I just played a 30+5 classical game and reviewed / analyzed it afterwards in my "Lichess Classical Games" public study.
I won the game (yay!) but of course the engine found lots of problems and missed wins (oof). The theme that kept coming up repeatedly? Pushing pawns.
For today's online classical game, I played the Italian - not the Evans or Scotch Gambit like I usually do. Just the Italian. Multiple times during the game - starting with an immediate d4 pawn break (I played slower d3 instead), I would have had a crushing variation if I just pushed a pawn one square.
The thing about puzzles, books on tactics, etc.... They almost always involve pieces. This has been something that I feel has hurt my game - my most recent OTB game being a great example! In that game, I had the opportunity to get a completely winning position with connected outside passed pawns - by just playing a4! Instead I shuffled around my bishops, allowing my opponent to organize counter-play.
Lichess really needs a puzzle category called "Pawn Pushes" that allows you to find winning combinations based on... pawn pushes. Maybe it does but it's not obvious? "Pawn Endgames" is close.
For now, I guess I need to review more master games in the Italian (and Ruy Lopez?) where white pushes pawns early when black plays inaccurately.
