1. Sicilian? If you're talking as a beginner here, start with those e4, d4, e5, d5 openings. Don't play complicated openings until you're better. Fight for the center, Develop, and Castle and you're doing fine! 2. I agree with it. 3. Pawns can be used for many things. Capturing, Recapturing, Forking (double attack), Discovered attacks, Discovered Checks, Promotions, Defending your King (after castling), Defending a piece, etc. There is so much with every piece in the game. Keep playing to get experience.
Beginners questions
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To add, doubled Pawns are not ALWAYS bad. They can open files which will make the rooks happy.
Oct 10, 2018
0
#4
dsdeckard wrote:
1. It seems to me that almost every single popular defense for black includes moving up one or two of the Queensidepawns and then is followed with a fianchetto king side. You see this in the Benoni the Banko gambit, and as well as in some of the Sicilian variations.the Sicilian and the kings Indian defense. The only difference I can think of that doesn’t feature two pawns moved up on the queen side would be the perc defense which still has one pawn moved up on the queen side if not too later on. Can someone explain this, is this generally agreed on to be the best approach for black?
As you've probably heard, the center of the board is strategically useful. If a player can successfully place a piece there, it can often influence (or quickly move to) any quadrant. So in all openings it's common for both players to either put a pawn in the center right away, or prepare to do so later. Of course this includes black's queen pawn.
In 1.d4 openings, the c pawn (for both players) is important. It either supports the central d pawn, or moves two spaces forward to attack the opponent's d pawn. In 1.e4 openings the same can't be said of the f pawn, because moving he f pawn (for either player) weakens the king.
Kingside fianchetto helps influence the center, so it's a common setup for both players in a number of openings. It's an option in most openings, but only the main line in some. For example there are a great many variations in the Ruy/Spanish, and a few feature kingside finachetto, but most don't. Same for the Sicilian. In contrast some openings are defined by the finachetto, like a king's indian defense or grunfeld.
In any case, the best approach is following the opening principals. Basically:
1) Put and maintain a pawn in the center, but after that minimize pawn moves
2) Develop knights and bishops off the back rank quickly
3) Castle on a side where it's safe (ideally a side where your flank pawns haven't moved yet)
Oct 10, 2018
0
#5
dsdeckard wrote:
2. Is it true that often times players will focus on controlling certain color squares? I was watching a tutorial video on how to play with the black pieces and because in the video the white pieces were controlling a lot of the light squares it was suggested that black should seek to control the dark squares. I didn’t know this was actually a strategy, can anyone confirm this?
Yes, sometimes a player will control (or attempt to control) a certain color of squares, however never on a whim or out of personal preference, only when certain conditions make it a good strategy.
The most obvious color weakness would be when an opponent has most pawns on (for the sake of example I'll say white) on the white squares and does not have a dark square bishop. Let's say in addition to this you still have your dark square bishop. What this means is you're likely able to place a piece anywhere in their territory and support it there as long as it's a dark square.
Why is this useful? Because pieces entrenched in enemy territory attack all the surrounding squares, light and dark. A weakness on one color is a weakness of the whole position.
Oct 10, 2018
0
#6
dsdeckard wrote:
3. Can someone explain to me how to use pawns ? What is the general function of a pawn? To me it seems that because one would like to avoid double pawns that they are primarily used for controlling diagonal squares that Prevents minor and major pieces from occupying. It seems like they are used for this purpose much more than capturing other ponds in that capturing other pons creates of course double ponds and opens up a file on your side of the board most often. So can someone explain to me what the heck I do with pawns.
People could (and have) filled multiple books writing on "how to use pawns" so there is no quick answer.
I guess I'll choose to organize it like this for you.
In the:
Opening
Pawns move to gain territory for the back rank pieces, and also to get out of their way. Since pawns are the least valuable, no enemy piece of greater value dares to land on a square a pawn attacks. This is why they're effective at claiming your territory... but be careful! If you claim more territory than your pieces can defend, then you'll be vulnerable to infiltration. That's one reason that we're told to limit pawn moves in the opening phase. Also the further your pawns advance, the farther they are from defenders, and the closer they are to the enemy in other words pawns may become more valuable the further they advance, but they also become more vulnerable to attack.
Middlegame
Just like in the opening pawns are staking out territory, but imagine there were a rule that pawns can't capture other pawns. The game would be a boring draw because both players would have a nearly invincible wall of 8 pawns each. But pawns can capture each other, and this important function opens lines (files, ranks, diagonals) to be used by the pieces. You can force lines to open by playing a "pawn break" (you attack an enemy pawn when it can't advance to avoid the capture). Playing the correct pawn break and at the right time is an important strategic goal often happening during the middlegame. When a player plays a pawn break on the (just for example) queenside, they're claiming their pieces will gain in activity on that side of the board as a consequence. When a player pushes many pawns at your king, the goal is to force some pawn trades, and then use those open files ranks and diagonals to attack your king. Advancing pawns for such an attack is called a pawn storm.
Endgame
Pawns take on a new importance in the endgame because this is the phase where one or both players are trying to get to the other side and make a new queen. Of course this is possible at any time, but usually doesn't happen until the endgame. One interesting dynamic is that while during the opening and middlegame central pawns tended to be the most valuable, in the endgame it's not uncommon for the flank pawns to have extra value. It tends to be harder to stop a pawns on the edge of the board because they are further away.
1. It seems to me that almost every single popular defense for black includes moving up one or two of the Queensidepawns and then is followed with a fianchetto king side. You see this in the Benoni the Banko gambit, and as well as in some of the Sicilian variations.the Sicilian and the kings Indian defense. The only difference I can think of that doesn’t feature two pawns moved up on the queen side would be the perc defense which still has one pawn moved up on the queen side if not too later on. Can someone explain this, is this generally agreed on to be the best approach for black?
2. Is it true that often times players will focus on controlling certain color squares? I was watching a tutorial video on how to play with the black pieces and because in the video the white pieces were controlling a lot of the light squares it was suggested that black should seek to control the dark squares. I didn’t know this was actually a strategy, can anyone confirm this?
3. Can someone explain to me how to use pawns ? What is the general function of a pawn? To me it seems that because one would like to avoid double pawns that they are primarily used for controlling diagonal squares that Prevents minor and major pieces from occupying. It seems like they are used for this purpose much more than capturing other ponds in that capturing other pons creates of course double ponds and opens up a file on your side of the board most often. So can someone explain to me what the heck I do with pawns.