CHAPTER 4 ‘THE PASSED PAWN 41. To get our beorings. The neighbor who is somewhat disturbing and the vis-a-vis who is totally unpleasant. The puw:a majority. The "Candidate". The birth of a passed pawn, Rules for "Candidates”. . A pawn is passed if he has nothing to fear from an enemy pawn in front of him, ie., in the same file, or from one on a neighboring file, and whose road to Queen is therefore open (see Diagram 38). If a pawn is only checked in his advance (blockaded) by enemy pieces, the fact does not prejudice our conception. A special recognition is due to a pawn from the fact that enemy pieces must sacrifice a part of their effective strength in order to keep him under observation, and in fact under continual observation. If further, we bear in mind that the pawn enjoys another advantage over the pieces in that he is the born defender, we will slowly discover that even on the 64 squares the pawn, our foot soldier is worthy of all tespect. Who checks an ambitious enemy pawn best? Apawn. Who protects one of his own pieces best? A pawn. And which of the chessmen works for leastwages? Again, the pawn, for a steady job, such as protecting one of his own fellows or keeping in restraint one of the enemy's men, does not appeal to a piece at all, moreover, such occupation draws off troops from the active army. When a pawn is 80 employed this last applies in very much less measure. In the position on Diagram 38 neither the b-pawn nor the g-pawn is free, yet the former seems to be less hampered than the latter, for the b-pawn has at any rate no direct antagonist. The vis-a-vis might be compared toan enemy, while the pawn in the next file reminds us father of a kindly neighbor, who, as we know, can have his drawbacks. If, for instance, we are rushing downstairs to keep an important engagement, and a Neighbor suddenly grabs us and involves us in a long talk, ranging from the weather and politics to the high Cost of beer, he keeps us from our job, just as in Diagram 38 the Black c-pawn may be an annoyance to White's b-pawn. Nevertheless a somewhat gossipy chatterbox of a neighbor is far from being a bitter enemy, or to apply the analogy to our case, aN annoying pawn on a neighboring file is far from being an antagonist. In our diagram, the White g-pawn's aspirations to greater things can never be satisfied, Whereas the b-pawn can always dream of an advance. The passed pawn 31Lat us now turn to the passed pawn’s family. In this. connection we must first consider the question of the majority on one side or the other. At the beginning of the game after the first exchange of pawns in the center (Altor 1.04 65 2.04 exd4 3.Qx04, pawn majorities lcom up. White has now 4 to 3 on the Kingside, Black 4 to 3 on the Queenside). See Diagram 3a. In the course of the game If Black arrives at ...f5, thus killing White's free center pawn, the majority will be in yei clearer evidence, namely White's Pawns (2, 92, h2 against Black's pawns g7, n7. Rule: Every healthy, uncompromised pawn majority must be able to yield a passed pawn. Of the 3 pawns on the Kingside in Diagram 39, the f-pawn is the only one to have no opponent, he is therefore the least trammeled, and accordingly has the greatest claim to become “free” or passed. He is therefore the legitimate “candidate”. Put more precisely, the rule takes the following shape. The spearhead of the advance is furnished by the candidate, the other pawns are only to be regarded as supports. So f4-f5, then g4-g5 and f6. If Black pawns are at g6 and hd, then White must play f4, g3, (not at once h3 because of h4 and White's majority is crippled), h3, g4, and f5. How simple! And yet how often we see weaker players in this position advancing first with the g-pawn, to which Black replies with g5, and White's majority is worthless. | have often racked my brain to discover why less experienced players begin with g4, yet the matter bears a simple explanation. The players in question are undecided whether to begin on the right (h4) or on the left (f4), and in their perplexity decide, after good respectable 19 Majority on the Kingside custom, to choose the golden mean. * 2. The blockade of passed pawns. Proof of the obligation to blockade, and why the said proof must be of the greatest importance to the practical player as well as to the theoretician (chess philosopher). The exceedingly complicated, because ever varying, relations between the passed pawn and the blockader. On strong and weak, elastic and inelastic blockaders. In the position shown on Liagram 46, Black has a passed pawn, which can however be blocked by Nd4 or Bd4. By blockade we mean the mechanical stopping of an enemy pawn's advance by a piece, which is brought about by placing our piece directly in front of the pawn to be blockaded. Here and in all similar cases the question comes up: Does this blockade not connote an unnecessary expenditure | 32 My SyStein - die: coummy Editionofenergy? Would it not suffice to keep the pawn fixed by the Knightor Bishop bearing upon d4? Is keeping up a blockade work worthy of an officer? Will not his nobility, so long as he takes his blockading problem seriously, be to.a considerable extent diminished? Is he not thus degraded to the status of a stopped (immobile) pawn? In a nut-shell, is the blockade economical? | am glad to be able to offer you, | think, an exhaustive solution to this problem. The mediocre critic would settle the question by laying down quite briefly the general thesis that pawns must be stopped, but in my eyes this would be a proof of poverty of understanding. The why and the wherefore are of extraordinary importance. There are three reasons which logically make the blockade imperative. In what follows, these will be analyzed under ¢2a, #2b, and 2c. Under ¢3 the effective strength of the blockader will be assessed in detail. + 2a, First reason: The passed pawn is a criminal, who should be kept under lock and key. Mild measures, such as police surveillance, are not sufficient. The passed pawn’s lust to expand. The awakening of the men in the rear. We return again to Diagram 40. The Black forces, Bishop, Rook and Knight, are as we should say, grouped around the passed pawn. They conform to a complex of which the d-pawn is the nucieus. Knight and Bishop guard ihe passed pawn. The Rook, however, supplies him with a certain impetus, gives him a supporting impulse in fact. So powerful is the pawn's desire to press on here, to expand (of which fact indeed visible recognition is given in the way the "officers," laying aside all pride of Caste, picturesquely group themselves around this simple "foot soldier”), that our d-pawn often seems ready to advance on his own account, when to do so will cost him his life. So, for instance, 1...d4 2.N (or B) xd4, and now all of a sudden the Black forces in the rear come to life. The Bishop from b7 commands a diagonal bearing on the enemy King, the Rook has a clear file, while the Knight has a new Square for himself in the center. Such an advance at the cost of self sacrifice, for the purpose of opening a file, is, as a rule, only characteristic of a “pawn roller," a . Compact advancing mass of pawns in the center, and therefore furnishes a brilliant Proof of the {ust to expand inherent in a passed pawn, for the mobile center (the Pawn roller) is endowed with an almost incredible energy. Again, the clearing of a Square for one of his own Knights is a very special characteristic of an advance of this kind. Accordingly we say that the first consideration which logically compels the blockade, is that the free passed pawn is such a dangerous “criminal,” that it is by 0 means sufficient to keep him under police supervision (by the Knight and Bishop ‘The passed pawn 33