In chess, an isolated pawn is a pawn which has no friendly pawn on an adjacent file. An isolated queen's pawn is often called an isolani. Isolated pawns are usually a weakness because they cannot be protected by other pawns. Many "textbook" openings create at least one isolated pawn but are nevertheless accepted as orthodox because they create advantages, such as improved development and associated opportunities for counterplay, that offset or even outweigh the weaknesses associated with the pawn's isolation.
Read more about Isolated Pawn: Weakness, Isolated Queen Pawn
Famous quotes containing the words isolated and/or pawn:
“The improved American highway system ... isolated the American-in-transit. On his speedway ... he had no contact with the towns which he by-passed. If he stopped for food or gas, he was served no local fare or local fuel, but had one of Howard Johnson’s nationally branded ice cream flavors, and so many gallons of Exxon. This vast ocean of superhighways was nearly as free of culture as the sea traversed by the Mayflower Pilgrims.”
—Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914)
“In ceremonies of the horsemen,
Even the pawn must hold a grudge.”
—Bob Dylan [Robert Allen Zimmerman] (b. 1941)