Pandolfini’s Ultimate Guide to Chess

by Bruce Pandolfini

  Student: I think I’m beginning to understand. Taking back toward the center, 6 … bxc6 (diagram 210), avoids this unfavorable imbalance, even when Black has to accept an isolated a-pawn. However, taking away from the center, 6 … dxc6 (diagram 212), avoids the weak a-pawn, but in effect creates a pawn imbalance that favors White, as if White has won a pawn because White will be able to create a passed pawn. Wow! By the way, what’s a passed pawn?

  Teacher: A pawn that can’t be stopped by any enemy pawn from moving up the board to queen—it’s literally passed the oppositions pawns. But after 6 … bxc6 (diagram 210), there’s no way for White to create a passed e-pawn by force, because Black’s d-pawn is able to control squares on the e-file that White’s e-pawn must still pass over.

  Student: You also mentioned that Black would be able to use the b-file for his rook after taking back with the b-pawn. Could you explain that further?

  Teacher: Another advantage to taking toward the center (6 … bxc6—diagram 210) is that Black then gets an open b-file for his rook. At the right moment he can shift his rook to b8, either threatening to capture the White b-pawn, if it’s no longer defended, or to force White to make a special effort to get his queenside bishop out. With Black’s rook at b8, the c1-bishop would otherwise be unable to move without abandoning the b-pawn. The usual way to defend such a pawn, incidentally, is to push it one square, so that its neighboring pawns then guard it.

  Diagram 219. Black’s rook exerts pressure on the b-file.

  Student: I see another problem for White with Black’s rook at b8 (diagram 219). If White pushes his b-pawn to b3, instead of leaving it on b2, the squares a3 and c3 are weakened. Since they are no longer protected by a pawn, they are susceptible to Black’s forces. In diagram 219, pushing the b-pawn loses White’s knight to Black’s bishop. Now that I think about it, it’s remarkable how effective a rook can be from so far away.

  Teacher: Bishops, rooks, and queens are long-range pieces. They can strike suddenly from a distance, but they must have avenues of attack, such as the b-file after Black takes back with 6 … bxc6 (diagrams 210 and 219). They seek open lines: ranks, files, and diagonals unobstructed by pawns of the same color. That’s how you can control a line: by occupying it with a piece that can move along it freely.

  Student: Is it important to secure control of open lines before your opponent does?

  Teacher: I have a typically chessic answer for you.

  Student: I bet it depends.

  Teacher: Something like that. You should aim to control open lines before your opponent when doing so is useful. After capturing vital highways of attack, you should reinforce your conquest by occupying them with two or more pieces that move in the same way. Use a bishop and a queen to try and dominate a diagonal. Use either a rook and a queen or two rooks to commandeer ranks and files. In either case, diagonal or file, you will control these critical rows because the pieces that occupy them protect and support one another. The doubling of like forces in this manner, along the same row of squares, is called a battery.

  Student: I have a feeling that I should try, wherever possible, to set up batteries and other forms of double attack.

  Teacher: You bet. The effectiveness of this strategy is illustrated by doubled rooks—two rooks stationed on the same file or rank. One very devastating battery in chess is a pair of rooks doubled on the seventh rank, as White’s rooks are in diagram 220, because the enemy often has a vulnerable row of pawns ripe for capture. As a rule, you should try to beat your opponent to the punch, seizing important open lines as soon as you can and then controlling them as long as possible.

  Diagram 220. Black is in trouble.

  Student: Where are we now, in the grander scheme of things?

  Teacher: Somewhere on Planet Earth, enjoying the study of this universal game called chess. We’re starting to transition from the opening to the middlegame, where chess wizards often determine the game’s outcome. For now, pay no attention to that man behind the curtain gearing toward an early endgame. There’s more adventure to come before finally going home.

  LESSON 11

  DOUBLED PAWNS, CASTLING, AND OPEN LINES

  Teacher: Let’s do a little adventuring. After Black’s sixth move, White must once again defend his e-pawn. Could you please review our present chessic state of being?

