What exactly is meant by a pawn break? Essentially, it refers to any pawn movement aimed at interfering with the opponent’s pawn structure in some manner. This tactic has various uses, and there are particular scenarios where it can prove to be particularly advantageous.
One of the classic endgame positions is based on the pawn break concept. Check the diagram below:
The game is won by White, but only if they make the only winning move. Anything else leads to a draw, in some cases even to a loss! Let’s analyze all the lines.
The only pawn for the win
The wrong pawn
King’s draw
By the way, the same tactic is widely used in another popular game called Breakthrough that was created by Dan Troyka in 2000. Since it can be played on a chessboard and the game is a great fun, I will describe it in details in a future article.