English Chess Forum

During a blitz game on lichess today the following position arose (I had the black pieces) with an unusual pawn formation.



I don't think I've ever had this in my games before, though I've seen it, and even once made an apparently unsuccessful attempt to give a name to it. Are there any examples of the square occurring in famous games? Have forum members ever had it occur in their own?

r3k2r/p5pp/1p6/4P3/2RP1P1b/4P2P/P3Kn2/1R6 w - - 0 30I had this diamond formation vs two pieces in the ECF Charity Marathon this year:

Larsen's book of his own best games had an example arising from him playing the Bishop's Opening as White.

(versus Lengyel, possibly?)

I would say that whilst not exactly common, its far from unknown either.

Examples of 5 pawns on 3 files are rarer, but have definitely happened. Any advance on that?

Eley v Williams Round 11 British Champs 1972

Michael Yeo wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 26, 2022 8:21 pm

Eley v Williams Round 11 British Champs 1972

Move 23

Bellinger,R. -Thurlow,Kevin J
Wimbledon ll vs X, London League 1982

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 d6 4.Bb5 Bd7 5.Nf3 g6 6.0–0 Bg7 7.Bxc6 Bxc6 8.d3 Nh6 9.f5 gxf5 10.Nh4 Bd4+ 11.Kh1 Ng4 12.Qe1 e6 13.Nf3 Qe7 14.Bg5 f6 15.Bh4 Ne3 16.e5 dxe5 17.Qe2 Nxf1 18.Rxf1 0–0–0 19.Nd1 e4 20.Nd2 Rhg8 21.dxe4 Rg4 22.Bg3 Rdg8 23.c3 Be5 24.Ne3 Rxg3 25.hxg3 Rxg3 26.exf5 Qg7 27.Nf3 Bf4 28.Nc4 e5 29.Nd6+ Kb8 30.Ne4 Qh6+ 31.Kg1 Be3+ 32.Rf2 0–1


Hope that works (this time - for those who saw the first attempts...)

Well, I'm obviously an idiot...

Hans Kmoch might have had one of his special names for your structure.

A duo of duos perhaps?

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 26, 2022 7:53 pm

Have forum members ever had it occur in their own?

I inflicted it on the late Bernard Scott at Paignton in 1987

[SetUp "1"] [FEN "1rb1r1k1/pppn3p/4pp1q/4pp2/2PP4/1P2P1PP/P2N1PB1/R2Q1RK1 w - - 0 15"]

He did however win the game and afterwards told me it had a special name which I don't recall.

Playing through the game, I also see that I later got an Irish pawn centre.
[FEN "1rb2n1k/p1p3rp/5p1q/1pP1P3/1P2P1P1/1Q2P3/P2N2B1/2R2RK1 b - - 0 23"]

[Event "Paignton"] [Site ""] [Date "1987.??.??"] [Round "7"] [White "de Coverly,RD"] [Black "Scott,DB"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A96"] 1.c4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 e6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.O-O O-O 6.b3 d6 7.d4 Qe8 8.Ba3 Nbd7 9.e3 Qh5 10.Ne5 Qh6 11.Nd2 Rb8 12.h3 dxe5 13.Bxe7 Re8 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.c5 e4 16.Rc1 Re7 17.b4 b5 18.Qb3 Nf8 19.f3 Rg7 20.g4 Kh8 21.fxe4 fxg4 22.hxg4 e5 23.dxe5 Be6 24.Rxf6 Qh4 25.Qd1 Bxg4 26.Qf1 Nd7 27.Qf2 Qh5 28.c6 Nxf6 29.exf6 Rf7 30.Rc5 Qg6 31.e5 Rg8 32.Kf1 Qd3+ 33.Ke1 Rd8 34.Be4 Qxe4 35.e6 Qb1+ 0-1





It was years before I realised that the DB Scott who was a top board for Sussex was the same as Professor DB Scott who wrote books on Mathematical Analysis for Maths undergraduates to read and perhaps learn from.

My contribution to pawn formations. White, to move, better at move 39, but eventually drawn in 49.
Blackstock v Habershon. BCF Major Open Rd 8 Clacton 13th August 1974.
Nostalgic oldies may enjoy the names of some of my other opponents in the star-studded field: R de Coverly, L de Veauce, A E Hanreck, K P Neat, A G Trangmar.

