Chess Structures

Normally my overseas travels result in me returning with lots of books, but 2 months worth of supplies meant that there wasn't a lot of spare room in the suitcase. I did pick up a few books here and there, but there was one book that was worth its weight in excess baggage charges.
"Chess Structures: A Grandmaster Guide" by Mauricio Flores Rios turned out to be the type of book that I had been searching for for many a year. Over 22 chapters, Rios describes a number of important pawn structures, and the standard middle game plans that go with each of them. He looks at them from both sides of the board, and gives model games for each of the plans. While the structures are usually named after well known openings, he points out that they don't just come from these openings, as pawn structure isn't always a function of moves.
As an example, the Caro-Kann formation is listed under the d4/d5 section, as it arises after Blacks d5 pawn captures on e4, while White has a pawn sitting on d4. This does occur in the main lines of the Caro-Kann, but also the Scandinavian (1.e4 d5 2.exd Qxd5 often leads to the same kinds of position).
Rios focuses on  positions where the pawn structure strongly effects the strategy employed, which means tactical structures like the Dragon, or solid ones like the Closed Ruy Lopez only get a brief mention. On the other hand there are a number of chapters devoted to the Kings Indian and French structures.
And it was the section of the French that gave me some recent inspiration (and success). Having studied (from Whites point of view) the section where White plays exf6 and then targets the backward e pawn, I came to the following game better prepared than I normally am. While I didn't get a clear advantage until right at the end (and my opponent missed a tactical trick after Rxe7), I felt I at least knew what sort of moves I should have been playing throughout. As a result I didn't feel the need to lash out at any stage, and while the finish was nice, it was they play that lead up to it that was just as important.


Press,Shaun - Patterson,Miles [C06]
University Cup, 07.03.2017

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ndf3 cxd4 8. cxd4 Qb6 9. Ne2 f6 10. exf6 Nxf6 11. O-O Bd6 12. Re1 O-O 13. Ng3 Qc7 14. Bd2 Bd7 15. Rc1 Rae8 16. Bc3 Qb6 17. Bb1 Bf4 18. Rc2 Re7 19. Rce2 Nd8 20. Ne5 Bb5 21. Nd3 Bd6 22. Nf5 exf5 23. Rxe7 Bxe7 24. Rxe7 Ne4 25. f3 Nc6 26. Re6 Nxc3 27. bxc3 Bxd3 28. Qxd3 Qb2 29. Qc2 Qa3 30. Qb3 Qc1+ 31. Kf2 Nd8 32. Re1 Qf4 33. Qxd5+ Kh8 34. g3 Qd2+ 35. Re2 Qxc3 36. Qxf5 Qxd4+ 37. Kg2 1-0