The isolated queen's pawn

The key idea

With the isolated pawn, use space and activity; against it, restrain its advance and reduce the attack. Judge each exchange by the resulting position.

Example 1 · What it gives you while pieces are on

The d4 pawn has no neighbours and never will. In exchange, look at the files it opens.

1. Rc1 The c-file is open precisely because I have no pawn there: that's what it means for d4 to be isolated. The pawn charges its first fee straight away — a free motorway for the rook.
2. Ne8 The knight retreats to regroup. From d6 it could pressure c4 and e4; d6 is not the blockading square in front of the d4-pawn. That square is d5, and it remains empty.
3. Rc4 And the rook climbs the open file to the fourth rank. From there it can slide across the width of the board, which is the other advantage of owning a file.
4. Bd6 The bishop settles on d6 and watches c5 and e5. The blockading square, d5, remains empty: the black e6-pawn restrains d4-d5 by threatening to capture there. Distinguish controlling an advance from physically occupying the square ahead.
5. Kf1 King to the centre. With so few pieces there's no attack to prepare, so it's time to improve whatever can be improved.
6. Bc7 The bishop keeps manoeuvring along the diagonal.
7. a4 I gain space on the other wing. With the isolated pawn the clock runs against you: every trade brings you closer to the endgame where that pawn is nothing but a nuisance, so it pays to open fronts while there's still material.
8. Bb6 And the bishop eyes the d4 pawn along the diagonal. The valuation of all this: the position is level. The isolated pawn works as a currency exchange — activity and space now, in return for a permanent weakness later.

Example 2 · What's left when the pieces go

Same structure, no minor pieces. Black to move, and the d4 pawn no longer compensates for anything.

1. Kf8 First, the king to the centre. In an endgame the king is another attacking piece, and here it has a fixed target waiting on d4: a pawn that can't move house.
2. Kf1 White does the same, and with more reason: that pawn doesn't defend itself.
3. Rc8 The open file that was White's weapon in the previous example is now mine. That's the complete reversal of the endgame: the isolated pawn still opens the c-file, but there are no pieces left to make use of the activity, so the motorway goes to whoever gets there first.
4. Rd3 The white rook settles in to defend the pawn. Here's the full bill for the isolated pawn: a rook tied to a pawn is half a rook.
5. Rc1+ With check, and into the first rank.
6. Ke2 The king steps aside, forced.
7. Rc2+ And on to the seventh rank, where the enemy pawns live. Look at what it took to get here: not one combination, just occupying the file the isolated pawn opened itself.
8. Rd2 White offers the rook trade to get the pressure off, and the endgame is still level. The isolated pawn doesn't lose the game by itself — but the one who has it spends twenty moves defending and the one attacking it never takes a risk.

Practice

You're Black against an isolated pawn on d4, and there isn't a single minor piece left on the board. You have exactly the endgame you were after: go and get the pawn, without inventing anything.

1. King first. In endgames it counts as another piece, and here it has a target that can't run away. Before moving the rook, activate the piece that's worth double in an endgame.
2. The open file, occupied. And the isolated pawn opened it itself by having no neighbours: its weakness hands you the way in. There's one file on the whole board without a single pawn on it. Get into it.
3. With check, which always helps: you get into the first rank and make him move his king along the way. Go all the way down the file you have just occupied. It's check.
4. Seventh rank and his pawns under attack. Your opponent has been defending since move 4 and you haven't taken a single risk. Climb to the rank where your opponent's pawns live, with check again.

You practised a plan against the isolated pawn: activate the king, occupy the open file and invade with the rook. The pawn is still defended, and this is not a demonstrated win. With the isolated pawn, keep pieces that give you activity and consider exchanging passive ones. Judge each exchange by the resulting position.