The ABCs of Chess: Irish Pawns

“Irish Pawns” (tripled & isolated) are a rare visitor to world class games for good reason. They are such a horrendous structural defect that the defending side must have some other form of compensation to stay in the game. The further along in the ending the more glaring the defects become. In addition to the obvious weakness of the pawns themselves note the placement of the rooks and the relative mobility of the kings. GM Hikaru Nakamura shows sterling technique in converting the win in round 1 of the 2023 American Cup. Jonathan Schrantz does a nice job of connecting the dots in this YouTube video.