Pawn storm
A pawn storm is a chess strategy in which several pawns are moved in rapid succession toward the opponent's defenses.[1] A pawn storm usually involves adjacent pawns on one side of the board, the queenside (a-, b-, and c-files) or the kingside (f-, g-, and h-files).
Examples
A pawn storm will often be directed toward the opponent's king after it has castled toward one side (e.g. Fischer–Larsen, 1958[2]). Successive advances of the pawns on that side might rapidly cramp and overwhelm the opponent's position.
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
| 8 |            | 8 | |||||||
| 7 | 7 | ||||||||
| 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| 5 | 5 | ||||||||
| 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
A pawn storm might also be directed at queening a passed pawn; the diagram is taken from a game in which Tigran Petrosian was playing the black pieces against Bobby Fischer. Over the next fourteen moves, Petrosian storms his twin pawns down the a- and b- files, forcing Fischer's resignation.
References
- Pandolfini, Bruce (1995). Chess Thinking. Simon & Schuster. p. 179. ISBN 0-671-79502-3.
Pawn storm.
- Fischer vs. Larsen, 1958 Chessgames.com
- Fischer vs. Petrosian, Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade Candidates (1959) Chessgames.com
