Scope: This glossary does not intend to cover player names, opening names, or Composition terms.
The Glossary aims to relate the terms to ChessWorld where possible when giving examples.
If you have contributions, corrections or questions, please post them to the Chess Forum for discussion.
There is a dedicated Chess Openings Glossary
Passed pawn A "passed pawn" has no opponent pawns ahead of it on the same or adjacent file. See diagram below which shows in particular an "Outside passed pawn" :-
The a4 pawn is a "passed" pawn because it has no opponent pawn on the same or adjacent files. If there was for example a black pawn on b7, then the a pawn would not be considered "passed".
Passed pawns get more an more "dangerous" as they approach the queening square of the 8th rank. Because of their threat to become queens, it is often important as a defender against them to set up a "Blockade" on the passed pawn. Nimozvich in 'My system' talked about Blockades in great depth, arguing that the Knight often makes the best blockader. Once a pawn is blockaded, it cannot further advance, thus a blockading strategy is a very important one in the management of the opponents passed pawns.
From an attacking perspective it is often worth sacrificing material to maximise the potential of passed pawns to reach their queening squares and Queen. There are some brilliant games revolving around passed pawns. When there are two or more passed pawns they become known as "Connected passed pawns". One of the most celebrated brilliant games involves 3 connected passed pawns:-
Usually passed pawns become easier to exploit towards the endgame when there is simplified material on the board. In the Endgame phase of the game the King often becomes a more powerful attacking piece, and the use of Zugzwang becomes an important tool as well as an aggressive king to often create winning passed pawns.
Capablanca was a great master in the endgames, and often used to win from seemingly drawing Rook and pawn endings - he would expertly use his king, and create passed pawn opportunities.
Quotations mentioning passed pawns
"A passed pawn is a criminal which should be kept under lock and key. Mild measures, such as police surveillance, are not sufficient." - Aaron Nimzovich
"A Passed Pawn increases in strength as the number of pieces on the board diminishes. - Capablanca
Pawn Chain A chain of pawns are connected pawns which generally have pawns representing the "base" and a "head" of the pawn chain. There are various standard strategies revolving around pawn chains, some of which stem from Nimzovich's My system - including attacking a pawn chain at its base - with the effect similar to a pack of dominos falling.
A simple example of a pawn chain is after the moves 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5
A black and White pawn chain has been formed. The pawn on d4 is regarded as the base of the White pawn chain, whilst the e6 pawn can be regarded as the base of blacks pawn chain.
Often a strategy for one side is even using a pawn sacrifice to bring down the pawn chain, e.g. in the above diagram, black aiming for a strike like a3 to undermine the b2 pawn's protection of c3.
Attacking the pawn chain at it's head instead of its base may have dynamic justification. For example, take the following moves:-
Black may have justification here because of the dynamic activity on the f-file later. So there are no hard and fast rules about managing pawn chains, but generally it is interesting to consider attacking a pawn chain at its base.
The endgame may show up the power of a bishop in relation to a pawn chain. The Oosterom game example tagged in this Glossary course module is an example of a completely lost endgame in relation to this.
Often in practice it is not really the absolute 'base' of the chain which is the target of attack but the more 'expoloitable base'. For example take the following typical Kings Indian defence position:
White's usual strategy is to undermine the d6 pawn - not the c7 pawn. Undermining c7 would be much more long-winded (e.g b4-b5-b6). Black also is not really in practice aiming to undermine the g2 base, but rather f3, with moves later like g4-g4. Black's pawn chain undermining at the 'exploitable base' often has king-attacking implications which mean that Black can often afford to give up the queenside in order to pursue a dynamic king attack. Also often can swap the pawn chain undermining strategy with just a dark square attack with a sac like g4-g4-g3 as a pawn sac. There is some conflict of interest here between the f3 pawn chain undermining strategy and generally attacking strategy to get to White's king.
The Nimzovich vs Salwe game example in the course module for this term, shows Nimzovich's concept of giving up the pawn chain for central control with pieces and not pawn occupation. Where there used to be pawns on d4 and e5, Nimzovich allowed them to be dissolved:-
This was a fairly new concept at the time (deliberately giving up occupation of the center with pawns for control with pieces instead), and Nimzovich showed that e5 against the French defence was not necessarily bad because of concepts like this - even apparently allowing the pawn chain 'undermining' possibilities given to the opponent.
Pawn formation The structure of the pawns that a player has is called the "formation". "Pawns are the soul of chess" was a phrase coined by Philidor. Philidor believed the pawn structure was very important for determining the future plans in the game. Pawns slow down the pace of the game and therefore create greater opportunities for strategic slow manoevering. Pawns cannot go backwards, and so one has to be very careful when selecting a particular pawn structure, which one may have to put up with for the rest of the game.
Here black has a flexible pawn formation in the Scheveningen Sicilian defence, whereby at some point later in the game, Black may be able to play either d5 or e5. A study of the pawn formation in the position is often important in determining plans.
Poor pawn formations often feature chronic pawn weaknesses such as doubled pawns, isolated pawns, backward pawns, hanging pawns, etc. But such structural weaknesses need to be taken in the context of the dynamic factors of the position. They provide compensation. For example, an isolated pawn may provide the player with it, other opportunities such as pressure on the files. Another example is a doubled pawn which might support central squares.
The Kings Indian defence often features a closed pawn formation for example:-
Here the pawn structures of both sides are still completely intact, and it affects the nature of the position, and also strategic opportunities for both sides. White for example typically tries to invade on c7, and undermine blacks pawn structure by adding pressure to d6 or c7.
