![]() No pawns are blocking in his minor pieces! More importantly, White’s two pawn moves serve a real purpose as opposed to simply thrusting pawns out onto to the board because they’re expendable! So we can safely say that two pawn moves that control central squares without blocking in any minor pieces is acceptable during the first few moves. White has options and with it flexibility. ![]() If you look at the position after 1.e4…c6, 2.d4, you’ll see that White has an ideal pawn center and can bring out all four of his minor pieces to powerful squares. However, it’s at this point that you have to develop your minor pieces. ![]() If your opponent gives you the opportunity to control the center with a pair of pawns go for it. Now, if (as White) you play 1.e4 and your opponent plays 1…c6, by all means bring a second pawn into the center with 2.d4. This means that you need to make at least one pawn move, say 1.e4 or 1.d4 for White (1…e5 or 1…d5 for Black). First off, your goal in the opening is to control the center. Black could also have played 1…Nf6, allowing the Knight control of eight squares including two central squares.Īfter telling my students that you shouldn’t make too many pawn moves, one of them will always ask “how many pawn moves is too many?” A good question! While an absolute answer would depend on the position at hand, there are a few guiding principles the beginner can use to navigate through this dilemma. If White had played 1.c3, Black would be able the simply play 1…e5, gaining control of the center. While, there are very good openings that rely on the c pawn being played from the start (The English Opening), beginners should push one of their two central pawns (the d or e pawns) into the board’s center, then concentrate on developing their minor pieces. On the other hand, A Knight on c3 controls an impressive eight squares including two key central squares, d5 and e4. Unfortunately, with a pawn on c3, our Knight can no longer occupy that square until the pawn is moved. The c3 square is one on which the Queen-side Knight likes to reside. A pawn moved from c2 to c3 controls two squares, b4 and d4. To explain these two problems, let’s look at a quick example (set up a chessboard and pieces to the starting position). The biggest problem with making too many pawn moves early on is that the player making those excess pawn moves is giving the opposition a chance to gain greater control of the board as well as blocking in his or her own pieces. Knowing why the mistake is made is just as important as correcting that mistake! It is extremely important that chess teachers and coaches discover the reasons behind their student’s actions on the chessboard, especially actions that lead to lost games. When these ideas are put together by the beginner, we can start to see the novice’s reasoning for bringing too many pawns out during the opening game. Novice players are also taught that it is normally better to start an exchange of material with the unit of least value. Each player starts the game with eight pawns. ![]() The beginner is also taught that the pawn is the unit of least value (the pawn’s relative value = 1 point). The beginning player is taught to open the game up (start the game) with a central pawn push, either the moving the d or e pawn two squares forward. Unfortunately, the novice player quickly finds out that misplaced pawns can have a disastrous effect on their game! Before condemning the beginner for making too many pawn moves early in the game, let’s try to look at his or her viewpoint and reasoning! While experienced players know the pitfalls of making too many pawn moves, the beginner reasons that the pawn is the unit of least value and is therefore expendable (after all, each player starts the game with eight of them). One mistake beginners make is using their pawns too much during the opening phase of the game.
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