The Ultimate Guide to Chess Pawn Structures

Learn about Chess Pawn Structures: Key Insights, Themes, Plans, Tactics and Strategies from World Chess Champion Games

4.45 (184 reviews)

Udemy

platform

English

language

Gaming

What you will learn

Be able to recognise effective plans in different openings and their pawn structures e.g. Minority attack plan in Carlsbad structure of Queens Gambit

Be able to build an effective opening repertoire which fits your playing style e.g. Nimzo-indian for prophylaxis style

Be able to use pawn structures to influence the level of tactics one needs to calculate - e.g. Slav or French structures can be used for quieter positions

Be able to understand what Beth Harmon in the Queen's Gambit hit Netflix series meant with the terms "Backward pawn", "Hanging Pawns"

Be able to let pawn structures drive your choice of openings knowing you have fundamental middlegame ideas

Be able to transpose favourably into different structures when appropriate e.g. from London system into Stonewall structure

Be able to recognise the key basic pawn formations that frequently arise from chess openings

Be able to head to particular structures which match your mood and energy levels for calculation or need for just drawing

Be able to leverage common winning patterns both for and against particular pawn structures within your own games

Be able to make use of Thorn pawn structures and head for them for both middlegame and endgame advantages

Be able to make positional pawn sacrifices for things like Knight outposts and other positional gains

Be able to make positional exchange sacrifices to create a longer term upward trend within certain pawn structures

Be able to make effective pawn based strategies for the opening phase

Be able to make effective pawn based strategies for the middlegame phase

Be able to make effective pawn based strategies for the endgame phase

Be able to appreciate the fundamentals of Pawn related Chess Strategy in terms of position evaluation and longer term planning

Be able to make use of pawn chain undermining where appropriate

Be able to make effective Outposts around key squares within the pawn structure

Be able to do "high level shuffling" especially around potential strategic pawn breaks to minimise regrets and maximise impact

Be able to understand the dynamic and positional tradeoffs of different pawn structure factoring in King position

Be able to see the up and downsides of the Isolated pawn structure and its descendants such as hanging pawns

Be able to choose openings based on their pawn structures if you wish to build up your tactical strengths e.g. gambits or dynamic structures e.g. IQP

Be able to recognise which dynamic structures need you to put on your calculation and attacking hats or pay a penalty later in miserable endgames

Be able to understand iconic and beautiful game examples for handling various pawn structures such as classic Bobby Fischer games

Be able to see with updated analysis fantastic examples that Kingscrusher has researched in the last few years from his Youtube channel

Be able to be inspired by connected passed pawn examples from the engine World where even Stockfish couldn't handle the potential of them

Be able to choose the right plan especially in non-tactical situations thus saving time on the clock

Be able to fight effectively against tactical players with methods such as counterplay-removal and endgame transitioning

Be stimulated to play the Sicilian Sveshnikov effectively being inspired by the Backward pawn examples

Simplify your need to memorise tonnes of opening theory if you master the essential pawn structures

Be able to make use of prophylaxis when appropriate within certain pawn structures

Be able to evolve your opening repertoire with structurally implied game examples in this course such as the Nimzo-Indian to inflict doubled pawns on opponents

Be able to see the price often paid for damaging structures such as "Bishop without counterpart" which can be a targetable downside in its own right

Be able to get make use of "Thorn pawn" structures aka "Chess cheat code!" which Chess Neural networks have proven valuable

Be able to add "Soul" to your chess game! - "Pawns are the Soul of Chess" - François-André Danican Philidor

To be able to have a more effective structural perspective on what is going on in a position

To be able to rethink your opening choices and general game plans generally based on pawn structures

Be able to have effective "template plans" based on pawn structure which occur in many different openings

Be able to use a nice simple line with White vs the Caro-Kann - the exchange variation with knowledge of Carlsbad structure ups and downs

Be able to play the Sicilian Sveshnikov making use of effective template plans given in the examples

Be able to understand the structural "playbook" of both sides in a tonne of different openings which have similar structures highlighted in this course

Be able to appreciate "structualists" like Capablanca, Petrosian, Karpov, Adams who are masters of pawn structure plans and annotated games

Be able to handle key pawn breaks for yourself and the opponent - give yourself a break :)

Be able to transform structures into other sometimes more exploitable advantages or other structures

Be able to appreciate Kingscrusher's pure love and admiration of Tigran Petrosian who also inspired Karpov with the concept of relatively risk-free chess :)

Be able to appreciate Kingscrusher's love of Mikhail Tal in the Benoni structures which can be transposed to from the Kings Indian defence

Game analysis all engine checked with latest Stockfish NN (Neural Network) often uncovering amazing new previously undiscovered resources!

Be able to appreciate classic notable games in Chess history which are major stem games for key ideas organised by structure

Be able to see how World chess champions championed particular structures such as Petrosian in the French and Tal in the Modern Benoni

Why take this course?

