Winning maWtLolrUCLUreS \LEXANDER BABURINWinning Pawn Structures Alexander Baburin B. T. Batsford Ltd, LondonFirst published 1998 Reprinted 2000, 2001 © Alexander Baburin, 1998 ISBN 0 7134 8009 2 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data, A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, by any means, without prior permission of the publisher. Edited by Tim Harding and typeset by Chess Mail Ltd, Dublin Printed and bound in Great Britain by Creative Print and Design Wales for the publishers, B. T. Batsford Ltd, 9 Blenheim Court. Brewery Road, London N7 9NT we A member of the Chrysalis Group ple Acknowledgments This book would not have been possible without the help of my friends and family. I would like to thank. Michael Crowe, for his encouragement, Tim Harding for his professionalism. and my first trainers, Ideya Blagonadezhnaya and her husband IM Oleg Chernikov. A special thank you must go to my parents. who supported my passion for chess, and my wife Elena, who was very patient and understanding during the whole course-of this. work, Contents Bibliography Symbols Preface PART ONE: Advantages of the isolated d-pawn General Considerations Chapter 1 White advances d4-d5 Chapter 2 Attack on the f7- (f2-) square. Chapter 3 Kingside attack: the Rook lift ; Chapter 4 The Bishop sacrifice on h6 and the Queen shift Chapter 5 The h-pawn battering ram Chapter 6 Queenside activity and play on the c-file Chapter 7 Play on the e-file Exercises for Part One PART TWO: Disadvantages of the isolated d-pawn Chapter 8 The weak isolani in the endgame King and Pawn Endings Bishop Endings Endings with Bishops and Knights Rook Endings Queen Endings Queens and Rooks Rook and Minor Piece Endings Chapter 9 The weak isolani in the middlegame Positions with Bishops Opposite Coloured Bishops Positions With Knights Knight versus Bishop Middlegames Chapter 10 Combatting the isolani by simplification Exercises for Part Two 102 105 105 109 112 122 124 125 128