Qualitative majority: the same number of pawns, unequal strength

In short

Count the pawns on one wing. If both sides have the same number, neither side has an ordinary majority there. Still, look at how far forward the pawns stand and which way they point. Often one side has more strength even though the numbers are equal.

Nimzowitsch explains this with the pawn chain. When two chains are locked into each other, each chain points towards one wing. Where your pawns advance against the base of the enemy chain, you are qualitatively superior. So each side often has its own strong wing.

A second example comes from his game against Bernstein. There a black pawn on e4 is worth more than the white pawn on e3. One has already crossed the middle of the board; the other got stuck on its way there. That is why Black can attack on the kingside, almost as if Black had an extra pawn.

Such a majority is as much of a threat as a real one. Its pawns can drive a wedge into the enemy position or open files against the king. That is why Nimzowitsch demands that you recognize it early and do something against it. First you restrain it, later you blockade it.

Start with lesson 34. There, together with Nimzowitsch, you restrain such a majority in the game against Bernstein. Lesson 20 shows you the base and the tip of a pawn chain. In his closing remark on Jacobsen – Nimzowitsch, he calls the black pawns on the kingside a qualitative majority.

Summarized by the editors in their own words. This is not a quotation.

More pawns do not always mean more strength

The opposite case also happens. In the chapter on doubled pawns, Nimzowitsch shows a majority with two pawns on the same file. It has one pawn more but has trouble creating a passed pawn. Above all, it can get stuck when its pawns are supposed to advance together.

Nimzowitsch does not call this a qualitative majority. But he says that the doubled pawn reduces the attacking power of the whole pawn group. That is why he recommends tempting the opponent into advancing, because only then does the weakness show. The article on the pawn majority explains how to make use of a healthy majority.

When you have to defend

Often a single rook’s pawn is enough to restrain such a majority. In “My System”, Nimzowitsch shows that this pawn slows the majority down and attacks it at the same time. Your rook’s pawn only advances when the enemy rook’s pawn takes a step.

If the majority rolls forward anyway, it can smash your pawn chain and expose your king. For this case, Nimzowitsch names an emergency solution in “Chess Praxis”. You restrain the pawns until your king has escaped. The attack then still comes, but it has less force.

What holds today

Today, too, players agree that pawns further forward bring space and attacking chances. But only the concrete position shows whether you should restrain such a majority, blockade it or attack it yourself.

Where to find it in Nimzowitsch

• My System: II. Teil, 2.4 Die Ur-Zelle der gegen eine Bauernmehrheit gerichteten Hemmungsaktion wird in Reinkultur vorgeführt - Der Kampf gegen eine Zentralmehrheit - Die qualitative Mehrheit. original text not yet published

  The fight against a pawn majority and against a majority in the center, plus the explanation of the qualitative majority with the pawn chain.

• My System: II. Teil, 2.5 Die verschiedenen Formen, unter denen die Hemmung aufzutreten pflegt, werden näher beleuchtet original text not yet published

  The forms of restraint, among them restraining a qualitative majority with the help of a rook’s pawn.

• My System: II. Teil, 2.1 Wahlverwandtschaft zwischen „Doppelbauer“ und „Hemmung“; ersterer begünstige eine Durchführung feindlicher Hemmungspläne. Was heißt das: Unter dem Nachteil eines Doppelbauern leiden? Der Begriff der passiven (= statischen) und aktiven (= dynamischen) Schwäche. Wann erscheint die Auflösung eines feindlichen Doppelbauern angezeigt? Die (einzige) wirkliche Stärke des Doppelbauern wird näher begründet. original text not yet published

  Why a doubled pawn reduces the attacking power of a pawn group and why its weakness only shows when it advances.

• The Blockade: Abschnitt XIII original text not yet published

  The qualitative majority in Nimzowitsch’s game against Bernstein, Carlsbad 1923, with restraint and a later blockade.

• Chess Praxis: 2.3 Hemmung einer qualitativen Mehrheit (insbesondere einer Kettenmehrheit) original text not yet published

  Restraining a qualitative majority, above all in a pawn chain, and the king’s escape as an emergency solution.

• Chess Praxis: Partie 90 (original text)

  Jacobsen – Nimzowitsch: in the closing remark, the black pawns on the kingside advance as a qualitative majority.

In the course

• Pawns help each other
• Restraining in time
• Jacobsen – Nimzowitsch, Copenhagen 1923