Lesson 1: Pawn Structure and Weaknesses

Positional Factor 1. Weaknesses Part 1: Intro

In chess, a Weakness can be defined as:

A square of importance, which is poorly defended (if at all), which can be exploited. This square can be unoccupied or occupied with a pawn or a piece. (Definition from GM Jacob Aagard)

Diagram 1

Take a look at the d5 square in diagram 1, it is a weakness. Because it cannot be defended by black. While white is attacking this square two times.

Basics of Weaknesses:

1.    It could be a weak pawn or a piece that could be potentially attacked.

2.    The weakness must be important to the enemy position.

Key Concepts:

1.    Pawn Islands, each connect group of pawns can be called a pawn “island”, the less pawn island one has the better the pawn structure

2.    Weak Squares, when an important square in the position is lacking defense and can be exploited.

3.    Key Weaknesses, some weaknesses you must defend, while other weaknesses don’t necessarily need to be defended.

Diagram 2-1 (Pawn Islands)

Pawn island are a “cluster” of pawns, in diagram 2-1, which has 3 pawn islands while black has 2. Generally, the side with less pawn islands has less weaknesses because there pawns is more “together” meaning they can better protect each other.

In diagram 2-2, the d5 square is a weak square while g6 square is not. Why? Weak squares are squares that cannot be protected by pawns. As seen, the g6 square can be covered by the f7 pawn.

There are different types of weaknesses. A weak pawn and a weak king are completely different. In a nutshell, try to focus on the more important weaknesses, like king safety, etc.

The chess game below is an example of the concepts above, please watch the video above for a detail explanation.

Game/Example 1