The peasants’ revolt

by Jonathan Speelman
5/21/2023 – Today I’m returning to a subject I’ve covered a number of times in the past: passed pawns. Passed pawns are a crucial aspect of chess and your attitude to them can have a profound effect on how you play and, in particular, your opening choices. To explore this topic, I look at a game played by Vasilios Kotronias, in which he was overwhelmed by an absolute pawn avalanche. The final phase is extraordinary and somewhat reminiscent of the famous game McDonnell versus De La Bourdonnais.

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A crucial aspect of chess

[Note that Jon Speelman also looks at the content of the article in video format, here embedded at the end of the article.]

Today I’m returning to a subject I’ve covered a number of times in the past: passed pawns. This arose through a game which I happened to see online, in which Greece’s first-ever grandmaster Vasilios Kotronias was overwhelmed by an absolute horde of them. The final phase is extraordinary and somewhat reminiscent of the famous game McDonnell versus De La Bourdonnais.

Passed pawns are a crucial aspect of chess and your attitude to them can have a profound effect on how you play and, in particular, your opening choices. I had a very bad experience more than 50(!) years ago in the Hastings Challengers, and it still makes me rather more nervous of them than I really ought to be. Among other things, I’m loth to play the Grünfeld as Black — which is very appealing, but I’d have to learn of course, and more saliently here, as it does often lead to White having a potentially very powerful but also sometimes weak passed pawn on the d-file.

I’ve included that game and also McDonnell versus La Bourdonnais (though both have appeared here before), and I’m concluding with some tactical positions in which passed pawns play a crucial role. And, finally, Sam Loyd’s famous problem: the Excelsior!

Select an entry from the list to switch between games

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Jonathan Speelman, born in 1956, studied mathematics but became a professional chess player in 1977. He was a member of the English Olympic team from 1980–2006 and three times British Champion. He played twice in Candidates Tournaments, reaching the semi-final in 1989. He twice seconded a World Championship challenger: Nigel Short and then Viswanathan Anand against Garry Kasparov in London 1993 and New York 1995.