making the most of your rook pawns

[Hans Jung]

https://www.chessbomb.com/arena/2021...-Gareyev_Timur Firoujza using his rook pawns and playing both sides of the board.

[Hans Jung]

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2253772 Eric pushes the rook pawn to h5 and provokes a risky response.

[Hans Jung]

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2259810 Aronian! The rook pawn breaks apart the king position!

[Hans Jung]

https://view.livechesscloud.com/#39a...8-543e34839f1e Its nice to see Aman playing old fashioned positional chess (jam that rook pawn and rook to the seventh). Actually Ive enjoyed many examples of Aman's play at the 2022 Canadian Open in Hamilton. Im referring to round 7 board one. White Max England.

[Hans Jung]

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1623911 Creative play with the H pawn!

[Hans Jung]

Recently dug up an old game and enjoyed it almost as much as first playing it. Dave Southam - Hans Jung Guelph Pro Am, Feb. 2003 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 g6 5.e3 Bg7 6.Bd3 00 7.00 a5 8.h3 Na6 9.Re1 Nb4 10.Bf1 Bf5 11.Nh4 Bc2 12.Qf3 Bd3 13.Bxd3 Nxd3 14.Rd1 dxc4 15.Qe2 a4 16.Nf3 Nd5 17.e4 Nxc3 18.bxc3 a3 19.Ne1 Nxc1 20.Raxc1 b5 21.Nc2 Qb6 22.Ne3 e6 23.Rcb1 Qa5 24.Qc2 Rfd8 25.Rbc1 Ra7 26.f4 Bh6 27.Qf2 Qc7 28.Rf1 c5 29.d5 exd5 30.Nxd5 Qd6 31.Rcd1 Rad7 32.g4 Bg7 33.Kh1 b4 34.Qe2 b3 35.Qxc4 b2 36.Qb3 Qe6 37.Rfe1 Qa6 38.c4 Kf8 39.e5 Rb7 40.Qc2 Rdb8 41.Rb1 Qa5 42.Re2 Qa6 43.Qe4 Rb4 44.Rc2 Qc6 45.Rc3 Ra4 46.Qd3 R8a8 47.Kg1 g5 48.Qf3 gxf4 49.Qxf4 Qxd5 0-1 The queen's rook pawn leads the way (after the opening) and distracts White enough so the other pieces get to have fun.

[Hans Jung]

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2458982 Carlsen - Nakamura Magnus plays the H pawn to the 6th and the resulting looming threat on the 8th rank never really goes away. Actually both rook pawns had a role to play in the win.

[Hans Jung]

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1037399 Lawrence's use of the rook pawn is exemplary. It needed to be included in this thread.

[Hans Jung]

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1132269 Zvonko Vranesic against Leonid Stein. Great dynamic play. Stein does not make headway and Vranesic has the better game until he misses the opportunity of 25.b4! and 26,g5! I got this from IM Tim Taylor's book Pawn Sacrifice!

In the tournament (Amsterdam Interzonal 1964) Zvonko Vranesic had to face Bronstein, Tal, Stein, Spassky, and Smyslov in a row! What kind of pairings are those? That would either make you or break you. and the number of rounds was what 23? - wow!

[Hans Jung]

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2493547 How misplaying the use of the rook pawn can cost you. White's advance of the H pawn cost him three tempos and as a result a loss of advantage in the opening and ultimately a pawn down in the endgame. After the H pawn advance Black dominated the opening, middlegame, and endgame.

[Fred Henderson]

Computers have lowered the art form to the masses. The timing of the rook pawn used to be the delight of only the connoisseur.

Lowered the art form to the masses, or made it more available to the masses? :)


edit: oops, my bad. A better word is "attainable"

[Fred Henderson]

Is the advancement of rook pawns more common nowadays as a result of the effect that computers have had on the way humans play the game?

I'd say so, it certainly affected the way Kasparov played the game. I have always thought that if anyone's style could be described as "computer like" it would be Kasparov, and he must have made a decision to use that to his advantage, and there are many others that take advantage of his ideas to improve their game by fining new ideas.. Kasparov's renown for his opening innovations were due in large part by database crunches. "Find me something that hasn't been played that the computer likes", then Kasparov would personally study those selections. Does anyone know much about Kasparov's use of engine analysis and evaluation. If I had to guess, I'd say he didn't bother, and I myself don't see that engine analysis won't help my play in a new game, at least not in a cost-effective manner.

[Hans Jung]

from the young amazing superstar Gukesh - Heimann - Gukesh 2022 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 a5 6.Bg2 0-0 7.Qc2 c5 8.cxd5 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Qb6 10.e3 exd5 11.0-0 Nc6 12.Nxc6 bxc6 13.Nc3 h5 and here it comes! 14.Na4 Qd8 15.b3 h4 16.Bxb4 axb4 17.Rfd1 h3 18.Bf3 Ng4 19.Qxc6 Ne5 20.Qxd5 Qf6 21.Be2 Bg4 22.Bxg4 Nxg4 23.Rf1 Rad8 24.Qe4 Ne5 25.f4 Ng4 26.f5 Qg5 27.Qf4 Qh5 28.e4 g5 29.Qf3 Rd2 30.Nb6 Rg2+ The rest is technique. Those wanting to see the next 40 moves will have to look it up.

[Hans Jung]

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1042366 I was just doing a lesson with my student with this game. Euwe - Flohr match 1932 White's demonstration with the H pawn at the end and all the side variations. WoW! Stunning.

[Hans Jung]

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2602227 Vaishali in key game from Isle of Man 2023 uses the rook pawns purely defensively to remove major pieces.