for attack and to activate rooks and bishops, while pawn advances (often also pawn breaks) are important in gaining more space. So far we have seen Karpov (who was known as a strategic mastermind who loved to nurture small positional plusses into more) completely dominate the game. Let us see how the game continues:
What did we learn here?
- A big space advantage takes away many enemy options. The side with less space can end up with passive, cheerless defense.
- In closed positions, the side with more pawn breaks is the side to call the shots.
- With a massive space advantage, you do not need to rush things, since your opponent is devoid of counterplay.
- If you have a space advantage, also remember the other imbalances; for example, having a superior minor piece can be the thing that together with the space advantage secures the victory.
More common though are situations where one player possesses more space in one sector of the board while the other player controls space in another sector. Let us take a look at two common openings where this takes place: The King's Indian Defense and the French Advance variation.
- Exchange pieces so your limited territory becomes less uncomfortable.
- Use pawn breaks to crack his pawn-facade.
- Try to prove that your opponent's gain in space has left weak squares behind.
- Treat a space-gaining enemy pawn center as a target!
Exchanging pieces: