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Weaknesses

in general, we can think of chess as a fight for weak squares. basically all chess plans revolve around creating or controlling weak squares. if that weak square is near the enemy king, it becomes a mating attack. if the weak square is an enemy #pawns, then it's a weak pawn. if it's a normal square, then it's a hole. if it's a color complex, then it's a color complex weakness. pawn structures define what squares are weak and not - consequently, it's critical to understand pawn structure in order to identify plans and weaknesses. especially during pawn moves, observe what squares are weaker (not just pawn weaknesses, but squares themselves).

think of a weak square as real estate. we lay claim to it by superior force (more pieces looking at the square), and eventually one of our pieces moves into the space. Squares ideally reside close to or inside enemy territory. In general a knight seems to fill a hole better than a bishop does, since knights have limited range while bishops can still control spaces from the 2nd rank. weak square is the general term for a square that we control or is hard for the enemy to control. If it's a pawn, then it's a weakness. if it's a square, then it's a hole. It seems great practice to constantly scan for weak squares, especially after opponent pawn moves.

You want as many pieces as possible to work towards the same goal! not all holes are good if it doesn't coordinate with our other pieces/plans.

Weak pawns

How to battle an isolated queen's pawn (IQP)

  1. Trade off all minor pieces. Our efforts to attack the isolated queen's pawn stunts our own activity, so we want to ensure they can't mount an attack while we battle for the pawn.
  2. Play for a queen+rook situation, since this makes it too dangerous for the defender's king to join in the fray.
  3. The IQP battle is often a battle for the square in front of the IQP. (can they advance it, thereby reducing the number of attackers and claiming more space?)
  4. The dream setup is the rook blocking the d pawn (stopping it from advancing) with the queen behind the rook.
  5. These rules generalize to other isolated pawns.

The backwards pawn

  1. Many of the same shortcomings as the isolated pawns, with similar ideas as above.
  2. The superior side needs to ensure the backward pawn remains backward (put a piece in front of it, prevent it from moving)
    1. afterwards, the same ideas as above with trading minors and piling up with the rooks and queen apply

Double/tripled pawns

Double isolated pawns on an open file are extremely weak. They can be attacked, and they can also restrict mobility/reduce space a lot. so we would love to fix the pawns in place with a knight or pawn of our own.

The Principle of two weaknesses

A player can hold one weakness when being attacked. But if another weakness is added to the position, then the added defensive burden is too much to handle.

The more weaknesses induced, the happier we are :)

Weak Squares

  • A complex of weak squares allows a rook to slide down a file and a bishop to dominate a diagonal
  • A single weak square on the 4th, 5th, 6th ranks allows a knight to occupy the hole.
  • Weak squares are good because they can be occupied by our pieces!
  • Likewise, color complex weaknesses are good because our pieces can occupy them
fen: 2kr3r/1b1nqp2/1p3n1p/P1p1p3/2P3p1/1Q2BNPB/4PP1P/R2R2K1 w - - 0 21
id: -1sQJFY7

I had this position in game. only one good response. Notice that the dark squares around B's king are supremely weak. How do we get compensation for our lost material? Bring our knight to d6! Computer says it's the only good move.