Piece activity vs Pawn structure

 I have seen all videos of the Chessable book The Strategy Instructors Volume 1: Pawn Majority & Minority

It gives a good impression what the middlegame struggle will often be about when one side goes for a good pawn structure, while the other side embarks on maximizing the piece activity.

Where does this extra piece activity originates, and how is it in balance with a better pawn structure?

Usually it takes time (tempi) to saddle your opponent with a double pawn. Furthermore, a doubled pawn comes with an extra (half) open file. And when the double pawns control the center, it is a good thing too.

In order to get a better picture how this works, I decided to analyze the game between Anand and Shirov again.



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MoveNResultElo
1.e41,165,57054%2421
1.d4946,47455%2434
1.Nf3281,31256%2441
1.c4181,93756%2442
1.g319,68856%2427
1.b314,23654%2427
1.f45,88648%2377
1.Nc33,79651%2384
1.b41,75348%2380
1.a31,19754%2403
1.e31,06848%2408
1.d394850%2378
1.g466246%2361
1.h444653%2374
1.c342651%2425
1.h327956%2416
1.a410860%2468
1.f39147%2431
1.Nh38966%2508
1.Na34262%2482
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 The pawn structure has changed. White has a majority in the center, while black has a majority on the queenside. Furthermore, both black and white have got a half open file. Bc5 5.Nxc6 White saddles black with a double pawn at the cost of 3 tempi vs 2. His only developed piece leaves the board. Qf6 6.Qd2 White blocks his own bishop dxc6 Black voluntarily accepts a doubled pawn. What does he get for it? An open d-file. An open diagonal c8-h3 (speeds up his development) His pawn majority on the queenside has become useless when it comes to creating a passer. The doubled pawns occupy the center. 7.Nc3 Ne7 8.Qf4 Offering the trade of Queens. Be6 9.Qxf6 gxf6 White goes for the endgame. Blacks pawns structure is wrecked. But what is the price that white paid for it? His queen has invested 3 tempi, vs 2 for black. So white lost another tempo. Black has got another half open file. And another doubled pawn that controls the center. 10.f4 Another non developing move. But if white can play f5, both black's light squared bishop and his knight will become bad. f5 Black can now create an outpost on d5 at will. Either he lures the e-pawn away or he trades the e-pawn himself. 11.Bd2 0-0-0 12.0-0-0 White has to develop two pieces and black just one. Rhg8 Binding Bf1 to the defense. And Bf1 hinders the development of Rh1. 13.g3 h5 When you are ahead in development you must try to open up the position in order to make your pieces work. 14.Bh3 Create pressure against f5. Making room for the development of Rh1 h4 15.Na4 Counter attack instead of defending g3 Bf2 16.Bb4 More counter attack Rxd1+ That is usual what a complete open file is used for. 17.Rxd1 hxg3 Notice that both white and black have backrank issues. Rg8 must guard the PoP d8 where the white Rd1 and Bb4-e7 converge. While Rd1 must guard against promotion. 18.hxg3 b5 Solving black's backrank issues by creating an escape square with tempo. 19.Bxe7 bxa4 20.Bxf5 Bxf5 21.exf5 Be3+ A clever in between move that shifts the attack towards f4 while creating new backrank issues for white with tempo. 22.Kb1 Rxg3 23.Rd8+ Kb7 24.a3 Bxf4 25.Rf8 Be5 Again a shift in line of attack which introduces a perpetual ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBRes
Viswanathan Anand-Alexey Shirov-½–½

Piece activity
  • space
  • open files
  • central squares
  • lead in development
Pawn structure
  • doubled pawns
  • pawn majority
  • mobility of the pawn mass
  • ability to create a passer
More elements
  • the lead in development is a tempo battle.
  • binding defenders to weak pawns or weak squares
  • invasion
  • convergence of attackers in the enemy camp
  • counter attack is preferred to defense

Comments

  1. TemposchluckerSunday, June 16, 2024 at 10:22:00 PM GMT+2

    The assault on the King à la Vukovic is well described by the PoPLoAFun system. With the standard scenarios that belong to the battle of the lines of attack.

    For the second duck, AKA the pawns, matters seem to gear around invasion. Where the invasion square is best placed behind the enemy pawns. So you can attack the pawns from behind, from a place where your pieces can't be dislodged by enemy pawns. Think of encircling, and the rook on the 7th and the 8th row of Nimzowitsch.

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  2. TemposchluckerMonday, June 17, 2024 at 9:39:00 AM GMT+2

    We talked about the "what" and the "how". The task at hand is to abstrahere the "why" from the "what" and the "how". To discover the "why" isn't a trivial task. It is a task for system 2. The logical narrative and the "why" are closely related. You might have noticed that I don't bother with variations. Since variations only emerge in the realm of the "what" and the "how".

    The why has a higher level of abstraction. When you overshoot the abstraction though, you are probably left with trivialities.

    But I need the why in order to be able to conduct my own game.

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