Small Steps to Giant Improvement: Master Pawn Play in Chess

The correct use of the pawns is one of the most difficult aspects of chess strategy, but GM Sam Shankland breaks down the principles of Pawn Play to basic, easily understandable guidelines every chess player should know. He starts with extremely simple examples, but then lifts the level, showing how grand masters could have made better decisions by using the book's guidelines.

In chess you cannot take your move back, but you can always return a misplaced piece to its former square at the cost of some time. Pawns on the other hand can never move backwards, making pawn moves truly permanent decisions. This irreversibility makes Pawn Play among the most difficult aspects of chess strategy, which is one reason few books have been written about this topic – and some that have are almost incomprehensible. Double Olympiad gold medalist Sam Shankland has gone the other way – breaking down the principles of Pawn Play to basic, easily understandable guidelines every chess player should know.