Pawn structure
Stockfish 16.1 · runs in your browserPlay c4. White has pawns on the adjacent c- and d-files, with the c-pawn attacking d5.
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Commentary
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Best move
Pawn structure is the arrangement of the pawns. Adjacent friendly pawns can support one another; an isolated pawn has no friendly pawn on either neighbouring file. Compare the connected c- and d-pawns with the lone d-pawn example.
Try the moves
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Isolated pawns
An isolated pawn has no friendly pawn on an adjacent file. Select the isolated-pawn example and inspect the empty c- and e-files beside the d-pawn.
Rules and examples
The board positions are original teaching examples. Rule references and further practice are linked below.
Rules: FIDE Laws of Chess, effective 1 January 2023. https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/E012023
Rule replay: python-chess 1.11.2 (GPL-3.0-or-later). The shared browser engine retains its Stockfish GPL-3.0 notice. No engine score is claimed by these demonstrations.
See the referenceA move on the board
rnbqkbnr/ppp1pppp/8/3p4/3P4/8/PPP1PPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq d6 0 2
rnbqkbnr/ppp1pppp/8/3p4/2PP4/8/PP2PPPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq c3 0 2
- c4White has pawns on the adjacent c- and d-files, with the c-pawn attacking d5.
White has pawns on the adjacent c- and d-files, with the c-pawn attacking d5.
Original teaching example replayed with python-chess 1.11.2, 2026-10-18.
Analysis runs on Stockfish 16.1 in your browser, compiled to WebAssembly by stockfish.js. Stockfish is free software under the GNU General Public License v3; its source code is on GitHub.