The Big Greek Immortal | 100+ Modern Masterpieces Guaranteed To Improve Your Chess

One of the most basic instincts of many first-time chess players is to push as many pawns as possible, as far as possible. A strong central pawn presence IS important, as we've already discussed, BUT every pawn move has two drawbacks:

1. A pawn move passes on the opportunity to develop a piece. Piece development is paramount in the opening, and the risks of falling behind in piece development are great.
2. Each pawn advance weakens squares and loses flexibility. Since pawns can't move backward, you must be thoughtful in their advance because of the long-term consequences of each pawn move.

Here are four tips for great pawn play in the opening AND for punishing risky pawn play.

1. Push two, maybe 3, pawns in the opening to control the center and to let your pieces out. There are COUNTLESS exceptions to this rule, but it's a good general principle when you are starting out.
2. When your opponent pushes a lot of pawns, they may be forgetting to develop their pieces. Use your lead in development to attack.
3.  Attack your opponent's pawns with your pawns, forcing exchanges, further advances, or liquidation of their pawns. If they invest their time in advancing pawns, and you can eliminate those pawns, your opponent has wasted their time.
4.  Sacrifice to eliminate their pawns and to open the position.

One of my favorite classic masterpieces illustrating punishment for overly-aggressive pawn play is Fischer vs. Letelier. I've already covered that game previously, and you must see the game if you haven't yet.

100+ Modern Masterpieces Guaranteed To Improve Your Chess: The Opening

1. Almasi Crushes The Center - Modern Masterpieces: Control The Center
2. The Greatest Blitz Game Ever! - Modern Masterpieces: Develop Your Pieces
3. The Big Greek Immortal - Modern Masterpieces: Don't Push Too Many Pawns In The Opening

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Today's example game is a masterpiece from a player and chess content creator you may well know, "The Big Greek." IM Georgios Souleidis is one of the greatest chess creators in German with over 150,000 subscribers.

As a younger player, he and his Greek team in the European Club Cub faced off against a strong Georgian squad, packed with grandmasters.

Georgios selected an extremely dynamic opening, the Chigorin Defense, which created an immediate and powerful tension between his development and his opponent's big center. Even for a strong grandmaster, it's possible to go wrong in such cases, and after too many liberties, Georgios' punishment was powerful and striking. Georgios has covered the game in German on his channel, and I HIGHLY recommend watching his video with YouTube's captions, assuming you - like me - don't speak German.