What to do with your pawns?

At the moment I'm working my way through the blitz (3 min) games of GM Henrik Danielsen for the second time. It gives a good insight how a grandmaster thinks when he has no time to think:)

I can follow the tactics quite good. Sometimes he has looked one or two moves further, but most of the times it concerns relative easy to spot tactics. He is quite accurate and fast. But the gap between him an me doesn't seem totally unabridgable in this area. As I said earlier.

What is miraculous though is that he instantly knows what to do with his pawns. Partly this can be attributed to the fact that he is very well versed in his openings. But in the middlegame he is very fast too. Here I notice a very wide gap between him and me. It is quite obvious that his pawnplay makes his life much easier. How to improve in this area?

The general idea of the LeningradDutch and the Polar Bear is that you develop your pieces behind your pawns and that you shoot through the holes in your pawnshield. In this way you can hardly expect that you cross the middle of the board. But when that happens, the enemy position often seems to collapse, while the why remains a mystery.

When a pawn makes contact with an enemy pawn, there are the following options:

• You neglect the contact or reinforce your pawn.
• You push the pawn.
• You take the enemy pawn.

What are the criteria for the choice?

I haven't decided yet if I like the positions from the Leningrad or not. It is too early to say. I'm used to gambit play. The aspect that I like the most of a sacced pawn is the open lines it creates. It no longer stands in the way. The fact that it speeds up my development is useful, but not paramount. With a positional approach, you don't open lines by saccing usually but by trading pawns.

With the Leningrad you keep the tension. When the dam breaks your pieces flood into enemy territory. I want to learn to play that way. Only after I learned how to conduct such game, I can decide whether I like it or not.