#110 in Humor & entertainment books
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Reddit mentions of Pawn Structure Chess
Sentiment score: 5
Reddit mentions: 8
We found 8 Reddit mentions of Pawn Structure Chess. Here are the top ones.
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- Sold individually
- Inside box dimensions are 2-1/8" x 2-1/2" x 11" with six dividers
- Box holds up to 140 slides
- Use with Slide Storage Organizer (sold separately)
Features:
Specs:
| Height | 6 Inches |
| Length | 9.25 Inches |
| Number of items | 1 |
| Release date | February 2013 |
| Weight | 0.8598028218 Pounds |
| Width | 0.866 Inches |
Ok, cutting and pasting my own post from early in the year. (Sorry about the formatting.) I originally composed this for a friend who claimed he was ready to work on chess for 20 hours/week. I don't think he's kept it up.
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Here's what I recently emailed someone in the same situation as you - well, his goal was year-end.
If you STUDY chess for 15-20 hours/week for a year, you should be 2000 strength by the end of the year, and 2200 (I expect - much better than me) by the end of next year. Studying is the same as for math and music - it does not include leisure time like playing blitz.
You can break down your chess study into five buckets:
Tactics (start now and continue forever)
Endings (start in April and continue)
Playing/competing (start in February / start reading in July)
Strategy/middlegame planning (start in August and continue)
Openings (start in November and continue)
I think you need to begin them in that order - overlapping, of course.
[1] Tactics - do these books in order. DO the problems, however long it takes - don't look up an answer until you have a solid solution. If the books offer clues on the page (e.g. this page is all pins and skewers), go through and black them out with a marker in advance.
[2] Endings
[3] Playing/competing Play slow games, at time controls of Game/60 to Game/120, preferably against stronger players. Keep score, then analyze and annotate those games in depth, without using a computer. Then go over the games and your analysis with a stronger player, e.g. bring it to Sunday chess club.
I should really stress this - chess is about playing, not just studying. You need to find a variety of strong players, not just computers, and play against them. You might also consider playing correspondence.
If you play in tournaments during this time, DO NOT THINK ABOUT YOUR RATING. Also, NEVER offer or accept a draw, EVEN if the option is losing. During the next two years, your only goal is to learn and improve. Learning comes from playing on.
After a few months of playing and analyzing slow games, read these books:
By "read" I mean go through them slowly, doing every exercise, thinking about every comment to every game. It's hard work.
[4] Strategy/planning
[5] http://www.amazon.com/Build-Your-Chess-Opening-Repertoire/dp/1901983897 [How to Build Your Chess Opening Repertoire]
Of course someone else could construct an equally valid study plan with hundreds of entirely different books, but ... the ones I've chosen are excellent, and I strongly believe that they are sufficient.
I don't mention computers very much. I think they can be most useful as sparring partners for learning your basic endings and (eventually) openings. But don't let your study center around computers or opening databases or internet blitz.
And of course ... don't let it stop being fun. :-) Maybe that's where some blitz comes in. Otherwise, what's the point?
Pawn Structure Chess by Soltis is a classic
I believe it was Philidor who said "Pawns are the soul of chess," and that is definitely true. As for knowing how they work, that's a bit tricky.
There are a lot of books out there on pawn structure chess (such as this one: http://www.amazon.com/Pawn-Structure-Chess-Andrew-Soltis/dp/1849940703)
But in my opinion, I think you have to understand the pieces very well before you should start tackling pawn movements. For instance, does the position call for to rip open the center by trading pawns (in situations where you are ahead in development or have bishops vs knights), or should I lock up the center and not trade the pawns off there (in a situation of knights vs bishops)? Or on another level, does this pawn move negate the possibility for him to get a defender to this square B that would defend square A?
But back to the pieces. I think a solid understanding on bishops vs knights games, developmental advantages, knowing when to pawn storm, etc. will allow you someone to better understand when pawn moves may be beneficial or harmful to their position. A good book for learning this kind of info is Reassess Your Chess by IM Jeremy Silman. It's not solely about pawns, but you learn a lot of indirect knowledge about pawns through reading it that allows for the understanding of certain pawn moves. After that I would possibly move to pawn specific books if you want to further your knowledge.
TL;DR - make sure you understand the pieces/positions and you can derive if a pawn move might be beneficial or harmful
The pawn structure is talking to you. It's telling you exactly where the pieces belong. Just listen, if necessary calculate, and make it so.
Each pawn structure dictates a different plan, so it is often difficult to generalize what to do in the absence of tactics for "all cases." You can start to generalize when you see big overarching patterns and techniques, but this is the stuff of decades of study.
A well heralded book on this is [Pawn Structure Chess] (http://www.amazon.com/Pawn-Structure-Chess-Andrew-Soltis/dp/1849940703) by Andy Soltis.
Edit:
An example is pawn rams. Eg 1.d4 d5. You have only 3 plans that work. Flank on the c file, flank on e file, or bite down on the center (c3, e3, Nf3, Bb2) and once the center is secure play for complete wing attacks/pawn storms (as you may know, wing attacks are best stopped by attacks in the center, hence the intense defense of the center).
Consequently, Nc3/Nc6 before moving the c pawn is very bad in most d pawn games because it's slows or eliminates two of the three plans, so you MUST play for an e pawn break.
This strategic info won't help you much in most Sicilian games.
The classic text on pawns is Kmoch's Pawn Power in Chess. Soltis has a similar book titled Pawn Structure Chess, but as the title implies it is more focused on various pawn structures.
Studying from books (Pawn Structure and Endgame) and analyzing my own games (WITHOUT an engine) are probably the two major factors in my growth in chess.
Soltis's Pawn Structure Chess and Silman's Complete Endgame Course are my two top recommendations.
I don't know if it is always this cheap, but Pawn Structure Chess is $9.99 (54%off) https://www.amazon.com/Pawn-Structure-Chess-Andrew-Soltis/dp/1849940703/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499901009&sr=8-1&keywords=pawn+structure+chess
and The Power of Pawns is only $10.85 (46% off). https://www.amazon.com/Power-Pawns-Structure-Fundamentals-Post-beginners/dp/9056916319/ref=pd_sim_14_8?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=9056916319&pd_rd_r=2NB6G793MR4NZ7GA7484&pd_rd_w=wjDyC&pd_rd_wg=6t1lq&psc=1&refRID=2NB6G793MR4NZ7GA7484
Great AMA! Two questions: