Pawns on d4 and e4 take the best squares away from the opponent’s pieces. The other side can either copy the centre or attack it with a pawn break and pieces. Through the Exchange Grünfeld, this lesson shows how to build the centre, how to hit it with ...c5, and when the centre must advance.
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Side by side, pawns on d4 and e4 take c5, d5, e5 and f5 from the opponent’s pieces. That is the classical centre, and the Grünfeld Defence is built on letting White have it in order to attack it. This lesson plays both sides of that bargain.
What you will learn
01Which four squares the pawns on d4 and e4 control, and why a pawn on c3 behind them matters.
02How Black attacks the centre with ...c5, the bishop on g7 and the knight on c6 instead of occupying it.
03When to push d4 to d5: with tempo, and only after weighing the squares the push gives up.
04How to count attackers and defenders on d4 before you capture there.
Holding it and hitting it
Three positions from the Exchange Grünfeld. After 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7, White has pawns on c3, d4 and e4, with c5, d5, e5 and f5 lit up. Later Black has played ...c5 and ...Nc6, and three arrows point at d4: from the pawn on c5, the bishop on g7 and the knight on c6. In the third, after ...cxd4 cxd4 and ...Be6, White pushes to d5, hits the bishop and leaves the rook on a1 to the bishop on g7.
The club mistake with the centre is to push it the moment it is attacked. d4 to d5 hands Black the squares c5 and e5 and opens the long diagonal, so push only when the move wins time or material. Against the centre the mistake is the opposite: grabbing the pawn on d4 before counting. Three attackers against two wins it; two against two only loses time.
How to practise it
Three quiz positions follow. In the first, White uses the pawns against two pieces standing in front of them; in the second, Black counts on d4; in the third, Black answers the push to d5. Give one move each, by voice or tap. The Pawn Centre is a Pro lesson.
Pawns on d4 and e4 for White, or d5 and e5 for Black, standing side by side. Together they control the central squares in front of them.
How do you attack a big pawn centre?
Hit the d-pawn with the c-pawn and add pieces that aim at it: a bishop on the long diagonal and a knight on c6. The aim is to force a push or an exchange on your terms.