Pawn Chain

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A Pawn chain consists of pawns placed on the same diagonal, without interruption, so that only one of them is undefended. That pawn is called a base of pawn chain. The player opposing the pawn chain should attack its base or else strive to exchange pawns being parts of the chain. The old chess theory warned against attacking the peak of the chain, but some lines of the French defense show that this strategy is perfectly applicable.

Chain Direction

As pointed out by Lyudmil Tsvetkov, the direction of a rammed pawn at least triple chain with its peak pretends the wing concerning piece attacks and king safety issues [1]. In the left diagram, omitting pieces but assuming middlegame, the black king should receive a penalty, in the color flipped position on the right, the white king accordantly [2]:

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6k1/5p2/4p3/3pP3/2pP4/2P5/8/6K1 w - - 6k1/8/2p5/2Pp4/3Pp3/4P3/5P2/6K1 b - -

Further, an open backward straggler is a weak base of the chain.

See also

Defended Defenders inner pawns of a at least triple-chain
Not Defended Defenders the base of a chain
Not Defending Defended the peak of a chain

Forum Posts

2014

Re: Huge simplification by Lyudmil Tsvetkov, CCC, April 26, 2014
Re: Huge simplification by Lyudmil Tsvetkov, CCC, April 26, 2014

2015

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References

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