Learn How to Win with GM Boris!
Play with the Pawns #1

Five-hundred years ago chess was different. Pawns didn't cost as much as they do today. The best players started games with the gambits; pawns were only a small price to pay in order to open a file or a diagonal, or to create an immediate attack on the opponent's king. It was the so-called 'Italian style': all positions of the King's Gambit were very popular . But later on the best chess player of his days, Francois Andre Danican-Philidor - whose published chess strategy stood for a hundred years without significant addition or modification -preached the value of a strong pawn center, an understanding of the relative value of the pieces, and correct pawn formations. We still remember his motto, "Pawns are the soul of chess." Today we know that Chess game owes its extraordinary strategic depth to pawns. These only apparently humble pieces can take on many roles in the chess struggle. They can be blockers, battering-rams, self-sacrificing heroes, and can even be promoted to the rank of Royalty. Grandmaster Boris Alterman in his new series of lectures describes the rules and principles of playing with your pawns.

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