I had heard that when white and black castle on opposite sides, the player who first does a pawn storm will usually win. So I tried to do a pawn storm. But how do I make it so that they succeed? How do I know what pawns I should be pushing? Which ones should I engage the other pawns with? I chose the b pawn over the a pawn in this game because I thought white could just push b3 if I did a3 and immobilise the pawns. In the end nothing really came of my pawn storm. What should I be doing differently?
Hi, nice game by the way.
Indeed you are right. if I want to be precise it is not who is first to start a pawn storm that wins when you have opposite castling it is the one that have his pawn storm threatening the king by opening the position. Generally speaking you launch your pawn storm, he will too but the first one that become scared and tried to defend will lose by reacting and not creating his winning plan because you cannot really stop him to open the position.
You can slow him down and he can too but the game will be ok I follow y plan like a goldfish to launch my pawn and at some point reacting just for one move because his threats my knight, or if he threats your knigh you threat his knight ... with a bigger threat ! It requires calculation
So It is the first pawn storm to touch and threat the ennemy king by opening the position that will win
It is better when you have your queen on the board to threat some check mate with only so few pieces like in this game you do not threat some mate but it was a good plan to create weaknesses and then grab all pawns with your rooks
At move 15 your opponent launched his pawns but he does not have his queen so he cannot really mat you. He should have kept pieces on the board and launched his pawn storm quicker
15 a6 and 18 b5 are great tempo move gained. wp
19 I would have played c5 because I gain a free tempo via 20 c4 or to anticipate he should move his bishop at 19 ... B somewhere
The main thing that you must be concerned when you launch a pawn storm is when my pawns arrive will my opponent will be able to close the position or not ?
Here you have 2 pawn against 3 because you did not play your c pawn yet, one was traded and he played 27 a3! which is excellent to close the position. Here you see that you need you c pawn now to go to c3 and to open it !
27 Ra5 not a big fan. Play 27 c5 c4 c3 to open the position for your rooks !
By the way 28 ... h6 excellent ! Closing the position. he has no more attack but you have one with c5,c4 ...
Indeed you are right. if I want to be precise it is not who is first to start a pawn storm that wins when you have opposite castling it is the one that have his pawn storm threatening the king by opening the position. Generally speaking you launch your pawn storm, he will too but the first one that become scared and tried to defend will lose by reacting and not creating his winning plan because you cannot really stop him to open the position.
You can slow him down and he can too but the game will be ok I follow y plan like a goldfish to launch my pawn and at some point reacting just for one move because his threats my knight, or if he threats your knigh you threat his knight ... with a bigger threat ! It requires calculation
So It is the first pawn storm to touch and threat the ennemy king by opening the position that will win
It is better when you have your queen on the board to threat some check mate with only so few pieces like in this game you do not threat some mate but it was a good plan to create weaknesses and then grab all pawns with your rooks
At move 15 your opponent launched his pawns but he does not have his queen so he cannot really mat you. He should have kept pieces on the board and launched his pawn storm quicker
15 a6 and 18 b5 are great tempo move gained. wp
19 I would have played c5 because I gain a free tempo via 20 c4 or to anticipate he should move his bishop at 19 ... B somewhere
The main thing that you must be concerned when you launch a pawn storm is when my pawns arrive will my opponent will be able to close the position or not ?
Here you have 2 pawn against 3 because you did not play your c pawn yet, one was traded and he played 27 a3! which is excellent to close the position. Here you see that you need you c pawn now to go to c3 and to open it !
27 Ra5 not a big fan. Play 27 c5 c4 c3 to open the position for your rooks !
By the way 28 ... h6 excellent ! Closing the position. he has no more attack but you have one with c5,c4 ...
Thank you very much for the in-depth reply. I will keep in mind the concept about pursuing the pawn storm without slowing down to defend and counter-attacking instead.
If I had mobilised the c pawn alongside the a and b pawns, with them all on the fourth rank, which one should I have pushed onto the third rank? Say I push c3, couldn't he just do b3? Then axb3 axb3 and the position is closed?
If I had mobilised the c pawn alongside the a and b pawns, with them all on the fourth rank, which one should I have pushed onto the third rank? Say I push c3, couldn't he just do b3? Then axb3 axb3 and the position is closed?
