In
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...
, a half-open file (or semi-open file) is a with
pawns of only one color. The half-open file can provide a line of attack for a player's
rook or
queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
. A half-open file is generally exploited by the player with no pawns on it.
Many
openings, such as the
Sicilian Defense
The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the following moves:
:1. e4 c5
The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4. Opening 1.d4 is a statistically more successful opening for White be ...
, aim to complicate the position. In the main line Sicilian, 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 (or 2...e6, or 2...Nc6) 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4, White obtains a half-open d-file, but Black can pressure White along the half-open c-file.
In positions where White has no pawns on a file but Black has one pawn or more on that file, the position is considered to be half-opened for white. During instances where Black has zero pawns on a file but White has one or more pawns on that file, the position is considered to be half-opened for black.
In such instances where pawns capture or advance, in a way that it opens or half-opens a file or files, this instance is called a pawn break.
The demolition of the
pawn structure is a common theme in positions with half-open files, since
doubled pawns or
isolated pawns may create half-open files.
Example
The game
Loek van Wely–
Judit Polgár
Judit Polgár (born 23 July 1976) is a Hungarian chess grandmaster, generally considered the strongest female chess player of all time. In 1991, Polgár achieved the title of Grandmaster at the age of 15 years and 4 months, at the time the yo ...
, Hoogeveen, 1997
demonstrates the power of half-open files in attacks. Despite having one fewer pawn than White, Black's possession of two powerful half-open files (her rook on the f-file and queen on the g-file) gives her a winning advantage (see diagram).
Black played
30... Rxf2+
and White resigned, anticipating 31.Rxf2 Qxg3+ 32.Kf1 Qxf2.
See also
*
Open file
References
Bibliography
*
*
{{chess
Chess terminology
Chess strategy