p.3 The aim of this book is to show the club player aspects of positional
play which he can use in his own games.
p.4 When your opponent attacks a pawn it is important to see if you can defend it with another pawn or only
with a piece. If your pieces get tied down to defending pawns your enemy can switch his attack to a different part of the
board and you will not be able to react in time.
p.8 The doubled pawns have come into being [in the game being discussed] and here
they control many important central squares. Black [the side with the doubled pawns] has outposts for his pieces
on d4 and f4, whereas White cannot use d5 as an outpost because of the [black] pawn on e6. In addition Black will be able
to use the half open f-file to mount an attack on the White king.
p.9 Another positive feature of doubled pawns is a possible cramping effect. Doubled pawns may exert
pressure by denying natural development squares to the opponent's pieces
p.11 So we have seen that there are other factors which must be taken into account along with the doubled
pawns. Piece mobility can provide compensation for the doubling.
p.14-16 The isolated pawn is weak because it has to be defended by pieces if attacked...
Another drawback of an isolated pawn is that the square in front of it provides an outpost for
an enemy piece. An outpost is a reasonably advanced square from which a piece cannot easily be dislodged.
p.18-20 Sometimes the activity of the pieces and attacking chances out weigh the positional weakness
of the IQP [isolated queen pawn]... Despite their difficulty I think it is possible to play such positions by considering
the activity of the pieces. The players without the IQP should concentrate on neutralising the activity of his opponent's
pieces
p.24 Normally the most important factor in assessing a backward pawn is control of the square in
front of it. If the square in front of it is controlled by the opposition then the backward pawn cannot advance.
Its own forces are then required for its defence when it is attacked. There are many openings in which one side accepts a
backward pawn for the sake of free play for its pieces. So again the activity of the pieces is very important.
p.28 In all the examples the activity of the pieces on either side is important in assessing the
position. The side not having the defect in pawn structure should try to restrict the opposing army while keeping
a close watch on the weak pawns. In general it is easier to play the side without a pawn weakness and the club
player who learns this will score many points.
p.29-30 But what if there are no doubled, isolated or backward pawns? Then we must look at the number and
size of the pawn groups on either side. This may seem very abstract, but many a victory can be gained by creating a passed
pawn from a pawn majority... Another important point is the position of the king. Black [in the game being discussed] cannot
create a majority without fatally exposing his K[ing] to White's army... If both sides have castled on the same side of the
board then the player with a pawn majority on the opposite wing often has a decisive positional advantage when the endgame
is reached.
p.30-31 The minority attack is when one side advances a pawn minority against a majority.
This does not make sense at first, since it will only result in the creation of a passed pawn... The passed pawn will
not be a strong one, but weak, often isolated or backward... So in a minority attack the aim is to smash up the pawn
majority into weak configurations, such as isolated pawns and backward pawns. The weak pawns can then be attacked
and destroyed.
p.33-34-38 In a pawn chain each pawn is protected by another except for the last pawn, called the base of
the chain... If the base of the chain collapses then the other pawns in the chain can be attacked, starting from the back...
It becomes important, therefore to find ways of breaking them up. A chain can be broken by an attack against its base or against
its head... An attack on the head of a chain often leads... to a backward pawn.
p.40 The power of the [Knight] declines dramatically near the edge of the board and in the corner...
The [Bishop] on the other hand still retains considerable power near the edges of the board.
p.46 The two [Bishops] can also be a weapon in endgames in which both sides have symmetrical pawn structures.
Although their influence is much reduced, they can still exert a constricting effect by denying outposts to the opposing knights.
p.47 The knight is at its best in the centre of the board and when it is immune to attack by pawns of pieces.
So the [knight] needs a Central Support point to operate most effectively.
p.48 Q+N usually combine together much better than Q+B.
p.51 Again the [knight] showed its power once it reached a good central square immune from attack.
p.52 The [knight] has a particularly strong effect when blockading enemy weak pawns
p.54 A [Bishop] may be exchanged for an enemy [Knight] if by doing so a significant weakness is
created in the opposing pawn structure. Note the word significant... Another case in which the exchange of B for
N may be favourable is in blocked positions... Finally, the exchange can sometimes be made in order to harass the enemy pieces,
but this is hard to judge, since it depends on the amount of initiative obtained.
p.54 We have already met the so-called bad bishop... in which White's pawns were all on the same light-coloured
squares as his [Bishop] and it proved fatal.
p.60 Since the rooks need open lines we shall first turn our attention to this topic, to the creation and
significance of open files.
p.63 Throughout most of this game [currently being discussed] Black managed to control the open
b-file, but it was worthless because he had no penetration squares for his rooks... Rooks need penetration
squares.
p.71-74 The value of winning the exchange is very difficult to judge, so it is worth thinking a long time
before taking an enemy rook; it can involve a serious loss of initiative... It is often better to retain active minor pieces
than to take the exchange [rook for minor piece] and give away the initiative.
p.83 The queen is so valuable, however, that the opposing forces will try to surround and capture
her; the enemy army is drawn to her as though to a magnet. So the queen can have a positional effect by displacing
minor pieces in their attempts to capture her.
p.91 The king in the centre is easy meat for the opponent's forces except when the central files are blocked.
One should be wary, therefore, of leaving the [king] in the centre unless it is clear that he cannot be got at [attacked].
