CHESS?PAWN?

"The pawns are the soul of chess" The quote is 260 years old but still very valid. Actually, what Philidor wrote in his bookAna(yse du jeu des Echecs, was: "( ... ) de bien jouer les pions; ils sont l'ame des Echecs". Literally, it's translated as "Play well with the pawns; they are the soul of chess." As play is an active verb, I interpret the sentence as a request, not only to handle the pawns well but also to move them. It hits the point even better - pawns should be used actively. That's also why I have decided to use the term pawn lever, instead of the more common pawn break. The word lever comes from Philidor's native French and is "a rigid bar resting on a pivot, used to move a heavy or firmly fixed load" according to the Oxford Dictionary. It is a simple machine that can achieve wonders. Or in Archimedes' words: "Give me a place to stand, and I shall move the Earth." It is the same in chess. A pawn lever is a pawn move that allows the opponent to capture the pawn with one of his own pawns. It does not only move the pawn closer to promotion, but also achieves one or more other important purposes. The aim of this chapter is to discuss why pawn levers are so fundamental when creating a plan. I'll start by discussing different purposes of pawn levers, and conclude the first section with four exercises. The second section is arranged in the opposite way: it starts with five introductory exercises and continues with the question of how to form a plan when there are no achievable pawn levers. The difficulty of doing so is the underlying message of the whole chapter. The Swedish Grandmaster Evgenij Agrest is the model player in this section. Positions without pawn levers lead us to the next topic: prophylactic moves - how to stop the opponent from carrying out pawn levers. After having talked so positively about pawn levers, the last section tries to balance the picture by discussing the disadvantages of them. The conclusion is nevertheless still the same. Purposes of pawn levers There are many reasons to advance pawns; they gain space, control squares or simply move closer to promotion. However, pawn levers put the pawn in contact with one of the opponent's pawns, thus offering him the chance to capture. Such pawn levers have other strategical reasons: A To take control over the centre A To increase the scope of the pieces A To open lines on the wing where you are strongest A To improve the pawn structure Pawn levers are often difficult to achieve, but not always. One early example is from Philidor's opening, arising after l.e4 e5 2.tllf3 d6:
Bad ways of choosing movesHuman are not robots (yet) . Normally we aregrateful for that fact, but it also allows us tohave irrational reasons for choosing moves.Ideally, all feelings should be set aside until thetournament is over, but it's not so easy to avoidletting them influence our thoughts. That's apity, since chess punishes irrelevant thoughtswithout mercy. This may not be the machines'only advantage in their fight against humans,but it should not be neglected.However, by being conscious of the possiblepitfalls, it's easier to avoid them.Trying to make up for previous mistakesIt's very common that a mistake is followed bymore mistakes. When feeling uneasy about thesituation, it's easy to lose objectivity and setone final cheap trap. In this way, the game isfinished as soon as possible, but probably lost.It's never good to try to make up forprevious mistakes. The new situation has to beconsidered as it is, not through a tinted lens.Thinking about others' opinions"What will they say ifl play this stupid-lookingmove and lose?" is a question that ruins one'sself-confidence.The opposite is also possible - playing amove to impress the spectators. I once noticedthat one of my students often made his movewhen I came to watch his game. After thatexperience, I always watch friends' games frombehind, so they can't see me.Not trusting your judgmentThe consequence is inconsistent play,alternating between plans. Your own judgmentmay be wrong, but you have nothing better totrust. If you believe that an attack on the kingis strategically justified, it should be played.When having a good position against astronger opponent, anxious feelings may arise.The lower-rated player often becomes cautiousto avoid all possible counterplay. Such anattitude must be avoided!Instead, the same mechanism can beused when the tables are turned: whendefending a lost position. In those situationsit pays to play a bit more aggressively thanis objectively justified. The opponent doesn'twant "unnecessary'' complications, and he canthus be expected to go for the safe but passiveoption.Falling in love with a moveAfter having spent a lot of time calculatinga move, and maybe even having foundsome nice tactics, it's easy to get emotionallyattached to it. If the calculation ends up withthe conclusion that it doesn't work, sometimesit's played anyway! The line of thought, oftensubconsciously, sounds like: "The opponentwill surely not see that much, and if he does,something new may turn up along the way'' .No! Never lie to yourself! It's better to throwall emotions away, swallow the frustration andlook for a new move.ConcentrationFor me, the main difference between a goodand a bad tournament is how well I manageto keep other thoughts away during thegames, and I'm quite often dissatisfied withhow well I manage. For that reason, I wasperplexed and envious when I learned thatViswanathan Anand complained that he hadone irrelevant thought during his whole matchagainst Vladimir Kramnik in Bonn 2008! Ithappened after 22 moves in the 1 Oth game.After Kramnik's 23.'1Wa6! Anand returned toreality (chess!).The truth may not be that black and white,but I like to think of Anand as a good example(though I try not to think of this during agame!).