  Student: That depends.

  Teacher: Excuse me?

  Student: Just joking. Let’s see. Although the knight at c3 is in position to guard my e-pawn, Black’s bishop at b4 pins the knight to its king. As a result, my c3-knight can’t move legally. So the pawn at e4 is hanging, which means it’s attacked and unprotected. But I have an idea. I know we’ve already settled on 7. Bd3 (diagram 211) as being a good move, but could I take us back and suggest a different try? What do you think of 7. Bd2 instead of 7. Bd3? Doesn’t 7. Bd2 break the pin on the knight, thus enabling the c3-knight to once again protect the pawn at e4?

  Teacher: The move 7. Bd2 certainly ends the pin. Thereafter the knight may be able to move freely again. As usual, however, no move is without consequences, and not all of them are good ones. Did you notice that Black’s 5 … Bb4 wasn’t just a pin? It was also a threat to capture the knight, which is another way to lessen White’s control of e4. Black’s 5 … Bb4 was designed to win the White king-pawn in one of two ways: by maintaining the pin or, if the pin were broken by White, simple removal of the c3-knight by capture.

  Diagram 221. If White were to play 7. Bd2 instead of 7. Bd3.

  Student: Okay, 7. Bd2 doesn’t necessarily save the e-pawn because the knight on c3 could still be captured whenever Black thinks it’s a good idea. But at least it’s a developing move.

  Teacher: Actually, it’s not even a good developing move. It’s too passive. A much more imposing post exists at g5, if White ever finds the time to move his queen-bishop there. Funny thing is, 7. Bd2 is not usually the best way to break the pin on the c3-knight in general, even when it works. Usually, castling kingside is more effective. Not only is White’s king then out of the pin for good, White has also improved his overall position without relying on a purely defensive move. Castling also activates the king-rook.

  Student: So why is it that so many people seem to play such moves as bishop to queen-2 as a matter of course?

  Teacher: It’s one of those knee-jerk responses, where one reacts mainly to avoid the acceptance of doubled pawns, as if that were the worst thing in the world. It’s not. Even doubled pawns can sometimes be desirable, especially when their existence enables certain squares to be guarded. But even when they’re not an attractive acquisition, wasting time to avoid them can often be far worse than accepting them in the first place. For example, consider diagram 222. It’s Black’s turn. It would be a mistake for Blacks bishop to capture White’s bishop on e3 (diagram 223), for that would enable White to open the f-file by taking back with the f-pawn. Afterward, White’s doubled e-pawns would guard important squares in the center. In effect, White would have the advantage of the doubled pawns.

  Diagram 222. Black shouldn’t take White’s e3-bishop.

  Diagram 223. The exchange on e3 has given White the advantage of the doubled pawns.

  Student: Okay, 7. Bd2 isn’t the right move, nor can we break the pin by castling because the f1-bishop is still in the way.

  Teacher: Precisely, which gives us the actual move: the naturally developing and simultaneously threat-meeting move 7. Bd3. Playing 7. Bd3 does accomplish multiple aims. It’s a sound development to a centrally important square. It positions the bishop along a potentially good diagonal, d3-h7—if it ever opens up—and that gets the bishop ready for kingside action, once Black castles kingside. While preparing White for kingside castling, the move 7. Bd3 also temporarily protects White’s e-pawn, which was his main task in the first place.

  Diagram 224. After the actual move, 7. Bd3.

  Student: Fine. The move 7. Bd3 has been played. What should Black do about it?

  Teacher: Black now has a numbe
r of reasonable continuations. He could strike back in the center by 7 … d5, but this may be a little premature and therefore unduly risky. He could instead strengthen his position a bit, so that he could play d7-d5 shortly, by first castling kingside, 7 … 0-0. With his king out of the center, Black faces less risk if he decides to allow the center to eventually open up through pawn exchanges. Black could also abandon the idea of playing the queen-pawn two squares for now, playing it only one square instead, 7 … d6, in order to restrain White’s e-pawn, but this is a comparatively inert reply. A curious try, which many players consider a good idea, is 7 … Bxc3+. Trading the dark-square bishop for White’s knight at c3 seems attractive. After White takes back, 8. bxc3 (diagram 225), he’s saddled with doubled isolated pawns, not that that’s the end of the world.

