In this week, we shall be looking at pawn structures. Pawn structures are one of the key parts in positional play because they almost dictate what your plan will be. For instance, in some variations in the French defense (tarrasch variation and mainline) where white succeeds to hold the centre, it can get quite difficult for black to continue pressuring the centre and hence black's plan sometimes becomes to fight on the Q side where they have more space while white fights on the k side. We may look deeper as to why this is the case in future, but today, we will look at one of the most controversial pawn structures: The Queen side Pawn majority.
Many people think it leads to a decisive advantage, but this is not at all often the case if these pawns are not already advanced up the board. But it is after all a matter of preference: some people ignore it as a positional advantage, and some have made a career from it! But I will say that I believe the main reason this becomes an advantage is because it can create a passed pawn. That's it. But don't underestimate it, passed pawns can be decisive advantages, as shown in the below game:
As you can see, this pawn structure is actually quite good at creating passed pawns, but with a Q side majority means that the opponent has at least got a k side majority. These are often stronger, but it is harder to use these at the expense of K safety. Sometimes you may have a Q side majority vs a central majority and central majorities tend to create more space for the side with it, but remember that if you want to get an advantage with a Q side majority, make sure they have already been advanced up the board.
Hi guys,
In this week, we shall be looking at pawn structures. Pawn structures are one of the key parts in positional play because they almost dictate what your plan will be. For instance, in some variations in the French defense (tarrasch variation and mainline) where white succeeds to hold the centre, it can get quite difficult for black to continue pressuring the centre and hence black's plan sometimes becomes to fight on the Q side where they have more space while white fights on the k side. We may look deeper as to why this is the case in future, but today, we will look at one of the most controversial pawn structures: The Queen side Pawn majority.
Many people think it leads to a decisive advantage, but this is not at all often the case if these pawns are not already advanced up the board. But it is after all a matter of preference: some people ignore it as a positional advantage, and some have made a career from it! But I will say that I believe the main reason this becomes an advantage is because it can create a passed pawn. That's it. But don't underestimate it, passed pawns can be decisive advantages, as shown in the below game:
As you can see, this pawn structure is actually quite good at creating passed pawns, but with a Q side majority means that the opponent has at least got a k side majority. These are often stronger, but it is harder to use these at the expense of K safety. Sometimes you may have a Q side majority vs a central majority and central majorities tend to create more space for the side with it, but remember that if you want to get an advantage with a Q side majority, make sure they have already been advanced up the board.