Four white pawns against four black - a clean position for understanding the pawn-breakthrough technique. The wall looks impenetrable, but the move decides: with a series of sacrifices White clears the road for one pawn, and it queens. Every line is worked through on the board below - pick any defence for Black.
The main line 1.c6 and the edge breakthrough 1.a6. At the branches, choose how Black captures.
4 white pawns against 4 black, White to move. The aim is to break through the wall and queen a pawn. At the branches, pick different defences for Black - each one is worked through on the board.
The walkthrough has not started yet.
At the branches several defences are available - take any of them. «Back» returns one move, «Main line» plays the principal variation automatically.
The mirrored position: the same technique carries Black through to queen.
The mirror image: the black pawns are the advanced ones (on the fourth rank), Black to move. The same technique carries Black through to queen - the breakthrough works both ways.
The walkthrough has not started yet.
At the branches several defences are available - take any of them. «Back» returns one move, «Main line» plays the principal variation automatically.
A pawn breakthrough is the technique of sacrificing one or several pawns to create a passer the opponent no longer has time to stop. Here each side has four connected pawns (a to d); White's have advanced to the fifth rank and Black's stand on the seventh. The wall looks solid, but the move and the more advanced pawns settle it in White's favour.
The main idea is not to push pawns at random but to strike at the wedging squares, so that after the exchanges one unstoppable passer is left. Each sacrifice draws a black pawn aside and opens the road for the next white one.
1.c6! - the central blow: the pawn attacks b7 and d7 at once, and Black has to take one of them. On 1...dxc6 comes 2.d6! (the second sacrifice), 2...cxd6 3.a6! (the third), 3...b6 4.bxc6 - and the connected c-file passer goes through to queen: 4...d5 5.c7 d4 6.c8=Q.
The subtlety is the move order. After 1...bxc6 only 2.d6! wins, while the natural 2.b6? lets the win slip and leads only to a draw. And if Black declines to capture on c6 at all (1...a6?), White takes with 2.cxb7 and queens as early as move three.
The technique does not depend on colour. The second board shows the mirrored position: the black pawns are the advanced ones and Black is to move. With the same series of sacrifices, 1...c3 2.dxc3 d3! 3.cxd3 a3!, Black smashes the wall and queens on c1.
So in the starting position everything turns on whose move it is: whoever starts the breakthrough gets through first. That is the point of this study - learning to see the sacrificial breakthrough for both sides.
Learn these set-ups - in them the breakthrough is already settled.
After 1.c6 dxc6 2.d6 cxd6 3.a6! axb7 is threatened - and the connected a/b pair escorts a passer home.
After 4.bxc6 White's pawn on c6 races to queen: c7 and c8=Q, with the black pawns hopelessly behind.
What to avoid, so the breakthrough does not turn into a draw.
After 1...bxc6 only 2.d6! wins. The symmetrical-looking 2.b6? throws the win away - the position becomes a draw. The breakthrough needs an exact order of sacrifices, not just any of them.
A breakthrough is not «advance the edge pawn» but striking at the wedging squares. Without the exact series of sacrifices Black simply trades pawns off and holds the defence.
The starting position is already loaded - move the pawns yourself or paste your own FEN.
Drag a piece onto the board, or click a piece and then click the squares. The cross beside the pieces sweeps every piece of that colour off the board, and a single piece can be dragged off the edge.
The pieces will be arranged into the chosen pattern.
It is the mating side to move. Find mate in one.
Openings, endgame positions and breakthrough studies - the set-up appears on the board.
In this set-up (White on the fifth rank, Black on the seventh) whoever is to move wins. With White to move, a forced series of sacrifices beginning 1.c6 or 1.a6 queens a pawn.
The sacrifices draw the opponent's pawns off their files and lines, after which one of your pawns becomes a passer that can no longer be stopped. Material does not matter here - the unstoppable passer does.
After 1.c6 bxc6 the only winning path is 2.d6!. The move 2.b6? looks symmetrical, but it fails to create a passer in time, and Black has time to organise a defence - a draw.
Open the position in the chess board editor: paste the FEN 8/pppp4/8/PPPP4/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1 and move the pawns yourself, or play the lines through in the trainer on this page.
Everything people usually keep in a spreadsheet is already in the app: pairings, points, tie-breaks, round order. Free, with no subscriptions and no cap on the number of players.
Work through the other pawn studies in the VC series on the board - breakthroughs, races and overtakes.
Build your own position in the board editor, play through the chess openings move by move, or look into endgame walkthroughs such as king and pawn. If you are only starting out, read the rules of chess and how to set the pieces up.
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