  Diagram 225. After a possible exchange of bishop for knight, 7 … Bxc3+ 8. bxc3.

  Student: You mentioned doubled isolated pawns in the last lesson, right?

  Teacher: In that case, you probably remember that isolated doubled pawns are doubled pawns that can’t be defended by other pawns because there are no friendly pawns on adjacent files. If they’re subject to attack, especially from along a half-open file in front of them, they can be quite difficult to support. Avoid them if you can.

  Student: Doubled pawns? Isolated pawns? Doubled isolated pawns? Excuse me while I trip over my own tongue.

  Teacher: It’s not really as confusing as it sounds. It’s true that when most people talk about pawn weaknesses, they usually start with the isolated pawn and doubled pawns. That’s because these two types of pawn weaknesses commonly occur in most chess games and typical chess-play must cope with them. The question you posed was about doubled isolated pawns, a kind of combination of both, which is a weakness that’s normally discussed after first considering the other two.

  Student: All right. Allow me to step back a bit so we can get specific about the nuances. What do I need to know about doubled pawns?

  Teacher: Doubled pawns are two pawns of the same color, also known as friendly pawns, occupying the same file. They always come about by capture, which takes the second pawn to the same file as the first one. Generally, they become weaker because they lose the ability to guard each other. The front doubled pawn even impedes the back one’s movement. But they can have strengths, too, such as enabling key squares to be guarded, as in diagram 223, where the doubled White e3-pawn strengthens the square d4. Sometimes they also create a greater bulwark in front of the friendly king. But we’ll talk more about their role as royal defenders when we get to the section on pawn majorities, coming up in a later lesson.

  Student: Can you go into more detail about their weaknesses?

  Teacher: Let’s expand and summarize. Doubled pawns can be weak for several reasons: (1) as a group they tend to crawl along because the back doubled pawn is unable to move until the front one does, so they often obstruct the development of their own forces; (2) their movement can be frustrated by a single enemy pawn, either by blocking them on the same file or, from an adjacent file, by guarding a square they need to pass over; (3) the exchange producing them might also result in the creation of an isolated pawn; and (4) they might be isolated themselves. In that situation, neither can be defended by a pawn and one or both may be subject to direct piece attack as a result. But they’re not weak if they can’t be exploited, and what doesn’t kill us makes us strong.

  Student: You argue that there is an occasional advantage to be found in doubled pawns, as in the position of diagram 223, but this seems to directly contradict most ordinary chess advice. Could you put this to me again: When should I be willing to accept doubled pawns?

  Teacher: You might be willing to accept doubled pawns to: (1) open lines for attack; (2) facilitate or expedite development; (3) add protection to key squares; (4) buttress a castled king’s position; (5) create an escape square for the king; (6) save time if it would be wasted trying to avoid doubled pawns; (7) simplify the position; (8) win material; (9) avoid material loss; (10) make necessary captures or recaptures; and/or (11) when trying to avoid them would be dumb.

  Student: I might as well ask, even if this doesn’t necessarily relate to what we’re looking at now: Are there other sorts of pawn weaknesses I ought to know something about?

  Teacher: Sure. There are other types of pawn weaknesses worthy of your attention, such as backward pawns, tripled pawns, hanging pawns, and the isolated pawn pair. We’re not going to examine them here, but in all such cases, the pawns are weak because they can be exploited tactically or because they are simply unable to guard certain squares. If they can’t be exploited, however, they may not be so debilitatingly weak that you have to worry much about accepting them. In fact, forget about it. Have a snack or do something else for a while.

  Student: So should I play to avoid weaknesses or accept them?

