Central domination
Sort:
Here is an unusual position that arose in one of my recent games. After 19. . . . d5, I had occupied all four of the center squares with my pawns. I believe this is the first time in my life I ever managed this particular feat. Needless to say, my opponent's effort at counterattack broke against this formation as surely as Napoleon's cavalry broke on the British squares at Waterloo. After 20. Qa5 Qc5, the flank attack was over.
I was on the opposite side of a similar position. My opponent had the same pawn formation, but shifted one file toward the king's side. Instead of being an indestructable "square", it became a target. I easily picked-off the back pawns and the rest crumbled. Unlike the British infantry squares, the pawns can only "fire" in one directions, not all four.
I saw these pawns as being more like Napoleon's infantry columns, good only for driving forward into the British lines. If the lines broke, the column was devastating, but if the line held, or the column could be flanked, it was dead meat. When the force can only attack in one direction and cannot really defend itself, then it is only effective in a select few situations.
