The pawn-play academy
Small moves. Profound changes.
Learn when to hold, advance, capture or break. Explain what changes for both sides, play the position, and return until the idea becomes yours.
A learning method, not a list to memorise
First diagnose the centre. Write your candidate and your opponent’s strongest response. Compare the position after the final recapture: pawn support, occupied and controlled squares, opened lines, piece activity and concessions. Then test the plan from the other side.
Use five studies a week for the 30-lesson Central Pawn Play II course, or explore at your own pace. Self-rated reviews measure your confidence, not an engine score or promised rating gain. Model game moves illustrate a plan; they are not all forced or necessarily engine-best.
Teaching diagrams deliberately omit pieces and are not playable chess positions. Full positions are legally replay-checked. Historical dates and source limitations are retained in each study.
0 completed · Loading progress…
Start the Central Pawn Play II course →20 of 180 studies
Move the candidate pawn first
Which pawn has the clearest potential route to becoming passed, and who will support it?
Teaching diagram · Think & explain
Create a protected passed pawn
Why can the protected passer influence an endgame even while remaining on d5?
Teaching diagram · Think & explain
Outside passer through a capture
Which king move would you like to gain while the opponent deals with the a-pawn?
Teaching diagram · Think & explain
Connected passers support each other by advancing
Which pawn should move first if the defender attacks from the side rather than from behind?
Teaching diagram · Think & explain
The outside passer is a decoy for the king
At what point must Black choose between stopping the a-pawn and defending the kingside?
Teaching diagram · Think & explain
Do not advance a passer off its best square
Which matters more now: attacking c7 or continuing to control e6?
Teaching diagram · Think & explain
Neutralise a majority by trading its extra pawn
After fxe6 and Black's best recapture, has the majority disappeared or merely changed shape?
Teaching diagram · Think & explain
A doubled majority may lack a useful extra move
Which exchange would make the rear c-pawn a functional member of the majority?
Teaching diagram · Think & explain
The replacement passer: capture one, another appears
After the first passed pawn disappears, what pawn can inherit its file and role?
Teaching diagram · Think & explain
A kingside majority can be used for attack
Which attacking piece benefits most from the majority's first advance?
Teaching diagram · Think & explain
The three-against-three breakthrough
Why does b6 work, while simply pushing an outside pawn would allow it to be blocked?
Playable position · Study, train & practise
Stop the same breakthrough before contact
Which square must the defender occupy before White can execute the three-pawn breakthrough?
Playable position · Study, train & practise
Source bibliography & further reading
The original materials’ score sources and supplementary reading are preserved below. The source links in each lesson identify its game context.
- Devon Junior Chess — Hanging pawns
- Devon Junior Chess — Playing with an IQP
- Devon Junior Chess — Playing against an IQP
- ChessWorld — Pawn-structure game scores
- ChessWorld — Kasparov game scores
- ChessWorld — Queen’s Indian game scores
- The Chesspedia — Petrosian–Spassky 1966 match scores
- The Chesspedia — Capablanca–Alekhine 1927 match scores
- ChessWorld — Nimzo-Indian game scores
- ChessWorld — Queen’s Gambit Declined game scores
- Jan Markos — The most suitable moment for a pawn break