Connected pawns

Pawn chain is a term from the game of chess. A pawn chain is by Aaron Nimzowitsch an inclined continuous interlocking set of shifted white and black farmers. The chain divides the board into two halves, which are diagonal to each other. Figures not succeed to overcome them without sacrifice in general. The chain must be passed on the right or left. The front farmers a chain that crossed the center of the board, take the opponent room to maneuver his characters. Nimzowitsch was of the opinion that this restraining force of the chain must be strictly controlled, in order to prevent a permanent disadvantage. He saw the attack on the base of the chain the only effective means to neutralize the inhibition and put it out so his strategy. Nimzowitsch developed the following concept, which he mainly on the basis of the French Advance Variation, the 1 e2- e4 e7 - e6 2 d2 -d4 d7 -d5 3 e4 e5 arises after the moves, demonstrated:

• The base should be attacked several times by figures.
• This aggressive position of the attacking figures is achieved, causing the defender developmental difficulties.
• The pressure on the base must be maintained as long as occur until new weaknesses as a result of the development difficulties.
• After that, the battle plan is modified, released the original weakness and the new attack by any means.
• Upon reaching a playoff with chain sees Nimzowitsch in the chain base a weak point. The base builder can be easily attacked from the sides.
• The attacker has to pay attention to its own base.

John Watson examines in his book Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy, the development of the strategy of the pawn chain from the time Nimzowitsch until today.

The one-sided view Nimzowitsch is characterized by the radical change in the strategy of the chain. Today, the chain is often attacked at their head and broken. This leads to backward pawn (for example, 3 Nb1 -d2 Ng8 - f6 4 e4 Nf6 e5 - d7 - 5 -d3 c7 - c5 Lf1 6 c2 - c3 - c6 Sb8 7 Sg1 - e2 c5xd4 8 c3xd4 f7 f6 - 9 e5xf6 Sd7xf6 10 Nd2 -f3 Qd8 - b6 11 0-0 Bf8 - d6), what was the reason for Nimzowitsch to evaluate the resulting positions after bad. The search for new ways and strategies and many results obtained by practical tests have led to rethink. Breaking down the chain from the tip frees the spatially restricted characters abruptly. You have active fields available and develop attack forces. This activity is sufficient to compensate for the disadvantage of the backward pawn. Nimzowitsch's strategy of covering the farmer base has the opponents literally forced to look for new ways since the attacks bogged down very quickly.

Watson is also on the development of chain strategy other opening systems such as the King's Indian Defense, the Old Indian Defence, Benoni Defence, etc. and comes to the realization that no single strategy can be placed. Each formation has its own laws and lives of the possibilities of an attack of the tip or the base. The assessment of the position can only be done by analytical consideration of the position, and subsequent practical testing.