Original subtitles

hi everyone this is Grandmaster Eugene Perelstein

and welcome to today's lecture

now for today

I wanna talk about something very important

that I think as we learn chess

we kind of stress that but later on

we start to play different openings

and more advanced players may not pay

as much attention to this uh topic

but today I wanna talk about how to play

against the isolated pawn

so this is kind of back to basics lecture

and

I wanna show you a game that I played

against a low rated opponent

but nevertheless I think this is very instructive

and we can learn a lot from this very simple

yet I think very important concept

the isolated pawn how to play against

okay so let's begin I am black e 4 c 5 knight of 3 g 6

so as you see I'm playing the hyper accelerated Dragon

C3

Bishop g 7 d 4 c d C d

and so far

this is a way to play against the knight of 3

c 3 line and now black plays d five

so this is my main idea I wanna challenge the center

and force white to either take on d 5

and then fight against the double isolated pawn

or to have white play e five

and take advantage of the pawn structure

resulting after bishop g 4

and eventually I will play knight c 6 e 6 knight g 7

night will go to F5

and I can play against the week D4 point

okay

so here my opponent plays e takes d knight of 6

and of course if white plays simple knight to 3

I'm gonna take on d five and have no problems

the reason being is because if white gives this check

I have the tactic that works

bishop to d 7 and you see if knight takes d 5

then black takes the bishop

and now black is much better

because white can't even castle

and if white makes some move such as queen b 3

for example

I can always simply drop back knight to B six

and again Castle and have no problems

so there is no way if you think about it

for white to hold on to his extra pawn

after night takes d 5

and this is simply at least Equality for black

so that's why my opponent plays this

interesting looking move bishop to B 5 check

now the whole reason behind this move is to force

either bishop or knight going to d 7

which is gonna be harder for me to win the d 5 point

so here I play knight b d seven

and my opponent simply plays night c 3 now by the way

the theoretical move here is to

not try to hold on to the pawn on d 5

but to give it up as soon as possible

as a matter of fact

this move d 6 is the theoretically recommended move

and now if I take

then we can go into this endgame and queen takes e 7

Night king takes e seven

and at least here white tries to get some active piece

play castles and rookie one

to utilize his extra temple

but my opponent decides to hold on to the extra pawn

with the move night c 3

I simply castle

and now how can white keep the extra pawn

well if he plays castles

after night 7 to B 6 or night d to B 6

it's clear that I'm gonna get the pawn back on d five

so

my opponent decides to keep the extra pawn for a while

at least with this move bishop to g five

alright what is his idea well his idea is quite simple

if I play night b 6

he can take on f 6 and play queen b 3

defending the extra pawn which makes sense right

alright so let's see what happens next

so knight b 6 bishop takes

bishop takes

now I should also mention that in these positions

it's totally fine sometimes to recapture with the pawn

because even though he still has an extra pawn

this pawn on d 5 we can play later on Queen d 6

rook d 8 and eventually this pawn is gonna fall

and then black can play either f 5 or bishop h 6

and have a decent game

but there is nothing wrong with this move

Bishop takes f six

and I'll let you know why

I wanted to keep the phone on you so

so going to be three

and here

it seems like there is no easy way to win the pawn

on d 5

so if I play queen d 6

I have to be aware of this move knight e 4

if I play bishop g 4

for example

then I have to be aware of this move knight e five

and again it's not so easy so how can black play

here and the key

hint is No. 1

your head and development so that should give you

what you look for

what kind of moves you should look for

and No. 2

you should always know that opening up the position

favors the bishop pair

even at the cost of a pawn

so my next move is quite obvious for masters and above

but if you're a low rated player

this move may not seem so obvious to you

because you're basically trading the doubled pawn

and

you're going down you're gonna be down a pawn

the question is why

well my opponent

I think made the correct decision by

not accepting the pawn sacrifice

and he played d 6 offering pawn sacrifice himself

now why white doesn't take on e 6

so to answer your question or my own question

I can play Bishop takes pawn hitting the queen

so this is a tempo move right

the queen has to move

and the key now is to realize that

no matter where the queen moves

my next move is bishop to g four

so let's just say for example

the queen goes to d 1

with this move bishop to d 4

I create problems immediately for white

No.1 I'm threatening to take on d 4

so Bishop takes f 3

and either bishop or queen takes d 4

and No. 2 there is no easy way to break the pin

and defend the pawn at the same time

so it's best for white to actually give back the pawn

with castles and of course

after takes queen takes

you see the only problem now is my b 7 pawn is hanging

so if I play something like bishop takes

or queen takes after queen takes b seven

the position is still probably about even

I can just follow up with the move queen to B four

with two main threats

Bishop takes c 3 and Queen takes b 2

so black at least equalize

but to give you kind of more insight into this position

there's probably even a better move for black

and try to play for advantage

for example what are some of the possible

ways to play for advantage

well try to keep white skin in the center

one way to do it is with this move Bishop to C4

so if for example

bishop takes c 4 Knight takes c 4

then we kind of have two threats knight takes b 2

and of course

it's better to win a side point than a central point

