Pawn storms are sound in certain positions. If storming the king will leave your king open to attack, then they are not sound. However, if your king is safe, and the safety will not diminish by pawn storming, then it is usually sound to pawn storm.
An opening with good pawn storming chances is the Sicilian. White usually castles queenside, and pawn storms on the kingside, and black castles kingside, and pawn storms on the queenside.
Cheers fer that Mike, much appreciated. I will focus on my pawns in the coming games and let ye know how it goes. The best example i can think of fer now is a recent game (NB this game is still in progress so no analysis of where it might go etc thanks, only on the pawn movement up till now if ye wish) in which i focused on pawns... technically i was playing badly but i think im doing ok so far. Now, (not to knock my opponent at all!) this may be disasterous playing against a stronger opponent.. ill have to try and see heh.
I see what ye are sayin about choosin the timing of the attack and indeed a side generally. Perhaps my folly is in trying to cover the whole board with my pawns heh. Ahh just seen yer post thanks BasicLvrCH8r :) I will have to play about with the Sicilian then cheers. Fer me chess is about having fun as well as learning etc, and a good pawn storm (great phrase!) i enjoy muchly :)
I have a feeling that psychologically locking down yer opponent must be worth something..perhaps it causes them to move rashly or out of frustration at not being free to move much... (lol i think of the game i played with ye Mike..i couldnt handle fiddling about with the delicate defensive manouveurs and ended up throwin it away trying to attack ye.. in large part because finding myself locked down upsets my focus/play. Perhaps it also applies to others as well then..? heh
edit: doh.. ok so i thought it was a mate in 2 against me, but now i realise i could have blocked it with my knight.. i was thinkin i had to move my king to f1 and then mate after. *blush*
I love nothing more than sending the infantry (pawns) charging out to smother the enemy! ;P
It can work well at times, really locking down where the opponent can move to and potentially allowing ye much greater movement around the board on yer side. However i was wondering if a strong pawn driven opening and attack can be sound?
It often means i either have to sacrifice material (some gambits are great for this, like the Halloween Gambit, Irish Gambit or pushing f2-f3 pawn as white in reply to the Pirc) or sacrifice other piece development. Do you think it is viable to do this and be able to overwhealm yer opponent? In some ways even if they have more minor/major pieces.. if they cant actually use them against ye they are less valuable..
My one flaw in all this is if someone takes a full on defensive stance, they may not be able to attack me, but finding a mate in such a case is then harder. Additionally, in e-chess like here, people can spend as long as they like looking to refute a gambit or sac, and generally with these more agressive openings there are ways to refute them so as to make them almost a liability.. which is less fun, but hey ho. Still be useful fer blitz games (if i had a better memory heh)
Do you find that pushing yer pawns first and "owning" more of the board, then allows ye to develop and push to win, or do you find that pushing pawns hard leaves you more vunerable? Any examples of openings or games ye have would be greatly appreciated, cheers! :)