The great chess writer Nimzovich wrote at great length about various types of pawn weaknesses - especially doubled pawns and restraint.
White has a 3:2 "pawn majority" on the Queenside, and Black has a 3:2 "pawn majority" on the Kingside. Both sides can potentially exploit their pawn majorities to create passed pawns. A pawn majority can often be the basis of a very long term plan of simplifying the position in order to exploit it. Here is another example:-
In 2006, the dominant standard for recording games electronically has become "PGN notation".
PGN notation as well as having seven mandatory tags indicating the two Player's names, Location of the game (Site tag), tournament of the game (Event tag), Year of the game, Result of the game, has a gamescore which is in Short-algebraic notation format.
Due to the massive popularity of PGN, you can now obtain game scores from many websites on the Internet.
The Chessworld Master's collection is based on the PGN standard.
The White Knight is pinned by the Black bishop. The Knight cannot legally make any moves because if it did, it would be exposing the White king. The pinned piece is therefore in effect immobile. And because of this immobility, pins are often exploited in chess combinations and tactics.
A vivid demonstration of a pin can be seen in the following video:
Plan Mikhail Chigorin is often quoted as saying, "Even a poor plan is better than no plan at all."
Kotov tells us that a plan is essential and that "Every master makes a plan for the middlegame after the first six to eight moves."
The Chessworld Glossary reader may now ask the question "What is a plan and how does one make effective plans during a chess game?"
Kasparov who is one of the strongest players who ever lived, defines a plan as being "a well-considered order of operations aimed at achieving a definite and concrete objective, the order taking into account the situation on the chessboard and constantly modified by the opponent's actions."
He continues, "The plan is built up on the basis of a concrete evaluation of the position and its peculiarities. Therefore, it is important to be able to analyse the fighting formations of both sides and to understand all the subtleties of the position."
Evaluating the Position
So, if we are to believe Kasparov, the plan we eventually chose will be based on our "concrete" evaluation of the position. Therefore, we need to begin by analysing the position on the chessboard in front of us, examining the strengths and weaknesses for both sides.
We need to look at depending on the position in front of us, the following features of the position perhaps first from an "abstract" perspective and then try and form more "concrete" judgements on each of these aspects of the position. Many middlegame books recommend assessing the "elements" of a position, and the common elements most emphasised in middlegame chess books include the following:-
1) King safety
2) Material balance
3) Possible tactics
4) Space and the centre
5) Piece placement and mobility
6) Pawn structure
7) Control of important files or squares
Let us examine 1)-8) in more detail now:-
1) King Safety
When assessing the relative safety of both kings we need to take into account the following things:
Are both kings safely castled behind a barrier of pawns, or is one (or both) exposed or restricted?
Do either Kings have enemy pieces near or aimed towards them?
Do the Kings have sufficient defenders near them?
Do open or potentially open lines lead towards either of the Kings?
Are safe flight squares available for the Kings?
2) Material Balance
Does one side own pieces of greater value than the other?
Does each piece's activity (or lack of it) modify the point count?
3) Possible Tactics
Are there any tactical opportunities available in the position?
Does either side have any tactical weaknesses that can be exploited?
Can weaknesses in the position be forced or induced?
4) Space and the Centre
Which side controls the most territory in the centre and on either wings of the board?
5) Piece Placement and Mobility
Are all the pieces safe, active and mobile and are they co-ordinated?
6) Pawn Structure
Are there any weaknesses in the pawn structure such as isolated, doubled or backward pawns?
Do any holes exist in the pawn structure?
Are the pawns mobile or blocked?
7) Control of Important Files or Squares
"The files and diagonals act as pathways for your pieces, while squares act as homes." - Silman
Which side controls the squares around the King?
Which side controls other important files and diagonals?
Is it possible to exchange or deflect controlling pawns or pieces?
Let us repeat Kasparov's later comment for convenience now:
"He continues, "The plan is built up on the basis of a concrete evaluation of the position and its peculiarities. Therefore, it is important to be able to analyse the fighting formations of both sides and to understand all the subtleties of the position."
"
It is important not to overlook the small subtle details which may, at first glance, seem insignificant (As Kasparov says, "the subtleties of the position"). For example, a pinned enemy piece may be all that is needed for a successful attack.
So there we have it - Kasparov's comments have been examined in this definition, and hopefully may guide the reader to forming effective plans in their games.
Perhaps another convenient way of thinking about a "plan" is to consider the alternative term "element management" as a plan is essentially first assessing both the strategic and tactical elements of the position, and then doing some concrete operation based on that knowledge. So in effect, it might be argued that the first stage of a plan is "element assessment", and a plan is in effect "element management". Such terminology implies a natural relationship between assessing a position and acting on that assessment.
Positional As opposed to tactical play,
positional play has more to do with moving pieces into advantageous position
than with direct attacks or winning of material.
Prophylaxis The art of setting up a
defence before an attack is actually launched
In the following game, Kasparov seemingly absurdly placed two rooks behind an e pawn - Perhaps though this can more precisely be described as the Nimzovichian stratagem of "Prophylaxis" - preventing of the opponents possibilities before they occur. In this particular game, Kasparov was discouraging Karpov from playing f5
Protected passed pawn A passed pawn that is supported by another pawn. It is often a decisive advantage in the endgame.
From the diagram, white wins because his protected passed c pawn is more powerful than black's dangerous-looking h pawn. White (to play) can stop and win the h pawn but black cannot capture the c pawn.
