Chess Patterns ❯ Types of Pawns ❯ Isolated Doubled Pawns

Isolated Doubled Pawns

In many positions, Isolated Doubled Pawns can be a weakness because these pawns have reduced mobility, can become easy targets, can be easily blockaded (as shown in the first diagram above), and may be very ineffective at creating a passed pawn.

In some positions, this pawn structure can be advantageous because it often creates open files for the Rooks, and the pawns themselves may help prevent the creation of passed pawns, as shown in the second diagram above.

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Master the Isolated Doubled Pawns

When we started adding a playful touch to chess learning, we looked through thousands of videos and hundreds of books to find the best resources out there. Here's our curated selection of the best content we encountered on Isolated Doubled Pawns. We also included some smaller creators who are growing fast and we believe deserve your attention. Check out these resources if you want to master this type of pawns.

Improve Your Chess - When are Doubled Pawns Good?
This is another great video by Chess Thinking! with NM Dan Heisman YouTube channel. Heisman introduces Doubled Pawns, isolated and non-isolated, with many, many examples and puts them in the context of several other Imbalances. Don’t skip this video/channel.

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Double Isolated Pawns Endgame 🔥
Have a look at this nice YouTube short by passionate The Chess Nerd channel. Learn this basic endgame position where Double Pawns may trick you into stalemating your opponent.

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Evaluation and Planning!: Part 8*
This Chess.com lesson is part of a very nice series by GM Melikset Khachiyan on how to find the right plan for any given position. Here, you’ll see a game where he deals with Isolated Doubled e-pawns. For intermediates and experts.

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Play Winning Chess*
This book by Yasser Seirawan is the first in the highly popular 'Winning Chess' series. It is aimed at complete beginners and does a wonderful job of explaining the basics and what to focus on as a novice, including Isolated Doubled Pawns.

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Pawn Power in Chess*
This work by Hans Kmoch is an immortal classic in chess literature on how to effectively use pawns. Very, very precise definitions and highly instructive examples of middlegame positions. Not for the faint of heart.

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