The underestimated pawns!

Submitted by mauerblume on Tue, 08/18/2009 at 6:08am.

The underestimated pawns

Philidor said in his famous chess book:

" The pawns are the soul of the chess game"

***

We often underestimate or even "forget" the importance of pawns in opening and middle game. There are so many planings, activities of pieces, tactics and easy or heavy battles going on. And we cannot have our "eyes" everywhere.

Meanwhile pawnstructures changes or become damaged, pawns get lost or are sacrified to get a dynamical adventage or something else. And we are not scared about it! "Such things can happen or are necessary in war!"

But at the end it leads often into an endgame. And then we become aware, that we perhaps should have been better more careful with our pawns at an earlier stage of the game.

***

So please look at the following position and try to analysize and evaluate it

Have you made your analysis and evaluation?

So you can go on now and compare it with the game continuation

Comments:

by seminoleman - 2 months ago
ohio United States

Member Since: Aug 2007
Member Points: 1247

i thought black was better with the passed pawn and should have exploited it

by GRThompson - 2 months ago
United States

Member Since: Jan 2009
Member Points: 36

This was great. My son and I used to do "Pawn Wars", putting only the pawns and kings on the board and playing it out. It seems that, as important as the pawns themselves, the mobility of the King is equally important.

by hem_singh_sen - 3 months ago
mandi (himachal) India

Member Since: Jul 2009
Member Points: 255

good explainations! undoubtably pawns are valuable if kept alive to endgame. thogh they have significant role in opening as well as in middle game.

good efforts.

by mauerblume - 3 months ago
Duesseldorf Germany

Member Since: May 2008
Member Points: 5479

Surely black`s advance of the a-pawn had no effect. But he had no good alternative.

White has all time to play his outside passed pawn . Black king has to catch it and meanwhile white king wins the black queenside pawns!

This is the concept of the outside passed pawn!

by deac0n - 3 months ago
Waiouru New Zealand

Member Since: Nov 2008
Member Points: 23

You have to admit though, black played very poorly; I mean what was the point in marching his A pawn up! He should have focused on his passed pawn and straight away moved his King after h4 to crush whites advance and chances.