Thursday, July 25, 2019

Creating a Pawnroller for the Win

This a simple example of connected passed pawn rolling down the board for the win. Chess strategy implores a player to keep his pawns connected, and push them when possible. Inversely, isolated pawns are to be avoided.


In this position, Black holds a positional advantage over White due to his advanced central and connected passed pawns. The number of pawns on both sides are equal at five. Black's centralized King position adds to his eventual victory barring any gross blunders on his part. You can't catch a deluge with a paper cup.




I just played 39...Kd5 to which White countered with 40.Kd3. What else could he do? His Knight lacks good squares. The move 40.f4 is countered with 40...e4 making Black's game easier because his e and d pawns will essentially be unopposed.



So, after  40...e4+  41.fe fe+, we have the position above. White's one-pawn majority on his kingside is meaningless. There is no time to develop and advantage from it. The action remains in the center. White's King is under a Check and must give way with 42.Ke2 d3+  43.Kd2 Kd4



At this point, Black's King and d pawn positions improved to the point of being decisive. White followed another dictum is Chess which is to use minor pieces, like his Knight, to block passed pawns. Essentially, just get those minor pieces in the way-- 44.Ne3. Good rule of thumb except it fails here with Black's finale move 44... Bb4+ and the White King must move back, leaving his Knight on e3 hanging. Black resigned the game.