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Classic Pawn Structure, Part 3a -52% -32% -86%

MI Silman | 17 juin 2014 | 5318 vues | 12 commentaires Like 110 2

When a player starts out, he’s told various rules that will help
him navigate through the choppy waters of chess. A few basic
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Don’t swallow and talk at the same time GO GO GO
Castle as quickly as possible
Don’t allow your pawns to be doubled
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As time goes by and you start to look at lots of high-level
Articles plus récents
games, you begin to see these gods of chess breaking rule after
rule as if they are allowed to do things that you are not. What gives? Classic Pawn Structure, Part 3a
par MI Silman
The fact is that chess would not be very interesting if you could just follow some basic rules and
Il y a 21 heures
be good. Rules are there to help you take your first chess steps without falling on your face, but
Play "The Reti" in a dynamic way....
once you reach a certain level you should toss the rules in the garbage - if doing so is correct in
par MF Po6Don
that particular position. Il y a 45 heures
One rule that most amateurs cling to is “don’t allow your pawns to be doubled.” In many The Ohio Masters Open
instances that’s a wise rule to follow. Today though, we’ll be exploring a structure that calls for par MF Boorchess

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you to double your f-pawns, which appears to leave your king without a home. To make matters Il y a 2 jours

even stranger, all the examples will have Black allowing this to happen to him. Here’s the
structure in question: La famosa partida inmortal
1 par MF jorquerino
Il y a 3 jours

Kuwaiti-Hungarian youth friendship chess

2
events in Budapest
par mrfirstsaturday
3 Il y a 3 jours

h g f e d c b a

This is the structure you’ll learn to love. But wait! I hear some sort of noise, as if hundreds of ^ Ads keep Chess.com free. Upgrade to remove ads! | Report ^

readers are screaming, “Are you kidding? Why would I go out of my way to destroy my own
kingside? Silman 0, Senility 1.”

The following puzzle will change your mind and turn your loathing to adoration. Oh... wait, it’s
White to move. I guess we will chalk this up to, “If you’re going to make use of this structure,
don’t let this happen to you!”

Puzzle 1:

John Owen vs. Amos Burn

London | 1887 White to Move
8

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Okay, okay! That was gruesome! But it doesn’t have to be like this. Really! Since we just looked
at a game from the 1800s, let’s try another from that time period. However, this time I’ll toss
Amos Burn (also known as Mr. Passive) aside and bring in the big guns: Emanuel Lasker!

Jackson Whipps Showalter vs. Emanuel Lasker

USA | 1892 | ECO: C13
1
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3
Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Bxf6
2 gxf6! 6. Nxe4

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Emanuel Lasker | Image Wikipedia

Why would anyone playing Black want this position? There are several reasons:

Usually White’s kingside knight would have access to the e5-square (Ng1-f3-e5), but the
doubled pawn deprives White’s pieces of both e5 and g5.
In many lines Black’s h8-rook will nudge itself one square to the left and enjoy true
happiness on that open g-file.
Black has two bishops!
At some point Black might play …f6-f5 kicking the e4-knight away and opening the a1-h8
diagonal for Black’s dark-squared bishop.
In many instances Black will turn his “weak” isolated h-pawn into a seek and destroy
missile via ...h7-h5-h4-h3.

In a nutshell, the doubled pawns give Black many dynamic possibilities while also granting him (in
this opening) the long-term advantage of two bishops.

We’ll continue our game:

Jackson Whipps Showalter vs. Emanuel Lasker

USA | 1892 | ECO: C13
1
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3
Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Bxf6
2 gxf6! 6. Nxe4 f5 7. Ng3
( 7. Nc3 Bg7 8. Nf3 O-O
3 That's right! Black's king is
often quite safe on the
4 kingside! 9. Ne5 c5 10. f4
cxd4 11. Ne2 Nc6 12. Nf3
Qb6 13. Rb1 Qa5+ 14. Nd2
5
Bd7 15. Nc1 Qc7 16. Nd3
Rac8 17. Be2 Ne7 18. Rc1
6
Nd5 19. Nf1 Nxf4 20. Nxf4
Qxf4 21. Nd2 Bc6 22. g3

