Pawn

The pawn is the weakest piece on the chessboard, but this does not prevent it from capturing the strongest piece — the queen, or even checkmating the king of the opposing side.

Features of the chess pawn:

• It moves only forward. The pawn is the only piece on the board that is not allowed to move backward.
• The direction of movement and the direction of capturing opponent’s pieces are different.
• It is the only piece on the board that can be promoted into another piece.

In addition, pawns play an important role in protecting the king and in endgame play.

Initial placement of pawns at the beginning of the game

At the beginning of the game, pawns are always placed on the second rank (white pawns) and the seventh rank (black pawns) (Diagram №1).

They seem to shield the minor and major pieces, often make the first moves of the game, and quite often one of them becomes the piece that brings victory.

Types of pawns

Chess players give names to pawns depending on their position on the chessboard. The following types of pawns can be distinguished:

• Rook pawns. As the name suggests, these are pawns that move along the a and h files.
• Queen pawns. Pawns that move along the d-file.
• Passed pawns. Pawns that have advanced forward, have open space ahead of them, and have a high chance of reaching the last rank.
• Backward pawns. Pawns that, compared to others, have remained on their starting squares or have advanced only slightly.
• Doubled pawns. Pawns of the same color that stand on the same file after capturing opponent’s pieces.
• Strong pawns. Pawns that occupy a good position on the board and are reliably protected by other pieces.
• Isolated or hanging pawns. Pawns that have no supporting pawns on adjacent files. They are also called weak pawns.

Diagram №2 shows all the mentioned types:

On the a2 and h2 squares, you can see rook pawns. At the same time, they are backward pawns. On the b4 and b5 squares, there are doubled pawns. The pawn on d5 is a queen pawn. It is both weak and isolated. The pawns on f6 and g5 are strong and passed pawns.

How does the pawn move?

As already mentioned, pawns move only forward and cannot move backward. A pawn moves vertically only one square at a time. There is one exception to this rule — on its first move, it can advance two squares forward. This is an option, not an obligation, meaning that you decide how many squares to move your pawn when it starts from its initial position.

Look at Diagram №3. White pawns on f2, g2, and h2 are in their starting positions, so they can move two squares forward — to f4, g4, and h4 respectively. The rook pawn on a3 has already made its first move, so from now on it can only move one square forward. The pawns on b5, c4, and d5 cannot move at all because their forward movement is blocked by opponent’s pieces. The pawn on e3 also cannot move because its path is blocked by its own knight.

Black can move the pawns on a7, f7, and h7 one or two squares forward. The pawn on g6 can move forward only one square, while the moves of the pawns on b6 and c5 are blocked by White’s pieces.

How does the pawn capture?

The pawn is the only piece that captures differently from the way it moves. While its normal moves are only forward along the file, a pawn captures exclusively diagonally and only one square at a time. For a better understanding, look at Diagram №4.

The white pawn standing on c4 has its forward movement blocked by an opponent’s pawn, but since a pawn captures differently from the way it moves, it has two possible moves — capture the rook on d5 or the queen on b5. After making a capture, the pawn moves to the adjacent file and continues moving along it until it makes another capture on a neighboring file.

What about the white pawn on e7? It can either move forward along the file or capture the black knight on f8! In both cases, it reaches the last rank, after which promotion takes place.

It is also necessary to mention the concept of en passant. The pawn is the only piece that has this special ability. For example, if a white pawn is on its starting square and makes its first move two squares forward, but the first of these squares is under attack by a black pawn, then Black has the right to capture it en passant. For a better understanding, take a look at Diagram №5.

If the white pawn makes its first move to a4, it passes through the a3 square, which is under attack by the black pawn. Therefore, the black pawn can capture it en passant. In other words, White plays a4, and Black responds with a3 with a capture! If we imagine that it is Black’s turn and they move the pawn from e7 to e5, then the white pawn can capture it en passant — on the e6 square. Remember that en passant can only be performed by a pawn and only against an opponent’s pawn. It is impossible to capture a knight, bishop, rook, or queen en passant.

A soldier becomes a general

If a pawn reaches the final rank (the eighth rank for White and the first rank for Black), it is promoted, at the player’s choice, into any other piece of the same color except the king. For example, if you are playing White and one of your pawns reaches the eighth rank, you can replace it with a white knight, bishop, rook, or queen! After reaching the final rank, it cannot remain a pawn or become a king.

In this diagram, you can see how the white pawn on e7 has come very close to the eighth rank. A beginner would quickly promote it to a queen, but in this case the game would most likely end in a draw. What happens if, instead of promoting to a queen, we choose another piece — a knight? There will be a double attack on Black — a fork. The knight attacks the king, and after the king moves from g7, the white knight captures the black queen on c7. Then White can easily promote the rook pawn into a queen and win the game!

However, a fork can be created not only by a knight but also by the pawn itself. In Diagram №7, you can see how the pawn attacks the black king and queen, after which White saves the game while Black loses a winning position despite having a huge advantage.

After the move g4, the pawn gives check to the black king and simultaneously attacks the queen. If the queen captures the pawn on g4, it will immediately be captured by the pawn from h3. After the final exchange, only the kings will remain on the board — a draw!

Since you have as many as eight pawns at your disposal, each of them has the opportunity to be promoted into a queen or another piece. Theoretically, if you play against a weak opponent, you can promote all of your pawns into queens, increasing the number of queens on the board up to nine! This is not forbidden in chess.

Pawns — the king’s protection

Pawns do not only advance and transform into stronger pieces, but also play an important role in defending their own king.

In the diagram, you can see two completely different positions of the kings. The white king is protected by pawns and feels safe, while the black king is defenseless against the long-range attacks of the white rooks. As a result, Black loses the game.

Can a pawn deliver checkmate?

In this matter, the pawn becomes similar to the knight and bishop. On its own, it cannot checkmate the opponent’s king (unless it reaches the final rank and promotes into a rook or queen), but if the opponent’s king is restricted in movement, checkmate is possible.

In this position, the black king is already in the corner of the board, and its own bishop prevents it from escaping. White has a choice — capture the bishop and play for a draw, or move the pawn forward and deliver checkmate.