manages to block the White Bishop’s diagonal by P-Q4.  Meanwhile White has gained a big start, and is ready to occupy the open file with his Rooks.  The sequel might be:  10.  P-Q4!, BxP (if PxP; 11.  P-K5!!, QPxP; 12.  R-KKt1, etc.); 11.  P-B3, B-Kt3; 12.  QR-Q1, K-R1; 13.  R-KKt1, Q-K2; 14.  R-Q3, R-KKt1; 15.  R-R3, R-Kt2 (KtxB; 16.  QxRPch!!); 16.  R-B3, followed by BxP (B6).

Taking it all in all, we see from the foregoing that the pinning of the Black Knight can only be injurious to Black if he does not take timely measures to provide against White’s Kt-Q5, which threatens to concentrate more forces for the attack on KB6 than Black is able to mobilise for its defence.

Beginners, after having experienced frequent trouble through their inadequate defence of this kind of attack, try to avoid their recurrence by making such pinning moves impossible from the first and playing P-R3 on whichever side the pin is threatened.  Apart from the loss of time, on which I remarked at length when discussing the opening, such pawn moves have various other drawbacks.

With every pawn move it should be considered whether the squares protected by the pawn before it has moved may not need the support of that pawn at a later stage.  This is particularly the case with regard to squares in front of the castled King.  If one of those pawns pushes on, the squares which have lost its protection frequently offer an opening for a direct attack by the enemy’s pieces on the King.

A second consideration is the fact that the advancing pawn itself becomes a target for an assault in which the opponent, moving up a pawn on the next file, brings his Rooks into play, or in which he sacrifices a piece for the advanced pawn and the one that protects it, thus robbing the King of the protection he sought to obtain in castling.

The following examples will contribute much to the understanding of this most important subject, the grasp of which will mean a great step forward for the student.

The position in Diagram 93 is from a game v.  Scheve-Teichmann (Berlin, 1907).  White played 1.  P-R3 in order to avoid the pinning of his Knight through B-Kt5.  The move is not unjustified, as the Knight is required for the support of the square at Q4.  The pawn move, however, has the drawbacks enumerated above, and White must think of keeping a sufficiency of pieces for the fight on the King’s wing, in order to prevent Black from utilising the weakness thus created for a combined assault by superior forces.

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8 | #R |    | #B |    | #K |    | #Kt| #R |
|---------------------------------------|
7 | #B | #P | #P |    | #Q | #P | #P | #P |
|---------------------------------------|
6 | #P |    | #Kt| #P |    |    |    |    |
|---------------------------------------|
5 | ^P |    |    |    | #P |    |    |    |
|---------------------------------------|
4 |    |    | ^B | ^P | ^P |    |    |    |