Doubled pawns[ edit ]


In chess, doubled pawns are two pawns of the same color residing on the same file. The only way such pawns can arise are by pawns making a capture. In the diagram, the pawns on the b and e file are doubled. The pawns on the e file are doubled and isolated. (Also see isolated pawn and backward pawn.)

In most cases, doubled pawns are considered a weakness, especially when they are also isolated. This is because doubled pawns are unable to defend eachother and because in the endgame such pawns are worse at achieving a breakthrough which could create a passed pawn. Several chess strategies and openings are based on burdening the opponent with doubled pawns and a strategic weakness. However, there are cases where accepting a doubled pawn can be advantageous because doing so may open up lines for a rook, or because the doubled pawns perform a useful function such as attacking important squares. Also, if the opponent is unable to effectively attack the pawns, their inherent weakness may be of little or no consequence.


categories: myChess-Wiki | chess terminology | Doubled pawns
article No 609 / last change on 2005-07-01, 07:36pm

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This article is based on the article Doubled pawns from the free encyclopaedia Wikipedia and stands under the GNU-Licence for free documentation. In the Wikipedia a list of the authors is available.

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