- The ability to move
- If your pieces lose mobility, they will find it hard to organise a defence to new threats. Pieces can lack space or just find themselves in each other's way with nothing much they can do .
- Pawns can also show notable power when mobile (Korchnoi-Szabo, Bronstein-Rojahn), and appear as weak targets when they are not (Johner-Nimzowitsch).
Click [...] to see list of games
[Event "Bucharest"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1963.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Korchnoi, Viktor"]
[Black "Szabo"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A22"]
[Annotator "pawn mobility: pieces behind p"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "1963.??.??"]
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 Bc5 4. Bg2 O-O 5. e3 Re8 6. Nge2 Nc6 7. O-O d6 8. d4
Bb6 9. h3 Bf5 {[#] ? Following classical opening principles, but this is not a
classical opening - rather, White is perfectly placed to harass the Black
minor pieces which are strutting about without adequate cover.} 10. d5 Nb8 11.
g4 Bd7 12. Ng3 h6 13. Kh2 a5 14. f4 exf4 15. exf4 Nh7 {[#] White seems to have
a pawn majority on both sides!} 16. g5 Na6 17. gxh6 Qh4 18. hxg7 Nf6 19. f5 Be3
20. Nce4 {!} Nxe4 21. Nxe4 Bxc1 22. Rxc1 Nc5 (22... Rxe4 23. Bxe4 Qxe4 24. Qh5)
23. Qg4 Rxe4 24. Bxe4 Qxg4 25. hxg4 Nxe4 26. Rce1 Nc5 27. f6 Re8 28. Rxe8+ Bxe8
29. Re1 Ba4 30. Re3 {1-0 (threat Rh3) korchnoi-szabo 1963 )} 1-0
[Event "Olympiad"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1956.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Bronstein, DI."]
[Black "Rojahn"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C58"]
[Annotator "pawn mobility: pawn roller"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "1956.??.??"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. d3 h6 7. Nf3 e4 8. dxe4
$5 Nxc4 9. Qd4 Nb6 10. c4 c5 11. Qd3 Bg4 12. Nbd2 Be7 13. O-O O-O 14. Ne5 Bh5
15. b3 Nbd7 16. Bb2 Nxe5 17. Bxe5 Nd7 18. Bc3 Bf6 19. Rae1 Bxc3 20. Qxc3 Qf6
21. e5 Qf5 22. f4 Bg6 23. Ne4 Rab8 24. Qf3 Bh7 25. g4 Qg6 26. f5 Qb6 27. Qg3 f6
28. e6 Ne5 29. h4 Kh8 30. g5 Rbc8 31. Kh1 Qd8 32. g6 Bxg6 33. fxg6 b5 34. d6
Qb6 35. d7 Nxd7 36. exd7 Rcd8 37. Nxf6 Qc6+ 38. Qg2 Qxg2+ 39. Kxg2 gxf6 40. Re7
1-0
[Event "Dresden Schachverein 50 Years"]
[Site "Dresden"]
[Date "1926.04.05"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Johner, P."]
[Black "Nimzowitsch, Aron"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E41"]
[Annotator "pawn mobility: restraint/blockade"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "1926.04.04"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. O-O Bxc3 8.
bxc3 d6 9. Nd2 b6 10. Nb3 e5 11. f4 e4 12. Be2 Qd7 {Dell: '[#] Pardon? Well,
White's Queen's-side pawns are scrambled, so the only break for White is on
the K-side, so Black wants to control the g2-g4 move.'} 13. h3 Ne7 14. Qe1 (14.
g4) 14... h5 15. Bd2 Qf5 16. Kh2 Qh7 {Dell: '[#] Another mysterious Queen move,
again in order to deter g2-g4. In fact, Black so efficiently controls the
King's-side that it is actually Black who arranges the decisive break there.'}
17. a4 Nf5 18. g3 a5 19. Rg1 Nh6 20. Bf1 Bd7 21. Bc1 Rac8 22. d5 Kh8 23. Nd2
Rg8 24. Bg2 g5 25. Nf1 Rg7 26. Ra2 Nf5 27. Bh1 Rcg8 28. Qd1 {Dell: '[#]'} gxf4
29. exf4 Bc8 30. Qb3 Ba6 31. Re2 Nh4 32. Re3 Bc8 33. Qc2 Bxh3 34. Bxe4 (34.
Kxh3 Qf5+ 35. Kh2 Ng4+ 36. Kh3 Nf2+ 37. Kh2 Qh3#) 34... Bf5 35. Bxf5 Nxf5 (
35... Ng4+) 36. Re2 h4 37. Rgg2 hxg3+ 38. Kg1 Qh3 39. Ne3 Nh4 40. Kf1 Re8 {
Dell: 'johner-nimzo. (NIMZO)'} 0-1