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StrategyChapter 12 · Structures and breaks

Read the pawn map.
Find the right break.

Pawn structure tells your pieces where they belong and which wing to play on.

ConceptUnderstand before you move

Study isolated, hanging, doubled, backward, passed, and minority pawns; open and closed centres; pawn chains; major structures from your repertoire; and the breaks that transform them.

  • Attack the base of a pawn chain, not its protected head.
  • A pawn break changes files, diagonals, and weak squares—calculate the resulting structure.
  • Do not create a permanent weakness unless you gain something more valuable.
Last movecxd4c5 → d4White to move
FEN & PGNTap any move above for its position+
FEN · current
r1b1kbnr/pp3ppp/1qn1p3/3pP3/3p4/2PB1N2/PP3PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 0 7
PGN · through this move
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Bd3 cxd4
♘
Your move

Restore the centre while keeping the e5 chain.