Hanging Pawns : Point Count Chess: (-)

About This Article…

This article includes my notes, additional images and interactive chess positions from my study of Horowitz & Mott-Smith’s book, Point Count Chess.

Source:
Point Count Chess,
Chapter 10. Hanging Pawns
(p114-123)

Point Count Chess, Examples:

• Hanging Pawns
• Shaky Center Pawns
• Inviting Pawn Advances
• Criteria

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H&M-S define Hanging Pawns as usually meaning “a fourth-rank phalanx isolated from other pawns and under frontal attack.”

The most common occurrence of Hanging Pawns comes from Queen Pawn Openings, such as the Queen’s Gambit Declined. We can break down how it typically develops, in a series of diagrams …

Diagram 1, below, shows the English Opening (1. c4), which can lead to the Queen’s Gambit …

Diagram 1: after 1. c4
(English Opening)

Next comes the sequence of moves that leads to the Queen’s Gambit Declined, as shown in Diagram 2, below. From the English Opening, it would be played out as 1. c4 e6 2. d4 d5 …

Diagram 2: after 1. c4 e6 2. d4 d5
Queen’s Gambit Declined.
Note the Pawn Structure.

The same position, shown in Diagram 2, is also reached with 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6. Note the structure of the Pawns, as it remains for the next four moves, or so.

Also, as highlighted in Diagram 3, below, note the Black Pawn Chain that’s involved in this Queen’s Gambit Declined formation – they play a key role in the formation of the Hanging Pawns …

Diagram 3: Note these two Pawns
in a Chain formation.

Moving On: Hanging Pawns, Continues… (Page 2).