How to Target, Pressure and Win Weak Pawns Like Magnus Carlsen
Attacking opponent's weaknesses is one of the most fundamental plans we can come up with during a game. If the opponent has something weak in their position then it is always a good idea to pinpoint this, work on pressuring it and trying to get an advantage in that way. However, a lot of players struggle with this concept even though the idea sounds simple. What this comes down to is understanding weaknesses in general. There are many different types of weaknesses including king safety, pawn structure, squares, and much more. If the opponent has one of these things compromised in their position, our main goal should be to exploit it. On the other side of the board, we want to make sure that we don't create these weaknesses ourselves too! And if we do have weaknesses, we want to make sure they are not easily targeted. How do we identify what is "weak" in our opponent's position and how do we go about attacking it? Why do Grandmasters do such a good job of targeting opponent's weaknesses?
In the video below, I take a look into the methods behind targeting and pressuring one of the types of weaknesses a player might have in their position: weak pawns. You'll get to see how Magnus Carlsen was able to apply this concept in a game he played during the 2019 World Blitz Championship. After seeing how this worked out in a Grandmaster game, then we'll see how two of my students had the opportunity to apply this exact same concept in their own games to get strong positions. After looking at my student's games, then we'll see a fourth, final position which will be an exercise for you all to solve. The PGN for each game is shown below the video as well as a bullet point list for the lessons we can learn from this. I hope you enjoy! 
Don't forget to give the video a thumbs up 👍, subscribe to the channel ▶️ and ring the bell notification 🔔 to get an alert when I post the next video 😀
Grandmaster Game:
Student Game #1:
Student Game #2:
- Pawns tend to be considered "weak" when they cannot easily be defended by a friendly pawn
- There may be many types of weak pawns such as isolated / backward / doubled pawns
- Blockade -> Pressure -> Capture -> Simplify
Exercise:
WHITE TO PLAY
Did you enjoy this content and my teaching style? Visit my website NextLevelChessCoaching.com if you are interested in personalized online lessons (and maybe have one of your games featured in a future video!)
Also, you can subscribe on YouTube and follow me on Twitch by clicking below:
