Restraint
Preventing an enemy pawn or piece from advancing before you attack it — Nimzowitsch's first step.
Restraint is the strategic act of stopping the opponent's freeing move — most often blockading a pawn or covering the square it wants to advance to — before you set about winning it. Nimzowitsch's famous sequence is 'restrain, blockade, destroy': first deny the break, then fix the weakness, then round it up.
It's the quiet, prophylactic side of strategy: many strong moves make no threat at all but simply take away the opponent's counterplay, leaving them without a plan while you improve at leisure.
Restraining the opponent's freeing break is often more important than making your own threat — it's how you turn a static edge into a bind the opponent can't escape.
Rushing your own plan while ignoring the opponent's freeing pawn break, so they equalise before your advantage can tell.
Related terms
See Restraint in your own games
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