I would say push b3 to be sure to open a colum.
if he takes in b3 in both way then take back with cxb3 because your rook is in c8 and his king is in c1 you will have some checks ...
if b3 and a3 let say bxc2 then c3 to open. if b3 and c3 bxa2 then a3 ^^
With b3 you are sure to open something
It depends on positions and sometimes you can even sacrifice some pieces on pawns to have a winning attack
if he takes in b3 in both way then take back with cxb3 because your rook is in c8 and his king is in c1 you will have some checks ...
if b3 and a3 let say bxc2 then c3 to open. if b3 and c3 bxa2 then a3 ^^
With b3 you are sure to open something
It depends on positions and sometimes you can even sacrifice some pieces on pawns to have a winning attack
Opposite side castle positions can be very dangerous and attacking. Often the queen and minor pieces on their own can't break through the king's defensive pawns. Throwing your pawns forward gives you a chance to shatter your opponent's pawns and to make open files for your rooks.
In this case the pawn storms didn't start until after the queens were traded. Once the queens are traded the kings are much safer, and so the "dangerous opposite-side castle" ideas don't apply. It becomes much more a normal positional game, ruled by pawn structure, piece position and tactics.
You did this better than your opponent, so you had a nice win.
In this case the pawn storms didn't start until after the queens were traded. Once the queens are traded the kings are much safer, and so the "dangerous opposite-side castle" ideas don't apply. It becomes much more a normal positional game, ruled by pawn structure, piece position and tactics.
You did this better than your opponent, so you had a nice win.
@Triple_Zero If you do not punish the opponent for his mistakes, then you can not win a single game.
Your pawn storm was quite successful.
You created a semi-open c-file which is quite dangerous for his king.
To fully open up his king, you could have followed up with pushing your c-pawn, e.g. c5, c6, etc, at a suitable time.
What you did, 27. ... Ra5, essentially a rook swing, was also good.
You created a semi-open c-file which is quite dangerous for his king.
To fully open up his king, you could have followed up with pushing your c-pawn, e.g. c5, c6, etc, at a suitable time.
What you did, 27. ... Ra5, essentially a rook swing, was also good.
"I had heard that when white and black castle on opposite sides, the player who first does a pawn storm will usually win." This is not true. Usually play in the center is preferable over play on the wing. Also often one player can successfully defend against the pawn storm and later win in a counterattack.
"But how do I make it so that they succeed? How do I know what pawns I should be pushing? Which ones should I engage the other pawns with?"
It depends on weaknesses in the opposing defense. If white after O-O-O has played a3, then the b-pawn should go forward. If white has played b3, then the a-pawn should march forward. The b-pawn is also advanced to remove Nc3 from its defending position.
"What should I be doing differently?"
5...Qe7? blocks Bf8, better 5...Bb4
6...g6? runs into 7 Bg5 threatening 8 Nd5. Better 6...d5! to develop Bc8 into play Be6 with gain of tempo by attack on the white queen.
11...Be6? why not gran the piece 11...Nxd4
17...gxh5? is wrong as it opens the h-file. Better 17...g5 to keep the file closed. In this case it does not matter, as you are a piece up, but general advice defending against a pawn storm is to keep the files closed if you can.
22...e5? makes his bishop good and your bishop bad. If he finds 23 Bc4+ your advantage is gone. You had to continue your attack with 22...a3.
24...Kg7? Why not grab the rook with 24...Bg5+
25...b3 is the wrong pawn. 25...a3!
"But how do I make it so that they succeed? How do I know what pawns I should be pushing? Which ones should I engage the other pawns with?"
It depends on weaknesses in the opposing defense. If white after O-O-O has played a3, then the b-pawn should go forward. If white has played b3, then the a-pawn should march forward. The b-pawn is also advanced to remove Nc3 from its defending position.
"What should I be doing differently?"
5...Qe7? blocks Bf8, better 5...Bb4
6...g6? runs into 7 Bg5 threatening 8 Nd5. Better 6...d5! to develop Bc8 into play Be6 with gain of tempo by attack on the white queen.
11...Be6? why not gran the piece 11...Nxd4
17...gxh5? is wrong as it opens the h-file. Better 17...g5 to keep the file closed. In this case it does not matter, as you are a piece up, but general advice defending against a pawn storm is to keep the files closed if you can.
22...e5? makes his bishop good and your bishop bad. If he finds 23 Bc4+ your advantage is gone. You had to continue your attack with 22...a3.
24...Kg7? Why not grab the rook with 24...Bg5+
25...b3 is the wrong pawn. 25...a3!
@tpr Thanks, all very helpful. Why was a3 the right move rather than b3? What would happen if he played b3 when I played a3?
There is no such thing as "pawn storms" unless you have thousands of pawns to throw them all around.
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