Valuing pawns

If a player understands the value of pawns early in their chess-playing career, they will win many more matches.

A thought on chess strategy – As any match progresses players should count the mathematical value of the remaining pieces on the board. If you find yourself ahead a pawn or two look for opportunities to swap pieces, remembering all along you can trade the pawn advantage for a major piece once you move your pawn to the opponent’s King row. This opportunity will appear more often than one might imagine because beginning players usually undervalue the potential of pawns.

Just as a good commander takes care of his soldiers and uses them thoughtfully in battle, so should the chess player place great value on his pawns, not sacrificing them thoughtlessly. Just like a live soldier, a pawn’s “power of one” can be multiplied by careful deployment, becoming part of the chess player’s successful end-game strategy (Larry Stallings)

In the position shown (after 14 Rd1) Black plays 2 moves which illustrate this:

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