8/8/Pn3k2/2pppppp/8/1K1P2P1/4PPNP/8 w - - 0 40

I recall facing a pawn centre like the one below in an allegro game. It came from a hopelessly played Alekhine Chatard Attack. I lost, in this one White wins. Call it a Pawn Box. (pretty imaginative huh?)

r2qkbnr/1b4pp/p7/1P1pp3/3ppP2/3B2N1/1PPP2PP/R1BQ1RK1 w kq - 0 13

Alan Smith - Peter Richmond (4NCL) West Bromwich 2004

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.Bb5 Nd4 5.0-0 a6 6.Bd3 b5 7.Nxd4 cxd4 8.Ne2 e5 9.a4 Bb7 10.f4 d5 11.Ng3 f5 12.axb5 fxe4 13.Qh5+ Kd7 14.Be2 exf4 15.bxa6 Nf6 16.Qf5+ Kc7 17.d3 fxg3 18.axb7 gxh2+ 19.Kh1 Rxa1 20.Bf4+ Bd6 21.Rxa1 Kxb7 22.dxe4 Bxf4 23.Qxf4 dxe4 24.Qe5 Qb6 25.Ba6+ Kc6 26.Ra4 1-0

Just came across this game, played 100 years ago this month.

[Event "Wiener Kongress Masters"] [Site "Vienna (Messepalast)"] [Date "1922.11.25"] [Round "10"] [White "Vukovic, Vladimir"] [Black "Spielmann, Rudolf"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E10"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 5.2 (1s)"] [PlyCount "62"] [EventDate "1922.11.13"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "15"] [EventCountry "AUT"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2017"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2016.10.25"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2016.10.25"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. d5 e6 4. c4 b5 $146 ({Predecessor:} 4... d6 5. Nc3 e5 6. g3 Be7 7. Bg2 O-O 8. O-O Re8 9. Qc2 Nbd7 10. b3 Nf8 11. Bb2 Bd7 12. a4 Qc8 13. Rae1 {1-0 (40) Bogoljubow,E-Owesson,B Sweden 1920}) 5. e4 bxc4 6. Nc3 {E10: Blumenfeld Gambit.} exd5 7. e5 (7. Nxd5 Ba6 $16) (7. exd5 d6 $14) 7... d4 8. exf6 {White is clearly better.} d5 9. Qe2+ Be6 {[#]} 10. Ng5 $1 Qd7 {[#]} ( 10... d3 11. Qe3) 11. g3 $1 d3 (11... Kd8 12. Qe5) 12. Qe5 Bd6 13. Qe3 d4 {[#]} 14. fxg7 $1 Rg8 15. Qe4 dxc3 16. bxc3 (16. Qxa8 Bxg3 17. Bxd3 (17. hxg3 d2+ 18. Kd1 dxc1=Q+ 19. Kxc1 Qd2+ 20. Kb1 Qxb2#) (17. bxc3 $2 Bd5 $19) 17... Bd5 $11) 16... Nc6 17. Bg2 Rc8 18. f4 (18. Nxh7 Be5 19. Qxe5 Nxe5 $14) (18. Qxh7 $6 Ne7 $18) 18... Ne7 {Inhibits f5.} 19. Nxh7 $2 (19. Qxh7 $18 Bf5 20. Qh6) 19... f5 $16 20. Qe3 {Nf6+ is the strong threat.} ({But not} 20. Nf6+ $6 Kf7 21. Nxd7 fxe4 22. Ne5+ Kxg7 $11) 20... Kf7 {Against Nf6} 21. Nf8 Rgxf8 {Really sharp!} 22. gxf8=Q+ Kxf8 23. Bd2 {next 0-0 is good for White.} Nd5 24. Qf3 (24. Qf2 $5) 24... Nf6 $36 {Hoping for ...Bd5. Black has compensation. Black is pushing. 0x0.00234bfb6b29dp-1022s more active pieces. The white rooks are badly placed.} 25. O-O {[#]} Ne4 $2 (25... Bd5 $1 $19 26. Qd1 Bxg2 27. Kxg2 Ne4) 26. Qd1 $14 { Strongly threatening Bxe4.} Bd5 27. Rb1 {aiming for Bxe4.} Be7 28. Rb2 $2 (28. Bxe4 $14 {keeps the upper hand.} Bxe4 29. Re1 (29. Qh5 Kg7 $11)) 28... Bf6 $17 29. Bxe4 Bxe4 30. Qb1 $2 (30. Be1 Bc6 31. h3 (31. Qh5 $2 Qd5 $19)) 30... Bc6 $19 {White must now prevent ...Qd5. This bishop pair is nice.} 31. Rb8 Rxb8 { Weighted Error Value: White=0.70/Black=0.40} 0-1

Please note C.N. 8519, regarding "Four-pawn boxes", in Edward Winter's Chess Notes:

https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/win ... l#CN_8519