attack · recognise → explain → apply

Convert hanging pawns into a protected spearhead

Adjacent central pawns can advance with piece support.

Explanation styleChoose any style. Age is not playing strength; no birth date is needed.

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Alexey Sokolsky – Mikhail Botvinnik

Leningrad, USSR Championship · 1938.??.?? · 0-1

22. Nh1 · Black to move

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What to notice at 22. Nh1

Botvinnik chose 22...d4. Subsequent exchanges left a central passer that reached d3 and d2 while Black’s bishops and rook sustained the pressure.

A legally replayed historical example, not a claim that every move is best. A game’s result does not prove every defensive position was lost or drawn.

Game source ↗

Your thinking first

Name the signal, choose a plan, and test the opponent’s most challenging response.

What do you notice?What is your plan, and why?How could the opponent resist?

Recall and explain

1. Adjacent central pawns can advance with piece support. How would you apply “convert hanging pawns into a protected spearhead”, and which defensive reply must you check?

Explain it in your own words before revealing.

Make it memorable

Advance with a job, not just with hope.

Teach this to a friend in one minute. Then return to a different example and look for the same signal without being told its name.

Reflect and revisit

This is your self-assessment, not an engine grade or a promise of mastery.

Connect the ideas

Sources and further reading

Original LumaChess teaching and game analysis. Topic references are credited below; no affiliation or endorsement is implied.