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Who wouldn’t love Black’s position? In the rest of the game Lasker proceeded to give away most
of his advantage only to grind his opponent down anyway:

Jackson Whipps Showalter vs. Emanuel Lasker

USA | 1892 | ECO: C13 | 0-1
1
11. Re1 Qf6 12. Bb5 Bd7
13. Bxc6 Bxc6 14. Qxd4
2 Qxd4 15. Nxd4 O-O-O
16. Nxc6 bxc6 17. Rad1
3 Bd6 18. Nf1 Kc7 19. Ne3
Be5 20. Nc4 Bf6 21. c3
Rd5 22. Ne3 Ra5 23. a3
4
Rb8 24. Re2 f4 25. Nc4
Rd5 26. Red2 Rxd2
5
27. Rxd2 Bxc3 28. Rc2 Bd4
29. b4 Rd8 30. Kf1 e5
6 31. Ke2 e4 32. Na5 Rd6
33. a4 f5 34. Nb3 Kd7
7 35. Rc4 Be5 36. Nc5+ Ke7
37. f3 Rd4 38. Rxd4 Bxd4
39. Nb3 Bc3 40. fxe4 fxe4
8
41. Nc5 Bxb4 42. Nxe4 Ke6
h g f e d c b a 43. Kd3 Ke5 44. g3 fxg3

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Okay, that particular move order (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 dxe4 5.Bxf6?! gxf6) doesn’t
offer White anything. But what about 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Be7 6.Bxf6
gxf6 when Black’s dark-squared bishop has been dragged to e7, depriving Black of the flexibility
of placing it on g7 in some lines, or after ...f7-f5 allowing the queen to leap to f6 (as in the
Lasker game)?

The Burn Variation | ECO: C13

1
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3
Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4
2 Be7 6. Bxf6 gxf6 when
Black's dark-squared bishop has
3 been dragged to e7, depriving
Black of the flexibility of
placing it on g7 in some lines,
4
or after ...f7-f5 allowing the
queen to leap to f6 (as in the
5
Lasker game)?

h g f e d c b a

This was first played by Amos Burn (the guy I cruelly called Mr. Passive), and nowadays it’s
referred to as the Burn Variation. Here’s the initial game:

Georg Marco vs. Amos Burn

Hastings | 1895 | ECO: C13 | 0-1
1
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3

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Wild stuff! Perhaps Burn wasn’t as passive as I thought!

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Wildman Amos Burns | Image Wikipedia

Now I have to admit something: When I was 14 years old, I gathered as many really old games as I
could (from various books and magazines) and looked through them. I noticed quite a few games
with the Burn Variation and I quickly fell madly in love with it. I played it as often as I could but,
in a fit of insanity, I threw away all my games when I was 19. Not one of my Burn Variation games
survived. I am bringing this up because I want to implore all of you to keep all your games! No
matter how bad they might be, there will be a point in your life when you will want to sit back
and enjoy a trip down memory lane.

So, have many good players used this system? Here’s a list: Rubinstein, Schlechter, Perlis, Reti,
Saemisch, Alekhine, Kmoch Flohr, Bogoljubow, Reshevsky, Lilienthal, Guimard, Bondarevsky,
Boleslavsky, Evans, Koblencs, Minev, Radulov, Botvinnik, Petrosian, Bronstein, Hort, Speelman,
Andersson, Korchnoi, Bareev, Lautier, Anand, Short, Kosten, Kramnik, Atalik, Sakaev, Seirawan,

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Chandler, Dreev, Hess, Radjabov, Ivanchuk, Caruana, Shabalov, Topalov, Morozevich, Magnus
Carlsen, and many, many others.

As you can see, this line is somewhat addictive!

I’ll repeat why this attracts so many strong players:

Usually White’s kingside knight would have access to the e5-square (Ng1-f3-e5), but the
double pawn deprives White’s pieces of both e5 and g5.
In many lines Black’s h8-rook will nudge itself one square to the left and enjoy true
happiness on that open g-file.
Black has two bishops!
At some point Black might play …f6-f5 kicking the e4-knight away and opening the a1-h8
diagonal for Black’s dark-squared bishop.
In many instances Black will turn his “weak” isolated h-pawn into a seek and destroy
missile via ...h7-h5-h4-h3.

