How to deal with pawn storm?

Originally posted by Mahout
This sort of attack has caught me off guard a few times in blitz as it takes you out of familiar set ups and the opponent can move very quickly throwing the pawns forward...gets frustrating as you know they are playing badly but you still lose to them.

so you know how I feel

Originally posted by Dutch Defense
... You might get to sneak some your pieces around the pawn storm and start an attack of your own.

without having read the rest of the thread, I can reasonably assume that this is the best advice you'll get in this thread. Not because of the poster (who is other-wise an unreliable source of advice*), but because he's right. it's key to note that it is impossible to push pawns without weakening squares around one's own king ** (i.e. advancing the h7 pawn weakens the g6 square, use that to your advantage!). you should notice which squares have been weakened by his missing pawns, and attack them!

* The guy advocates the Latvian gambit, come on!
** one can push pawns towards the opponent's case without weakening his own king in the case of kings being castled to opposite sides of the board, in which case pawn advances against the king are thematic! and it is uaually a race to the opposing king.

Originally posted by monteirof
Hi, I'm having some dificulties with a friend of mine that likes to advance his pawns towards my king, specially when i castle early. Than he blows my castle... How do I respond to that? I think it's crazy to avance the pawns like that but I just cant deal properly with that.

thanks

When the board is opened up and your opponent makes advances on the wings, simply make a counterattack in the center.

If the center is closed up, you simply have to find a balance between defending against his attack and going through with your attack on the opposite side. It's a bit harder to specify an exact strategy. But never let you opponent gain claim both sides, or you'll have a tough time drawing even, let alone winning.