Pawn Structure List

Does anybody have a good reference for pawn structures with pictures so i can recognize the ones I'm in? Wikipedia does, but it doesn't include the one I'm looking for. Any other good references folks can recommend?

Pawn Power In Chess, Hans Kmoch, page 107.

Here by the way is the pawn structure I am hoping to find a name for.

IM Danny Rensch has a video series on pawn structures.  It is called "Pawn structures 101" if I am not mistaken.  Since you are a paying diamond member already, you might want to have a look at those.

@roi_g11: Thanks! IM Danny Rensch's Pawn Structure 101 series is great. I'm currently about half way thru (Chain Reaction p2 where David Pruess sits in). 

Pawn structure is my current focus of what I want to learn better. I was hoping with the pawn structure name I could look up a video on it (if there was one). How do you search the database based upon structures? I know how to do it via moves or total position, I didn't know there was a way to do it based upon partial position.

My most recent game with that structure turned out fairly exciting as I (black) castled queen side and white castled king side (I'd exchanged a bishop for knight on f3, so white's king side had been pre-broken).

I was trying to put together a plan for a pawn storm on the queen side, then got surprised by an attack on the king side using a rook on the g file I so cleverly opened in her pawn structure. I went from moderate advantage to decisively losing in a few quick moves. I learned a new way to attack a castled king though. =)

It is named the Open Formation.  The pawn structure diagram you posted is the topographical mirror image of the diagram of the Open Formation on pg. 107 in Pawn Power In Chess.  The structural difference is that in your diagram the open file is the f-file.  The open file in the diagram on pg.  107 is the c-file. 

The major strategic difference between the 2 diagrams is that in your diagram both Ks have open exposed diagonals.  In White's case it is the h4-e1 diagonal.  In Black's case it is the h5-e8 diagonal. 

 The other important factor is that the traditional weakest point in each starting position, the f2 and f7 pawns are now gone and it is the f2 and f7 squares that are the weak points.  It is important to  note that the target pawns are now target squares.  The initial advantages that can be gained against these squares will be advantages of a dynamic nature (time, space). 

Another important factor to note is that the pawn structure is symmetrical.

In the book Pawn Power In Chess is detailed how to play the pawn structure from both sides, including important factors that I did not mention in this post (ex. hemmed in Bs)

Use Wikipedia. Any of the books have pretty much the same info just with example games.

Hedgehog vs. c4 + e4 (with f2,f3, and f4 too) or even just e6+d6 against c4 +e4 is a good setup to study from both ends. 

Additionally, in the book, Pawn Power In Chess, IM Hans Kmoch, details the indicated and contraindicated pawn breaks in the particular pawn structure you are studying.  He also explains in detail about what he labels as levers and how they are strategically/tactically connected to the pawn break.  And, how Rs are meekly dependent on levers.  As well as many other important factors.

He highlights the fact that almost every opening results in 1 of 6 characteristic pawn structures, which he diagrams and describes/explains in lucid detail.

He explains further that the initial move that signals the end of the opening and the beginning of the middlegame is usually a pawn break.  The pawn break, he explains, is the first move of both the middlegame and your plan of attack against your oppponent's chosen defensive position.

Okay you talked me into it. I just added Pawn Power in Chess to my Amazon wish list, which means I'll buy it once I finish my current chess book.That should give me time to decide between kindle & paper too.

A word of caution.  Read the book by beginning with pg 107 to the end of the book.  Once have finished then you can go back ead the book fro the beginning.  Whatever you do, DO NOT READ THE BOOK FROM THE BEGINNNING. Pages 1 thru 106 will make alot more sense ONLY after READING PAGS107 THRU TO THE END OF THE BOOK.

Don't get Pawn Power in Chess, he uses a load of nonsense terms.

Get Pawn Structure Chess by Soltis if you must get a book.

Pawn Structure Chess by Soltis.

Both are actually pretty good.

Two choices *ack* There should be a coin around here somewhere so I can solve this delimma. =) Or I could read the reviews and try to make an informed decision. 

Thanks for all the help.

Why is this ? You may be correct, I think I put this book down before I got to page 107, but can you explain why it's better to read the book starting from page 107 ?

Quite frankly, I got lucky and flipped to pg. 107 as I was scanning the book or I would have put it down too.

When the author writes, that almost every opening results in 1 of 6 characteristic pawn structures and then proceeds to explain thru pg. 300 how to play those 6 pawn structures from both sides (the White side and the Black side) it is almost mandatory to read on.

After reading and studying from pg.  107 thru 300 it is worth going back and studying pgs. 1-106, Kmoch's perspective on pawn play theory in the abstract.  Tackling chess theory and strange terminology (frontspan, rearspan, lee, luff, melanpenia, leucopenia, etc.) is not what I consider light reading for rest and relaxation, but definitely much more intelligible after reading pg. 107 - 300 first. 

Thanks. I think I must have a different edition to yours, page 107 in my book was in the middle of a section.

But you're saying it's the bit where he talks about 6 pawn structures up to the end of the book that is compulsory reading. Thanks for the tip, I'll have a look tonight.

@IpswichMatt

The exact quote from pg.107 1/3 of the way down the page reads as follows, "...During the brief initial stage of the game, the pawn formation normally assumes sufficient character to be classified under one of the following headings..."  After that sentence IM Kmoch lists the 6 characteristic pawn structures complete with a diagram and a brief description of the pawn structure as follows:

1. Open Formation

2. Half-Open Formations

  a. Ram Formations

  b. Jump Formations

3. Free Formations

4. Closed Formations

5. Half-Closed Formations

6. Hybrid Formation

On pg.110 he mentions as a possibility a  7th Gambit Formation, but he does not cover them in his book.

I have heard that the shotgun formation works well to!

@Yaroslavl - excellent, I'll be able to find it now with that info. Many thanks for that