Chess lessons › Chess strategy
Space and weak squares
Cramped positions, squares no pawn can guard, and why your pawns decide which bishop to keep.
The idea
More space cramps the enemy; squares no pawn can guard are weak.
- Black’s centre pawns all stand on light squares.
- Black’s dark-squared bishop is gone, so nothing guards e5.
- White’s knight jumps there and attacks the bishop and several pawns.
In a game: If your pawns stand on light squares, keep your dark-squared bishop, and the other way round.
How the lesson begins
Space means controlling more of the board. White’s pawns on d4 and e5 have taken space, and they cramp Black: the pawn on e5 takes d6 and f6 away from Black’s pieces, and Black’s bishop on c8 cannot move at all.
A cramped position is hard to play, and the engine rates White as better.
A question
Look at Black’s pieces. Which of them has no move at all?
Show the answer
The bishop on c8.
Right. Its own pawn on b7 and its own knight on d7 block both diagonals. A piece that cannot move does very little for its side.