Pawns away

Pawns may be arithmetically the weakest at 1 point, but it is probably the only piece capable of creating a territory, a zone and a protection barrier for the player's pieces and is often impenetrable except to opponent pawns. If a piece like a knight or a rook is attacked by a pawn, it has to move, it has no choice. Earlier on in the game, pawns seem harmless, but an unnoticed and continuously unobstructed pawn can become an unexpected passer and with support from say, a queen and a rook on the same file, is unstoppable. Pawns however, should not be left isolated and must be close to a defending piece. Pawns chains, as I have written in earlier posts, are the strongest which are broken with great difficulty. Even most good players forget the innocuous en pessant maneuver, where a pawn on the 4th or 5th rank can be diagonally captured if moved 2 steps ahead; this is a useful mechanism in the end game where kings are barricaded by pawns. On a counterpoint, it is also important to keep pawns mobile, as pieces, especially the bishop and rook(in the middle), tend to get trapped by pawns.