A question regarding the Italian Game pawn structures

Sort:
thelondonsystrn

I want to be given demonstrations, lessons and examples of what constitutes a bad pawn structure within the italian game for both black and white, as well as what constitutes good pawn structures for each side.

Slot 1: bad pawn structure for white good  structure for black

Slot 2: bad pawn structure for white bad structure good black

Slot 3: good structure for white good structure for black

Slot 4: good structure for white bad structure for black

No troll answers, any attempt to demean and insult as well as ridicule the intent or necessity for me to make this request for truth regarding the italian game will be reported as abuse.

GeorgeWyhv14

Doubled pawns are bad pawn structures.

Normal pawn structures are good pawn structures(relatively).

RussBell

Pawn Structure Chess By Andrew Soltis - describes and analyzes the major pawn structures arising from the opening and their implications for how to plan.

similarly for...

Chess Structures: A Grandmaster Guide by Mauricio Flores Rios

Introduction to The Italian Game & Evans Gambit...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/introduction-to-the-italian-game

Pawn Play and Structure - for Beginners and Beyond...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/chess-books-on-pawn-play-and-structure

Morfizera
GeorgeWyhv14 wrote:

Doubled pawns are bad pawn structures.

Normal pawn structures are good pawn structures(relatively).

 

That is a very superficial and generic comment. Not to mention wrong. Doubled pawns aren't necessarily bad

DrSpudnik

You have to be more specific about which line in the Italian you mean. Where white plays c3 & d3, the play often slowly unfolds like in the Ruy but without the a6, b5 business. 

GeorgeWyhv14

It is a generic one @Morfizera

thelondonsystrn
GeorgeWyhv14 wrote:

Doubled pawns are bad pawn structures.

Normal pawn structures are good pawn structures(relatively).

Doubled pawns can be good when involved in pawn triangles.

thelondonsystrn
DrSpudnik wrote:

You have to be more specific about which line in the Italian you mean. Where white plays c3 & d3, the play often slowly unfolds like in the Ruy but without the a6, b5 business. 

What sort of pawn structures can be included in the italian game without c3?

llama51

Yeah, it also depends on the piece placement.

This advice may seem too simple, but... like many 1.e4 e5 openings, both players would like to (at some point) move their d pawn two squares forwards. White may start with d3 then play d4 later. Black often plays d6 first, but should play d5 when possible. If not that, then sometimes players use the f pawn. What these moves (d and f pawn) have in common is attacking their opponent's center pawn (e pawn).

A lot of positions will make more sense if you understand that, and understand a few things about pawn breaks in general, such as:

 - Pawn breaks open lines (files, ranks, diagonals) to be used by your other pieces
 - Pawn breaks tend to favor the side that has more active pieces in that area (kingside / queenside)
 - When pieces infiltrate (move to the opponent's side of the board) the two main strategic targets are the enemy king and weak pawns.

The general flow of the game is like this. You developed your pieces, castle, then play a pawn break, then infiltrate to the opponent's side of the board (sure 1 or 2 moves cross the center line in various openings, but for the most part opening moves place pieces on your half only).

llama51

And to answer your question, the basic test of whether your pawn structure is bad, is if your opponent's pieces can easily attack pawns that you either can't defend, or can barely defend. In particular any pawn that can't be defended by a friendly pawn. 3 main types: doubled pawns, isolated pawns, and backward pawns.

Sometimes pawns like this are fine in the middlegame, but after a lot of trades, can become a big liability in the endgame. If you only have 2 non-pawns in an endgame, and 1 of them is stuck babysitting a weak pawn, then that's 50% of your forces!

Anyway, in general ask whether your non-pawns are on open lines (ranks, files, diagonals), whether they can use those lines to infiltrate and eventually come into contact with weak enemy pawns, and whether your opponent is able to do the same to your pawns. That's basically how you judge pawn structure... at least that's my attempt to answer your question without writing a whole book (yes there are books on just pawn structure).

InsertInterestingNameHere

“Pawn Structure Chess By Andrew Soltis - describes and analyzes the major pawn structures arising from the opening and their implications for how to plan.”

honestly I picked up this book and I couldn’t read it at all, so unless you’re really good at reading chess notation in long strings with diagrams only appearing every 20-30 moves or so then welp.

Jalex13
In certain games I’m practically begging for my opponent to double my pawns for me lol