Doubled Pawns: A Practical Guide

Doubled Pawns – Triumph or Trouble? There isn’t a chessplayer who hasn’t struggled with doubled pawns. Are they strong because they oversee and surveil important squares or reinforce defensive ramparts? Are they weak, prone to being collected by our opponent in the endgame – or sooner? The easy answer is that it depends on the position. But are there principles that may be applied to help evaluate positions with doubled pawns. “Yes!” says Belarusian grandmaster Sergey Kasparov. In the first...