and rook e 8 check

so again

white probably has to castle and lose the spawn on

on b 2 but in turn

white does have the compensation with the smoke

queen b 3 b 7 will be hanging

and the knight on b two would have to go to d 3

so again

this is something white is not really afraid of

and what is the second move to try to play

for advantage here if you're black

so bishop g 4 is at least Equality

knight bishop to c 4 is probably at least Equality too

what are some of the other options here

well

let's think what about a move such as knight to c 4

if bishop takes c 4 Bishop takes c 4

white still has an extra pawn

but now white cannot castle with the move Rook e 8

White is really in big big trouble

so you see taking on c 4 is is actually quite bad

White's only option now is to play knight e five

but even after rook 8 his position is still pretty bad

now the best move here is again

always almost always you wanna save your king first

forget about pawns

and now if night takes B2

white can maybe perhaps play Quincy 2 but this is

you know the type of position as long as the tactics

work in Black's favor the two bishops

and the better pawn structure should be more than

more than enough here

so probably the move here is night c 4 and if d 5

then we can play a tempo move night a 3

and this should work out in Black's favor

so let's go back to this position again

so you see after this pawn sacrifice

black has so many rich ideas

that it's not unclear that white is better

it's probably the other way around

white has to fight for Equality now

so this is very important to know

so does my opponent plays d 6 himself

queen takes knight e 4 so he's gonna get my light

my dark square bishops knight

queen f 4 knight takes queen takes castle

so we have reached one of the very basic positions

where white has an isolated pawn on d 4

Black has slightly worse Bishop on c 8 and really

other than the isolated pawn on g 4

the position is about you can say even

so black is slightly better

because Black's pawn structure is more solid

but the question is

how does black play against this isolated pawn on d 4

it seems that white can simply play rook d 1

Rook a C 1 knight from f 3

is basically gonna be defending the pawn

and the position you should say should be roughly even

so let's try to pay attention to how this game unfolds

to see why this actually

the pawn on d 4 is a weakness rather than a strength

so I play this move rook to d eight

Rook at d 1 logical move

and now I wanna trade my bad bishop for the good bishop

so I played bishop to d 7

and also pay attention to how the more pieces I trade

the better it is for me

to try to play against the isolated pawn on d four

because it's in White's favor

to keep lots and lots of pieces on the board

to create some kind of counter chances

without the pieces or going even into the endgame

it's really tough for white because he has to defend

and no counterplay whatsoever

so now white plays rook 8 to c 1

now by the way taking on d 7

only helps black

because I can now put even more pressure on the pawn

and going back such as bishop f one

or bishop e 2 is not that good because of this move

bishop to c 6 and now

in addition to a powerful attack on the deep one

the defender the key defender

the knight is getting into trouble

so this is not something white wants

so he gets the C file

Bishop takes Queen takes

and now we kind of have to think

in terms of two key points here

we wanna put as much pressure on the d four point

and yet you wanna totally eliminate white counterplay

so let's ask ourselves a question

where is white counterplay coming from

and the only

real counterplay that I can see is the C file

route to C7 perhaps double up on the c file a 4 a 5

try to put pressure on the b 7 point

so my next move is quite obvious

Rook a to c a I wanna trade the pair of rooks

and at the same time

I'm fighting for the control of the c file

okay so now my opponent plays the correct looking a 4

so he is being persistent

he wants to put more pressure by playing a 5

and the opponent B7 is gonna be gone

so let's try to figure out how black can

counter this move

so if I play move something rook to d five

this actually doesn't work for tactical reasons

because he has this intermezzo

Rook takes rook and now queen e 8 and I lose a piece

so this doesn't quite work and here is important thing

not to panic it's okay to make a defensive move

so I play queen to E cell

as a matter of fact

if you look at this position black can play

a few defensive moves and it turns out that White's

counterplay is not going anywhere at all

because he plays a 5

and now I get to play this very strong move

rook to d five it turns out that it's much

much stronger in this particular position

of course

I can play

what all books recommend as probably the best

plant

night to d 5

so this is called the blockade of the isolated pawn

and there is not a better piece than night

so why do I play with the rook to d five

where my knight will go to c 8

so he has to take and I take with the knight

so this is a good question

and it has to do with the following answer

so let's go back if I go knight to d five

let's ask ourselves a question

what are we gonna do next

and there is no easy answer we can play maybe queen b 4

try to go into the endgame

but there's no way we can fight you know

win the fight for the c file

and if we trade on the C file

well the iron F 3 does a fine job

and we can't really put on

more pressure on the D4 point

so this this is gonna be a long game

we're gonna play King G 7

F6 perhaps a six and just slide slow

slow build up against White's position

there is no easy way to win it

maybe later on we can try to play g 5 after f 6 g 5

h 5 g 4 and then go after the g 4 point

but this is gonna take us a long long time

now let's take a look oops

let's go all the way to the to the end

so itexd was played

Bishop CD 5 check

and Bishop G 5

and now knight b 6 takes

Bishop takes queen b 3 e 6 d 6 so he doesn't take

the offer

castle

Rook d 1 Bishop d 7 and here we go

back to this position

so now let's look at this move rook to d 5

so after a 5

it turns out that taking the knight simply loses

why does it lose well

because I have this move Rook takes c 1

and he doesn't have the Intermezzo move

b takes a because simply rook takes d 1

he has to play queen f 1 I take the queen

and then of course simply defend against a 8 queen

and if he takes with the rook

then the best he can hope for is this position

takes rook a 5 or I can even do

perhaps stronger move Rook takes b 2

threatening checkmate

he has to play h 3 and not rook a 2

so this is totally winning

queen against rook and knight

and an extra point of course

this is easy win so let's go back

and the key

position we're looking at is after rook takes

knight takes

so why is rook better placed on g 5 than the knight

because number one

we're gonna attack the d 4 pawn right

so we're gonna play knight d 6

Knight f 5 Queen perhaps d 6 or d 8 or d 7

and we're gonna have three pieces attacking the pawn

right but here we're actually winning the tempo too

because queen has to move

so queen a 4 for example queen c 4

attacking the knight only loses a tempo to knight d 6

right and we're gonna play knight f 5

or knight b 5 with a tempo

so he plays queen a 4

and now I wanna use this moment to seize the C file

because control of the C file is crucial

queen to c seven

and also I'm attacking the a 5 a 5 point

so now you understand why rook to d

5 was a better move than knight to d 5

because we win several key 10 p

we get our pieces on the best squares

and we're gonna attack White's position right away

so queen to e 8

check doesn't work because simply king g 7

a 5 point is hanging right

so if uh white plays b four

well after night d 6 the queen has to go back to a 4

if queen goes back to a 8

he might never come back

I'm gonna play night d 5 threatening rook d 8

Queen has to go back to eight

and now

I just need to make one more move to seal the deal

and of course this is simply a 6

the squire moves traps the queen

and now Rue goes to d 8 next

and white can simply resign

alright so now queen e 8 is simply not working

but my opponent came up with this interesting move

knight to e 5 as a matter of fact this is a trap

right if I take rook takes a 5 or queen takes a 5

he can play check and this move knight to d 7

would I do a queen of 8 mate

wow this is a neat trap

and I don't really see a way out of it

if I play queen to d 6 defend against queen of 8 made

well I I simply drop a knight on c so this is probably

not such a great position probably already lost

but the good thing about Black's position is

I can improve even further

whereas

white doesn't have as much room for improvement

so my next move is

night to d 6

the knight is going to f 5 or b 5

I am defending against queen e 8 check

and a 5 point is still hanging

so

you see how methodically I am going around to attack

white pawns a 5 and d 4

so my point now plays b 4

and this gives me another tempo knight to B 5

threatening to take on d 4

or perhaps knight c 3 in the right moment

and so now my opponent simply plays night of 3 back

okay so you see how slowly my pieces are being placed

on the best squares and now I control the C file too

whereas Wyatt simply has a passive rook on d 1

he played knight e 5 but then back knight to f 3

and really passive piece the queen on a four

so what to do next right

I can play knight c 3

and if queen e 8 check after king g 7

white is in big trouble why

well the rook is hanging

and if he plays rook e 1 after rook d 8

I'm gonna win a queen so this is over

but actually night c 3 looks good

but it doesn't quite work as well as I thought

because simply queen c two

and now there is a pin

and then white can try to untangle and defend

of course black is probably much better still

but there is no point to play Knight c 3

when I have a better move

so let's try to figure out my next move

way deep into the enemy territory

and the move now is queen c 3

I think after this move white is in big trouble

his position is so passive that his

what you can say the word here is an zugzwang

there's no way out of it

because I can take on D four at any time

that's the thing about my position

is white simply has no moves

I can play a 6 king g 7

then take on d 4 I just have so many possibilities

I can play g 5 g 4

then take on d four why this position

just so passive I don't see a way out

so my opponent plays knight e 5

and he probably already blundered something

but really there is no easy

easy solution for him I think it's already lost

and now this small tactic works flawlessly

because if he takes the knight

he gets mated Rook takes d one

and if he takes the rook which by the way he did

he simply blundered me in one

so this is just resignable position

there is no way out but if he doesn't play knight e 5

let's say he plays h three

of course I can simply win a pawn with knight takes g 4

but to show you how powerful my position is

I can even play quiet looking

quiet looking king g 7 first

this kind of emphasize that I can do whatever I want

and white has no defense if white plays a 6

b 6 again White's in zugzwang

with every move I'm improving my position

whereas white is always facing difficulties

so and this is the key lesson

whenever you play against the isolated pawn

you wanna limit your opponent's counterplay

how do you do that

you try to change as many pieces as possible

and you try to take away key

squares or key files away from your opponent

basically eliminate his counterplay to non existent

and then you improve your position very slowly

because you're not in a rush

the isolated pawn is not going anywhere

and then you surround it

and finally in this position

white simply collapses there is no defense

the position is totally lost

so white probably has to play like king h 2 or rook d 2

and I'm gonna play g five

perhaps 8 5 and G4

and then take one G4 with deny it

but there is just more than one way to win here

so I thank you very much and I hope you Learned

how to play against the isolated pawn bye bye now