White's pawns on the b file and on the e file are doubled

In chess, doubled pawns are two pawns of the same color residing on the same file. Chess is a recreational and competitive Game played between two players. The pawn (♙♟ is the weakest and most numerous piece in the Game of Chess, representing Infantry This page explains commonly used terms in Chess in alphabetical order Pawns can become doubled only when one pawn captures onto a file on which another friendly pawn resides. In the diagram, the pawns on the b file and e file are doubled. The pawns on the e file are doubled and isolated. In Chess, an isolated pawn is a pawn for which there is no friendly pawn on an adjacent file.

In most cases, doubled pawns are considered a weakness due to their inability to defend each other. This inability, in turn, makes it more difficult to achieve a breakthrough which could create a passed pawn (often a deciding factor in endgames). In Chess, a passed pawn is a pawn with no opposing pawns to prevent it from advancing to the eighth rank, i In Chess, the endgame (or end game or ending) refers to the stage of the game when there are few pieces left on the board In the case of isolated doubled pawns, these problems are only further aggravated. Several chess strategies and openings are based on burdening the opponent with doubled pawns, a strategic weakness. In Chess the word " opening " has two common meanings both of which are discussed in this article

There are, however, cases where accepting doubled pawns can be advantageous because doing so may open up a file for a rook, or because the doubled pawns perform a useful function, such as defending important squares. A rook, (♖ ♜ borrowed from Persian رخ rokh, Sanskrit rath, "chariot" also known as a castle is a piece in the Also, if the opponent is unable to effectively attack the pawns, their inherent weakness may be of little or no consequence. There are also a number of openings that accept doubled pawns in exchange for some prevailing advantage, such as the Two Knights Variation of Alekhine's Defence. Alekhine's Defence is a Chess opening beginning with the moves 1

Tripled and quadrupled pawns

Tripled pawns Kavalek-Fischer, Sousse interzonal 1967, after 19. . . . fxe4

Quadrupled pawns Kovacs-Barth, Balatonbereny 1994, final position, black to move, draw

Of course it is possible to have tripled pawns (or more). The diagram shows a position from the Lubomir Kavalek versus Bobby Fischer game in the 1967 Sousse interzonal. Lubomir (Lubosh Kavalek (Lubomír Kaválek born August 9 1943) is a noted Czech - American Robert James "Bobby" Fischer ( March 9 1943 – January 17 2008) was an American -born Chess Grandmaster Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by FIDE, the World Chess Federation The pawns remained tripled at the end of the game on move 28 (a draw). In Chess, a draw is one of the possible outcomes of a game the others being a win for white and a win for black

Quadrupled pawns occurred in the game Alexander Alekhine versus Vladimir Nenarokov in 1907, in John van der Wiel versus Vlastimil Hort in 1981, and in other games. Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine (alʲɛkˈsandr̠ alʲɛkˈsandr̠ovʲiʨ aˈlʲɛxin Russian Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Але́хин) (October Vladimir Ivanovich Nenarokov (1880 – 13 December 1953) was a Russian chess master and theoretician John van der Wiel (born 9 August 1959) is a Dutch Chess grandmaster. Vlastimil Hort (born 12 January 1944) is a Chess grandmaster of Czech nationality The longest lasting case of quadrupled pawns was in the game Kovacs versus Barth in 1994, lasting 23 moves. ^[1] The final position was drawn, demonstrating the weakness of the extra pawns (see diagram).

Types of doubled pawns

Different types of doubled pawns (from Berliner).

There are different types of doubled pawns, see the diagram. A doubled pawn is weak because of three considerations:

1. lack of mobility
2. inability to act as a normal pawn
3. likelihood that it can not be exchanged for an opposing normal pawn.

The doubled pawns on the b-file are the best situation, the f-file pawns are next. The h-file pawns are the worst situation because two pawns are held back by one opposing pawn, so the second pawn has little value (Berliner 1999:18-20). In Chess, doubled pawns are two pawns of the same color residing on the same file. See Chess piece point value for more discussion. Standard valuations The following is the most common assignment of point values.

See also

• Pawn structure
• Isolated pawn
• Backward pawn
• Connected pawns

Notes

1. ^ http://www.xs4all.nl/~timkr/records/records.htm#Longest%20living%20quadrupled%20pawns longest quadrupled pawns

References

• Berliner, Hans (1999), The System: A World Champion's Approach to Chess, Gambit Publications, ISBN 1-901983-10-2 
• Hooper, David & Whyld, Kenneth (1992), The Oxford Companion to Chess, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-866164-9