In a nutshell, the doubled pawns give Black many dynamic possibilities while also granting him (in
this opening) the long-term advantage of two bishops.

Here are some games that will give you a feel for the kind of play that occurs in this structure:

Robert Fischer (2760) vs. Tigran Petrosian (2640)

Candidates Match (game 3) | Buenos Aires | 1971 | ECO: C13 | 1/2-1/2
1
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3
Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4
2 Be7 6. Bxf6 gxf6 7. g3
Fischer liked this line, but
3 now it's known that 7.Nf3 is
best.
7... f5! 8. Nc3 Bf6! 9. Nge2
4
Nc6 10. d5 exd5! a novelty
prepared especially for this
5
match!
11. Nxd5 Bxb2 12. Bg2 O-O

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Svidler (2695) vs. Morozevich (2749)

Great Britain | 2001 | ECO: C13 | 0-1
1
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3
Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4
2 Be7 6. Bxf6 gxf6 7. Nf3 a6
8. c3
3 ( 8. g3 Nc6 9. Nc3 h5
10. Bg2 h4 led to a complex
4 game with mutual chances in
Leko – Morozevich, Dortmund
2001. )
5
8... f5 9. Nc5 O-O 10. Bc4

6
b5 11. Bb3 Bxc5 12. dxc5
Bb7 13. Nd4 Qf6 14. Qe2
e5 15. Nf3 Nd7 16. O-O-O
7
Rad8 17. Bd5 c6 18. Bb3
e4 19. Nd4 Nxc5 20. Bc2
8 Rfe8 21. f4 a5 22. Qe3 b4
23. Qg3+ Kf8 24. Qg5 Qxg5
h g f e d c b a
25. fxg5 Nd3+ 26. Bxd3

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Bogoljubow vs. Saemisch

Berlin | 1928 | 0-1
1
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3
Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4
2 Be7 6. Bxf6 gxf6 7. Nf3 f5
8. Nc3 c6?!
3 ( 8... a6 9. g3

( 9. Ne5 Nd7 10. Nxd7

4 Qxd7 11. g4 Bf6 12. gxf5
Qxd4 13. Bd3 Qb4 and
5 Black was already winning in
Sredojevic (2407) – A.

6
Kovacevic (2549), Serbia
2012. )

7
9... b5 10. Bg2 Bb7 11. O-O
c5 12. dxc5 Bxc5 13. Qxd8+
Kxd8 14. Ne5 Bxg2 15. Kxg2
8
Ke7 16. Rad1 Ra7 17. a4
h g f e d c b a b4 18. Ne2 Rc8 19. b3 Nd7

D. Esteban Forcen (2503) vs. Cr Cruz (2498)

Figueres | 2013 | 0-1
1
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3
Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4
2 Be7 6. Bxf6 gxf6 7. Nf3 b6
This is how I played this line in
3 my youth!
8. Bb5+

4 ( 8. g3 Bb7 9. Qe2 Qd5

10. Ned2 c5 11. dxc5 Qxc5

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D. Hua (2256) vs. A. Shabalov (2557)

Philadelphia | 2013 | 0-1
1
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3
Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4
2 Be7 6. Bxf6 gxf6 7. Nf3 a6
8. a4
3 ( 8. Bc4 f5 9. Nc3 b5
10. Bb3 c5 11. dxc5 Qxd1+
4 12. Rxd1 Bb7 13. a4 b4
14. Ne2 Nd7 and Black was
better and went on to win in
5
Samuel Sevian – Shabalov,
North American Open 2012. )
6
8... f5 9. Ng3 c5 10. c3
Nc6 11. dxc5 Qxd1+
7
12. Rxd1 Bxc5 13. Bd3 h5
14. b4 Be7 15. O-O Bf6
8 16. b5 Ne7 17. Rfe1 Bxc3
18. Re2 h4 19. Nf1 Bf6
h g f e d c b a
20. Bc4 O-O 21. Ne5 axb5

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Note how the same piece setups and plans are employed again and again by Black. When you
know a structure, you will also know where your pieces should go!

