17 Nh4 with half of Black's army imprisoned on the Queen's side, White prepares to crash through on the king's side

22 Rxf4 White begins to open up the files to expose the black king

A <Fawn Pawn> is a pawn on the sixth rank which is blockaded by an enemy pawn but which cannot be captured by an enemy pawn.

Look at the sequence leading up to White's creation of a MONSTER fawn pawn on the <d6> square.

First, I think that Black certainly shouldn't play this variation of the <Evans> that allows White to get in <8.d5!>, which initiates a horrifying sequence of moves that sews Black up tight as a Christmas Turkey.

After <8.d5>:

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Now, after <8...Nd8 9.Qa4 Bb6 10.Bg5 Qd6 11.Na3 c6 12.Rad1>, Where is the Black Queen going?

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Well, maybe she has no good square, but I find it hard to believe that <12...Qb8> was a wise choice. I think it's a game-losing choice, in fact.

After only 12 moves, White virutally has a won game from here, positionally speaking, because now

WHAMMO <13.Bxe7 Kxe7 14.d6+!> and the White <fawn pawn> locks the Black Queen in jail.

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Ouch! Quite literally, Black does not have a good move here. And look at the incredible positional force the <d6 Fawn Pawn> exerts on Black.

It singlehandedly prevents almost any kind of freeing move on Black's Queenside.

It Blocks the <b8-a2> diagonal so the Queen cannot get out, and it Blocks the Black <d7> pawn so the LSB cannot get out to the center.

Worse, Black's own DSB is blocking his <b7> pawn and the DSB also cannot tuck in to the potentially very useful <c7> square because the <fawn pawn> is controlling that square.

As it turned out, the very sad looking Black Queen never does get developed.

If you are interested in more games that feature the awesome positional power of the <Fawn Pawn>, check out this games collection:

Game Collection: Fawn Pawns

Well actually it's usually called a <pawn nail> or a <thorn pawn>.

For over a year, <Kingscrusher> has been featuring several <youtube> annotated chess games highlighting the power of this positional feature- and he was calling it a <thorn pawn>.

However, he has a heavy English accent, so we all thought he was saying <fawn pawn>.

All year we have been discussing the "fawn pawn."

Then <Blacksburger> was curious so he actually asked <Kingscrusher> about it and he told him he was saying <thorn pawn>.

But now it's too late to change the new name.

I have added it to the collection.

Actually, I find it to be an extraodinarily interesting game.

I'm going to write something about it, in fact.

<"It was arranged that the contest should be limited to twenty games including draws, and that the winner of the majority should be declared the victor. [...] ...at the finish of the 17th game, which resulted in a draw. As the score stood at that time Steinitz 10, Tschigorin 6, the additional draw made Steinitz the victor of the contest, [...] It was then arranged that the last three games should be played in consultation between Mr. Steinitz and Dr. Gavilan on the one side, against Mr. Tschigorin and Senor Ponce on the other side.">