[KOTH] Basic Pawn Structures

"There are times when a well-placed pawn is more powerful than a king."

This quote (which comes from the American crime show series Castle) is a perfect representation of the eternal struggle between the weakest and the strongest pieces on the board. In the game of chess, all the pieces should be treated with equal respect, even if they are not of equal value.

Although we are so focused on the pawn structure in the classical game, we always seem to disregard the foot soldiers in King of the Hill. I have seen many games in which players get into lost positions out of the opening simply because they ruined their pawn structure in the center. I myself have found myself struggling before move 20!

So you may ask: "How can pawn structure be more important in a variant than in a classical game?"

And the simple reason is this: pawns quickly and effectively control the center. If you ruin your structure early in the opening, there is always a chance that your opponent could play their king into the center and take advantage of the fact that you cannot defend with a pawn.

You have to be careful, though: a bad pawn structure does not necessarily mean a weak or doubled pawn. Instead, it means that you cannot control all the central squares that your opponent's king has access to.

For example, take a look at the thumbnail. You will see that in the first position, central control is equal. White cannot enter to e4 or d4, and Black cannot make his way to e5 or d5.

However, the second position is much, much different: Black is not controlling d4. This means that White can sacrifice all his pieces for a chance to get to the center - and Black is often defenseless.

As you can see, Black's pawn structure might have been acceptable in a regular game, but in KOTH it led to his demise. That being said, can you guess his opening mistake?

The answer: White put a knight on c5 and Black captured it with the bishop. This gave White the opportunity to recapture with the d-pawn and open the d4-square for his king.

Indirectly, this means that the most complex part of KOTH is the exchanges. If Black had considered White's long-term plan, he probably would not have traded the pieces, and alternatively played for a pawn break such as f6 or b6-c5.

Now, take a look at the third position. At first glance it looks like both sides have a fair share in the center - Black can play for e5 and White can play for e4. However, Black is better because of his space advantage in the center.

Think about the long-term plans. Both sides will try to defend the center by putting a rook on the e-file. However, because Black controls e3, he can play for an interference which cuts off the White defense from e5.

Here is the game that I am talking about. White was simply outplayed.

If you have noticed, all these pawn structures have been fixed. In another blog, I will cover more structures, as well as pawn breaks and how to use them to your advantage.

Thank you so much for reading this. I hope this has been informative for everyone at all levels, even those who are not hardcore hill-climbers. If you enjoyed this, or have any questions, feel free to comment below or shoot me a message (at either @HillsideDrift or @FlashyFerrari) and I will try to respond as quickly as possible.

If you want to see more of these blogs in the future, please follow or send a friend request - I will be more than happy to accept.

Until next time, keep on climbing!

--- @HillsideDrift AKA @FlashyFerrari ---