The weakness of doubled pawns

Why should I learn about it?

Pawns are the soul of chess, and understanding how their properties and value shift throughout a game is a key factor for any player’s improvement. Doubled pawns are one of the clearest examples of a pawn’s value changing dramatically (almost always decreasing), and by having a good grasp of this concept you will be able to play many positions better.

When do I use it?

Not just in endgames, but in the middlegame and opening phases as well. Understanding doubled pawns will allow you to attain advantage over your opponent if he has no such comprehension. You will know when to give him doubled pawns and how to exploit them, while avoiding such structures yourself.

Link to Practice Problems

Doubled pawns problem #1

Step-by-Step Guide on The weakness of doubled pawns

White to move. Make use of your extra space to lose a tempo, leading back to the initial position but with black to play.

In here, we try to get back to the initial position with Black to play. Take note that we don’t want to go too far away from the e5 and f5 squares.

(1. Ke4 is also good.)

…Kd8

Trying not to jump to e7.

.(1… Ke7 2. Ke5 Ke8 3. Kd6 Kd8 4. Kxc6 Ke7 5. Kd5 and we get to promote the pawn a little faster.)

Getting ready to jump into f5 if the Black king returns to e8, obtaining the initial position with Black to play.

…Ke8

And the White’s next move would obviously be…

(If 2… Kc7 then we also get to promote the pawn a lot easier. 3. Ke5 Kc8 4. Kf6 Kc7 5. e7 Kd7 6. Kf7 Kc8 7. e8=Q+)

Kf5!

Reaching our first goal.

…Ke7

Stopping the White king from jumping into f6. But White could force the Black king away with its next move.

(3. …Kf8 4. Kf6 Ke8 5. e7 Kd7 6. Kf7 Kc7 7. Ke6, trying to get hold of a better position before the pawn promotes. 7. …Kb6 8. e8=Q)

(3. …Kd8 is also the same with Kf8)

This move makes it so that the Black king is forced to retreat into the 8th rank.

…Ke8

Any other move is also met with White’s 5th move.

(4. …Kd8 5. Kd6 Ke8 6. e7 Kf7 7. Kd7 Kg7 8. e8=Q)

(4. …Kf8 is also the same with Kd8)

This move lets us control the e7 square and limits the Black king into the 8th rank. Moreover, we get to take the c6 pawn later on.

…Kd8

Thanks to White’s Kd6 earlier, the Black king is still stuck on the 8th rank and White gets to snatch the c6 pawn.

Kxc6

Yum… If we want, we could even abandon the e-pawn and obliterate all of Black’s pawns. However, White’s e-pawn has a bright future ahead of it, literally.

…Ke7

Threatening to take the pawn.

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(Translation: the White king jumps onto e5 to protect the e-pawn and plans to secure its path towards e8 for the promotion.)

…Kf6

The Black king hates to return back to the 8th rank. But actually, it just wants to prevent us from taking Black’s pawns since the e-pawn would be sacrificed in exchange. We could do that but sacrificing the e-pawn in this position would be such a shame. Look, I even put up an arrow to prove my point.