Forcing the opponent to move pawns and create holes.
Why it matters
If your opponent has no weaknesses, the first job is to make one. Weaknesses are made by forcing pawn moves, because pawns cannot go back, and every pawn move leaves something behind.
The classic method is the minority attack: two pawns advancing against three, not to win material but to force a capture that leaves a pawn nobody can defend. It is the clearest example of playing for a target rather than for a tactic.
See it on a board
The minority attack. Two white pawns advance against three, and after the trade Black is left with a backward pawn on c6 on a file White's rook is already looking down.
Checked: the position really has the feature described.
How to play it
- Find the pawn that would be weak if the structure changed, usually one that would end up on a half-open file.
- Advance your own pawns to force the exchange that creates it.
- Then stop pushing and start attacking: the weakness is the plan, not the pawn race.
At each level
The same idea, said the way it is taught at each age.
Rook · ages 6–9
If there is nothing to attack, make something. Forcing a pawn to move is how a target is created.
Queen · ages 8–11
Decide the target before you start pushing. A minority attack played without a plan for the resulting weak pawn just trades pawns and opens lines for the defender.
What goes wrong
- Pushing pawns on the wing where you are weaker, and creating weaknesses in your own camp instead.
- Winning the structural argument and then never attacking the weakness you made.
Questions people ask
- Why is it called a minority attack?
- Because you attack with fewer pawns than the defender has on that wing. The aim is not to win a pawn but to force a trade that leaves one behind that no pawn can defend.