You make it sound easy, Estragon, but there are some of us (many?) that have a difficult time with this.
I used to try to gain advantage by using my pawns-until I played some better players and they seemed to "wait it out" until they could get behind them.
Making unecessary pawn moves in the middlegame is probably the chief weakness of folks between USCF 1400 and USCF 1900.
If you don't have a plan, just leave your pawns alone and maneuver your pieces, instead.
Follow the Karpov maxim in Find the Right Plan, (2010).
His Fundamental Law of Chess is --"restrict the mobility of your opponents pieces." Only rarely will pawn moves satisfy this maxim.
Instead of trying to get "more space," try giving your opponent "less space." But the (subtle) emphasis here is on the pieces, not the pawns, per se.
And naturally, exceptions abound, and everything depends on the concrete position at hand. Whatever.
This thread has totally degenerated into a chess topic...is nothing sacred anymore?
Everyone is just "spacing out," as best I can tell.
One of the Star Trek avatars needs to weigh in, big time.
You mean like this?
Space... the final frontier...
Or in this case, the vinyl frontier.
I understand the basic concept of space as all the safe squares that your pieces can use, but I still don't know exactly how I should be thinking about it. For instance, some players suggest counting the squares controlled in your opponents territory, and others consider the squares behind your pawn chain. Also, most importantly, do you always consider pawn advances as gaining space even if they weaken key squares like when you advance the center to early?
You will find answers to: "...do you always consider pawn advances as gaining space, even if they weaken key squares..." in the book, Pawn Power In Chess", under pawn front, rear and side spans.
Also in "My System" concerning ...like when you advance the center too early..." under the heading "The relative ineficiency of the mass pawns advance"
Ibastrikov,
It would be nice if you would respond to these posts.
It would also be nice if someone would acknowledge the outstanding pun above.
It would also be nice if someone would acknowledge the outstanding pun above.
Which one? There are quite a few now.
Ivanchuk!
now there's a spacer!
study him!
Anri Universum