Playing with a mobile center

What a mobile pair of central pawns gives you

Consider the cases where one side has mobile central pawns on the d and e files during the middlegame. Positions with mobile pawns fall into a number of characteristic groups.

Why mobile central pawns matter

Even in the opening, it makes sense to aim for placing your central pawns side by side on the fourth rank. Consider a typical pawn structure:

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The key central squares c5, d5, e6, and f5 come under attack from the white pawns and stay out of reach for the black pieces. With this structure, White's position is usually freer: White has more central squares to place pieces on comfortably, and more room to maneuver. If Black has to defend, a shortage of squares for regrouping pieces can cause real problems.

If Black had no pawn barrier in the center at all (right now it has one, the pawn on d6), the pawns on e4 and d4 would become even more powerful, threatening to advance further.

It is precisely because of how active the white central pawns become that the following line of the Italian Game is considered unacceptable for Black:

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9. Black's position is already quite difficult here. White's two powerful mobile pawns have pinned down Black's forces and threaten a decisive breakthrough

The sections that follow take up the individual groups of these positions.

Gaining space and attacking the kingWhy strong central pawns lead to an attack on the kingA pawn structure for a kingside attackThe e5 wedge and piece transfers down the e-fileA majority in the center or on a flank?Which is better — a majority in the center or on a flankPieces on the cleared central squaresA vacated central square gives the pieces a base to invade fromTactics with mobile central pawnsTactical devices that carry out the central pawns' advance

Check yourself

Recall the idea in your own words, then reveal the answer.

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1. Why does a player try to push the central pawns forward in the opening and place them side by side?

   To deny the opponent's pieces access to important central squares and get more space to maneuver your own pieces.

   To the section
2. What happens to mobile central pawns if the opponent has no pawn barrier against them?

   They become even more powerful, threatening to advance further.

   To the section