In a nutshell
A pawn break is a pawn move designed to free the player's position.
pawn breaks
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Be sure to check out 'Hanging Pawns' YouTube channel....
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pawn+breaks+in+chess
Chess Books on Pawn Play and Structure - for Beginners and Beyond...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/chess-books-on-pawn-play-and-structure
Jul 29, 2020
0
#5
Pawn Breaks can create dangerous Free Pawns or open position for the Rooks/Bishops.
IMBacon I understand that can be used, but sometimes in the middle game it seems like you are just blundering a pawn. How do I know when a pawn break is good or bad?
Ok I kind of understand now how they can free up pieces after watching the hanging pawns video.
John Bartholomew chess fundamentals series has a video on pawn play. He covers pawn breaks snd plays a few games where he explains the pawn breaks. Worth watching.
In terms of good and bad. You might play a pawn break if you are ahead in development to open up the position and take advantage of your better pieces. If you are behind in development you may prefer to keep the position closed while you catch up, so might not want to play a pawn break.
Jul 29, 2020
0
#10
pawn breaks weaken are breaks by pawns that weaken your position; e.g if you have a fianchettoed bishop, and the opponent goes with the a or h pawn down the board to hurt the structure; I think that is considered a pawn break. Most pawn breaks I've seen occur in endgames, where one side breaks through and creates a dangerous passed pawn
A pawn break is a pawn move intended to change the current pawn structure in a beneficial way.
The French Tarrash is a fine example of pawn breaks in the center, see below.
Thanks for this example, this worked well because I have been studying the french defense, so I know what do to in this variation. But one question I have, is why does c5 help us? f6 seems to make more sense because it gives a better square for the d2 knight. All c5 does is put pressure on white's center and open up the d8-a5 diagonal for our queen. I don't see how captureing on d5 changes the pawn stucture to benifit black. Why not just play f6 first? After captureing on d5 white still has the two pawns in the center. Is playing c5 all about developing the queen?
CubeLogic wrote:
Thanks for this example, this worked well because I have been studying the french defense, so I know what do to in this variation. But one question I have, is why does c5 help us? f6 seems to make more sense because it gives a better square for the d2 knight. All c5 does is put pressure on white's center and open up the d8-a5 diagonal for our queen. I don't see how captureing on d5 changes the pawn stucture to benifit black. Why not just play f6 first? After captureing on d5 white still has the two pawns in the center. Is playing c5 all about developing the queen?
Why does ...c5 help Black?
You're right that ...c5 allows Black to put extra pressure on d4 with ...Qb6. Another point is that, after the c-pawns goes off the board, White can no longer defend d4 with a pawn.
Compare the following two lines:
Why not just play ...f6 first?
Unlike the ...c5 pawn break, ...f6 is a structural compromise that weakens the h5-e8 diagonal and the e6-pawn. In the second diagram above, for example, Qh5+ exploits the first weakness and forces Black to give up his castling right.
There is a major line where White attempts to punish the ...f6 move, leading to an imbalanced, chaotic middlegame:
In general, you should make sure that ...f6 is tactically sound before playing it.
Simon Williams where he does rapid games and blitz games to explain what he’s thinking. But one think that I don’t understand, is what is a pawn break. Why are they useful? In games sometimes Simon Williams says, “I always have to watch out for this pawn break” or “ I’m aiming to stop this pawn break”. Can someone help explain? Thanks in advance.