Chess is a game of decision-making, and as the famous saying by Philidor goes, 'Pawns are the soul of chess.' Unlike any other pieces, pawns are the symbol of irreversible choices, moves you make that could shape your entire game. This is why understanding chess pawn structures is a fundamental skill for any player.

' The Ultimate Guide to Chess Pawn Structures' provides a comprehensive study on pawn structures in chess. This course focuses on pivotal games from World Chess Champions and renowned 'structuralists' who have shown an exemplary understanding of pawn structures and have tailored their opening choices to exploit these structures effectively.

The aim of this course is to provide a balanced understanding of different structures, highlighting their pros and cons, and to guide you in predicting your opponent's moves and plans. The examples and templates in this course will enhance your understanding of openings, allowing you to employ successful plans from past world chess champions, grandmasters, and other great players.

This course explores key pawn structural elements through a plethora of instructive games, showcasing the advantages and disadvantages of:

Doubled Pawns
Hanging Pawns
Backward Pawns
Isolated Pawns
Pawn Islands
Passed Pawns
Thorn Pawns (inspired by Neural Networks)

It also delves into more specific configurations of pawns, including:

d5 Pawn Chain
e5 Pawn Chain
Carlsbad Structure
Caro Structure
Slav Structure
Boleslavsky Hole Structure (with special emphasis on Sveshnikov examples!)
Stonewall Structure

At the end of this course, you will develop a 'structuralist' mindset towards chess, recognizing the true importance of the 'little guys,' the pawns! As Philidor asserted, pawns are indeed the life and soul of the game. So, buckle up and delve deep into the intricacies of chess pawn structures with this comprehensive guide.

Screenshots

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Reviews

Michael

July 12, 2023

I'm only part-way through this course but already have learned a great deal of information about how to use my pawns. Mr. Gavriel's knowledge is deep, and I appreciate his calm, informative delivery.

Mike

July 4, 2023

Depends on what you want. The presenter is very knowledgeable about the history of chess and presents in full detail over 100 of his favorite games before about 1990,with his commentary on them. All knowledge is useful but most of this detail is unnecessary to improve your chess playing. This can be accessed elsewhere, and other platforms just present an idea and illustrate it with several examples in about 10% of the time.

Henrik

March 4, 2023

This course is not only pawn structures. It's also shows various plans - and it's done for both sides. If this is not enough it also contains the whopping amount of 45 hours of video and PGN download. Highly recommended.

Subash

January 16, 2023

Have learnt what to do with the pawns. Looking for gaping holes/Boleslavsky hole, using the outposts, damaging the opponents pawn structure during trade offs. Importance of keeping the Bishops no matter if your structure becomes damaged.

Sandi

June 7, 2022

Wen he moves pieces, it gets way too complicated for me to follow hwat he is talking about. I don't understand him and cannot apply what he teaches.

Patrick

May 22, 2022

An amazing piece of work. I have finally made it through to the end of this course! I need to go back and study the whole course again. There is so much material in this course.

Don

March 19, 2022

I like the way the instructor calls attention to a specific aspect of the positions (pawn structure in this course); adding the PGN to the course was a very welcome choice. I hope he will do that for his other courses (I have most of them).

Richard

March 16, 2022

So far, it is as described. The only improvement would be either: PGNs of the games discussed, or a text description of the games discussed in standard notation so the student could find the games in online databases so they can follow along, and if they use a chess database, add their own reference notes (Mr. Gavriel's quick and sometimes inaccurate pronunciation sometimes makes it hard to discern the names of the players).

Alex

March 14, 2022

i am actually really loving this :-) My background is current elo 1850+ but with some serious theoretical holes, i played a lot of orangutan (wrongly even) as junior and am trying to close some of my larger strategical problems. I watched the Mikhalchishin chessbase and collins vids on the same topics but found them hard to understand in the examples as they tended to just go too fast and be a bit you see this is obvious...although some of the examples seem to veer off track - the stockfish alpha zero doesnt feel like it really has anything to do with the pawn chain ( to my understanding...) the course is making me see things i didnt before and i am learning more than from some other courses...i think this guy is good at explaining things to me at least!

Christopher

March 2, 2022

This is a comprehensive study of pawn structures of all the best known openings in the game of chess. Very well explained and illustrated by Tryfon who analyses classic games to demonstrate his teachings; a very enjoyable course to take at a leisurely pace so that I don't misunderstand anything.

Danny

December 28, 2021

Good. A bit advanced for me. I’m more of a tactical player but it’s good to learn strategy of pawn structures also. I like the opening specific sections, e.g. Benoni formations

David

July 25, 2021

I’m enjoying the course very much and am confident I can use the instruction to improve my chess skills - thanks! My only suggestion to the instructor would be to slow down the rate at which he moves the chess pieces. Not everyone is a blitz player!

Nick

July 7, 2021

I've never been so absorbed by a chess instructors teachings before, I often find myself getting tired and bored with most chess lectures, but Kingscrusher has such an interesting style of relaying ideas with so much good advice and positivity I could watch it all day!