Essential Pawn Structures by IM Ekaterina Atalik

Essential Pawn Structures examines these five crucial pawn situations and how they can help you formulate a middlegame plan. It does so by examining model games from the first golden age of chess from players such as Capablanca, Keres, Nimzowitsch, and Rubinstein. All of these players paved the way for modern chess theory and were at one point the best players in the world.

The five elements covered are:

♟ Pawn phalanxes and offensive pawn marches, meaning a formation of pawns in which at least one is on a semi-open file. You will learn about the dynamic nature of pawn phalanxes and their potential to cause strategically important breaches in the enemy’s front.

♟ Hanging pawns, that is a pair of connected pawns that are not supported by any other pawns. These pawns require constant defense by pieces. You will learn to attack these weaknesses using heavy pieces. You will also learn to use hanging pawns to your advantage when you have them by utilizing the semi-open files next to them.

♟ Isolated queen pawns– the strengths of having them: easy development due to space advantage, outposts on c5 and e5, easy rook activation; and their weaknesses: outposts for your opponent’s pieces, tying pieces down to their defense.

♟ The Carlsbad structure– how White can launch a minority attack, queenside attack, attack the center with f3-f4 or e3-e4, or a queenside castle with a kingside pawn storm.

♟ Pawn chains– learn to attack the base of your opponent’s pawn chains and create a damaged pawn structure. Make exchanges when your pawn base is attacked and create a permanent weakness and also learn when to keep the tension when your pawn base is attacked.

Pawn play from a prize-winning author

The author, IM Ekaterina Atalik, European Women’s Champion of 2006, knows what goes into formulating solid middlegame plans and shows you via exercises and full model games from the great chess forefathers. Each chapter contains between 4-5 model games further broken down into several exercises to test your pawn knowledge.

They say “pawns are the soul of chess”, but what does this really mean? Learning about their vital function by studying the greats and what they contributed to modern chess theory will allow you to truly understand this idea.

Are you ready to pump up your pawn play? Get Essential Pawn Structures today.