At the moment Black (after 7.Nf3) is doing okay with all the main moves: 7...f5, 7...b6, and
7...a6.

But this article is about structure, not about opening theory. And so the following question has to
be addressed: Other than this one line in the French Defense, does this structure appear
anywhere else? Does it have any non-French Defense value? The answer is yes! In Part 3b, we’ll
see it racking up wins in the Caro-Kann, the Sicilian Defense, and in other openings too! In other
words, this is a very important structure and, if you grow to understand it, it will repay you over
and over again in several different opening and middlegame situations.

RELATED STUDY MATERIAL

Read Silman's previous articles in this series: Classic Pawn Structure, Part 1a, Part 1b, and Part
2;
Learn from GM Gregory Kaidanov's Paying Attention to Your Opponent's Possibilities:
Understanding Pawn Structure;
Tear apart your opponent's pawn structure in Chess Mentor;
Maintain your tactical readiness in our Tactics Trainer;
Looking for articles with deeper analysis? Try our magazine: The Master's Bulletin.

Commentaires

fatritota Il y a 102 minutes

zekri tota

CJ_P Il y a 10 heures

I went for this structure in the Caro, but my tactical defense is not good enough to play

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it -- unless it's in one of the giuoco openings

OBIT Il y a 12 heures

As a chess coach, I often tell my students that, for most chess strategies, the real
answer is "it depends." Are doubled pawns bad? Yes, generally speaking, but it
depends. Is castling a good idea? Most of the time, yes, but it depends. Is a rook better
than a bishop? Usually, but it depends. It depends on the position.

Now, some coaches hate me for making these comments. For one thing, they tell me I
am contradicting the curriculum they follow for their students, which makes them look
bad. They also think the element of ambiguity implied by my comments only confuses
the kids - they need to be given neat and tidy rules to follow, else they'll never learn
this game. It's funny, though... most of the kids I have coached don't have a problem
with the notion that there will be exceptions for most rules. And, the really creative
ones get good at recognizing situations where the rules don't apply.

DMFW Il y a 17 heures

Your comment about knowing when to throw away the rules resonated with me. I think
here, chess is like so many things in life. You need to be drilled in early rules whenever
you enter any new problem domain to stop basic mistakes, you follow them by rote at
first then learn to appreciate exactly why they are there, you continue to treat them as
cast iron but then, maybe, just maybe at some point in the future you are able to take a
step up and see how their support can be kicked away and how you can do new things
perfectly well without the "rules". This could be my epiphany with doubled pawns as I've
well and truly got a rule phobia for them and avoid them like the plague when I
can. This is a very interesting opening. Seems like I need to know when to relax a bit :-)

cdowis75 Il y a 17 heures

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In a king only endgame, certain doubled pawn structures will make a blockade by
protecting the diagonal access to the pawns. In a recent game, as we were approaching
an endgame, I deliberately manuevered the opponent into creating this structure.

MI DanielRensch Il y a 18 heures

Does anyone else think Burns looks a little like Georg Meier? No? Just me?

Well, great article once again Jeremy!

JoeTheV Il y a 19 heures

Love this line in the French.

StevieBlues Il y a 19 heures

A little while ago I wanted to make the switch to 1.e4. After looking into some main

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lines, I encountered this variation in stockfish's opening book. It looked so bad for white
i gave up then and there on 1.e4. True story

NeedAPony Il y a 20 heures

I had stumbled into this structure over the board by accident not knowing it was played
let alone that it was given a formal name. While I often fared well in my games I always
feared I had just 'gotten lucky'. Thank you for letting me know how to find examples of
good play with this line. Time to sharpen my chosen tool.

KenyDurant Il y a 20 heures

I recognized it from the sicilian and was glad you covered it. Nice! :)

jtsio Il y a 20 heures

Very interesting article! Thanks again Mr. Silman, you are a true teacher for us!

MF chesskingdreamer Il y a 21 heures

nice article

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