attack · recognise → explain → apply

Use a seventh-rank pawn to tie down a rook

A pawn one step from promotion forces a heavy piece into a passive role.

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Anatoly Karpov – Garry Kasparov

World Championship, game 17 · 1990.12.05 · 1-0

37... g5 · White to move

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What to notice at 37... g5

Karpov’s 38.d7 was followed by ...Rf8. The advanced pawn and White’s active rook continued to impose defensive duties on Black’s heavy pieces.

A legally replayed historical example, not a claim that every move is best. A game’s result does not prove every defensive position was lost or drawn.

Game source ↗

Your thinking first

Name the signal, choose a plan, and test the opponent’s most challenging response.

What do you notice?What is your plan, and why?How could the opponent resist?

Recall and explain

1. A pawn one step from promotion forces a heavy piece into a passive role. How would you apply “use a seventh-rank pawn to tie down a rook”, and which defensive reply must you check?

Explain it in your own words before revealing.

Make it memorable

One pawn can put a rook on guard duty.

Teach this to a friend in one minute. Then return to a different example and look for the same signal without being told its name.

Reflect and revisit

This is your self-assessment, not an engine grade or a promise of mastery.

Connect the ideas

Practise pawn transformations →

Sources and further reading

Original GolgiChess teaching and game analysis. Topic references are credited below; no affiliation or endorsement is implied.