  Teacher: You should always play to avoid weaknesses, but not to the extent that it messes up your game. Moreover, you should always be willing to accept weaknesses if in doing so you gain advantages that outweigh their drawbacks. The greater good should decide.

  Student: One thing seems to be a constant in this game: To get something you have to give something.

  Teacher: That’s true. Your hope is that you obtain a better share of the bargain.

  Student: I’d like to get back to the question I was starting to frame earlier. What’s wrong with playing 7 … Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 (diagram 225)?

  Teacher: Nothing really, but it could be viewed as being unnecessarily committal. Reason it out this way. Blacks bishop may possibly be more important to him than White’s c3-knight is to White, because Black’s king-bishop could be particularly helpful in safeguarding the kingside, especially the approach square g5. As a rule, you shouldn’t surrender bishops for knights early on without a definite reason. Creating doubled pawns at c2 and c3 is not a particularly good reason—not unless, as I’ve said, the doubled pawn weakness could then be exploited, and this doesn’t seem to be particularly likely or relevant here. Besides, if Black meant to take the knight on c3 with his b4-bishop, it would be more sensible to do it after White’s dark-square bishop had first been developed, say to g5. But since the bishop at c1 hasn’t yet moved, it retains the option of shifting to a3 in one play after an unwise or premature exchange of bishop for knight on c3. It takes two moves to get to a3 from g5, but only one move from c1.

  Student: Why would White want the option of posting his bishop on a3?

  Diagram 226. White’s a3-bishop prevents Black from castling kingside.

  Teacher: Because from a3, White’s bishop could wreak havoc, cutting across the board into the heart of the Black camp, as in diagram 226. Black would be unable to castle, for at a3 the bishop guards a square the king would have to pass over, namely f8. Black would then have to try to block the a3-bishop’s diagonal, and this isn’t always so easy. As a rule, it’s generally desirable to prevent your opponent from castling, especially when the center is relatively open.

  Student: So White is trying to castle early while simultaneously hoping to stop his opponent from doing the same.

  Teacher: That’s right. We could even take this a step further and say that if doing something in the opening is desirable for you, you should try to stop your opponent from achieving the same goal. If you’re playing for the center, for example, it would be wise to try to prevent your opponent from also doing so.

  Student: What about castling? Most good players seem to castle fairly early.

  Teacher: That’s one reason they’re so good. A sure sign of chess naiveté, game after game, is to ignore standard theory by failing to castle. Castling early, or at least preparing to castle early so you retain the option, is almost always a good decision for two reasons—attack and defense.

  Student: I know you’ve already alluded to this chessic fact, but could you explain more fully how castling can satisfy both defensive and offensive needs?

  Teacher: The defensive side of your question is e
asy. Castling is an attempt to get the king to safety, usually behind a protective wall of unmoved pawns. One of the fastest ways to lose a chess game is to allow the center to open up with your king exposed in the middle of the board. Castling can be an attacking move too. It’s usually the most convenient way to bring out the rooks; otherwise, they tend to be ineffective. Rooks may be posted profitably on:

  • Open files, containing no pawns whatsoever.

  • Half-open files, containing only enemy pawns.

  • Files containing advanced pawns that may soon be exchanged.

  • Files containing pawns you intend to advance.

  Student: What’s wrong with keeping a rook on a closed file?

  Teacher: A rook cannot penetrate into enemy territory if the file on which it stands is obstructed by one of its own pawns—if it’s on a closed file. Enemy pawns in a rook’s path are another matter. Rather than obstructing movement, the enemy pawns tend to become targets for attack, which rooks can assail easily from a distance. A rook is not really hindered if its own pieces block the way either, because they usually can be moved off the file, clearing it for rookish action. This is not true for friendly pawns, however, which tend to be clunkier, often blocking their own supportive forces. To clear away obstructive friendly pawns, you have to exchange them for enemy pieces and/or pawns or allow them to be taken.

  Student: Does castling help both rooks offensively, or just the one involved in castling?

  Teacher: The effects of castling are often salubrious for both rooks, except in the smaller percentage of cases where this isn’t true.