Rating 4.75 out of 5 (135 ratings in Udemy)

• Be able to recognise effective plans in different openings and their pawn structures e.g. Minority attack plan in Carlsbad structure of Queens Gambit
• Be able to build an effective opening repertoire which fits your playing style e.g. Nimzo-indian for prophylaxis style
• Be able to use pawn structures to influence the level of tactics one needs to calculate - e.g. Slav or French structures can be used for quieter positions
• Be able to understand what Beth Harmon in the Queen's Gambit hit Netflix series meant with the terms "Backward pawn", "Hanging Pawns"
• Be able to let pawn structures drive your choice of openings knowing you have fundamental middlegame ideas
• Be able to transpose favourably into different structures when appropriate e.g. from London system into Stonewall structure
• Be able to recognise the key basic pawn formations that frequently arise from chess openings
• Be able to head to particular structures which match your mood and energy levels for calculation or need for just drawing
• Be able to leverage common winning patterns both for and against particular pawn structures within your own games
• Be able to make use of Thorn pawn structures and head for them for both middlegame and endgame advantages
• Be able to make positional pawn sacrifices for things like Knight outposts and other positional gains
• Be able to make positional exchange sacrifices to create a longer term upward trend within certain pawn structures
• Be able to make effective pawn based strategies for the opening phase
• Be able to make effective pawn based strategies for the middlegame phase
• Be able to make effective pawn based strategies for the endgame phase
• Be able to appreciate the fundamentals of Pawn related Chess Strategy in terms of position evaluation and longer term planning
• Be able to make use of pawn chain undermining where appropriate
• Be able to make effective Outposts around key squares within the pawn structure
• Be able to do "high level shuffling" especially around potential strategic pawn breaks to minimise regrets and maximise impact
• Be able to understand the dynamic and positional tradeoffs of different pawn structure factoring in King position
• Be able to see the up and downsides of the Isolated pawn structure and its descendants such as hanging pawns
• Be able to choose openings based on their pawn structures if you wish to build up your tactical strengths e.g. gambits or dynamic structures e.g. IQP
• Be able to recognise which dynamic structures need you to put on your calculation and attacking hats or pay a penalty later in miserable endgames
• Be able to understand iconic and beautiful game examples for handling various pawn structures such as classic Bobby Fischer games
• Be able to see with updated analysis fantastic examples that Kingscrusher has researched in the last few years from his Youtube channel
• Be able to be inspired by connected passed pawn examples from the engine World where even Stockfish couldn't handle the potential of them
• Be able to choose the right plan especially in non-tactical situations thus saving time on the clock
• Be able to fight effectively against tactical players with methods such as counterplay-removal and endgame transitioning
• Be stimulated to play the Sicilian Sveshnikov effectively being inspired by the Backward pawn examples
• Simplify your need to memorise tonnes of opening theory if you master the essential pawn structures
• Be able to make use of prophylaxis when appropriate within certain pawn structures
• Be able to evolve your opening repertoire with structurally implied game examples in this course such as the Nimzo-Indian to inflict doubled pawns on opponents
• Be able to see the price often paid for damaging structures such as "Bishop without counterpart" which can be a targetable downside in its own right
• Be able to get make use of "Thorn pawn" structures aka "Chess cheat code!" which Chess Neural networks have proven valuable
• Be able to add "Soul" to your chess game! - "Pawns are the Soul of Chess" - François-André Danican Philidor
• To be able to have a more effective structural perspective on what is going on in a position
• To be able to rethink your opening choices and general game plans generally based on pawn structures
• Be able to have effective "template plans" based on pawn structure which occur in many different openings
• Be able to use a nice simple line with White vs the Caro-Kann - the exchange variation with knowledge of Carlsbad structure ups and downs
• Be able to play the Sicilian Sveshnikov making use of effective template plans given in the examples
• Be able to understand the structural "playbook" of both sides in a tonne of different openings which have similar structures highlighted in this course
• Be able to appreciate "structualists" like Capablanca, Petrosian, Karpov, Adams who are masters of pawn structure plans and annotated games
• Be able to handle key pawn breaks for yourself and the opponent - give yourself a break :)
• Be able to transform structures into other sometimes more exploitable advantages or other structures
• Be able to appreciate Kingscrusher's pure love and admiration of Tigran Petrosian who also inspired Karpov with the concept of relatively risk-free chess :)
• Be able to appreciate Kingscrusher's love of Mikhail Tal in the Benoni structures which can be transposed to from the Kings Indian defence
• Game analysis all engine checked with latest Stockfish NN (Neural Network) often uncovering amazing new previously undiscovered resources!
• Be able to appreciate classic notable games in Chess history which are major stem games for key ideas organised by structure
• Be able to see how World chess champions championed particular structures such as Petrosian in the French and Tal in the Modern Benoni