In chess, a pawn break describes the act of moving a pawn so that it is both attacking and attacked by an opponent's pawn, forcing the opponent to decide whether to capture your pawn, advance their pawn one space (if possible), or do nothing and allow their pawn to be captured. Pawn breaks open up lines, often turning a more easily played closed position into a more wild and chaotic open position, but in this way they are often double-edged, creating new dangers and weaknesses for both players. Despite the seeming innocuousness of the move, deciding exactly when and where to pawn break, and how to respond to one, is often one of the most difficult decisions in a chess game.