Pawn (chess)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Chess pieces | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
King |  |
 |
Queen |  |
 |
Rook |  |
 |
Bishop |  |
 |
Knight |  |
 |
Pawn |  |
 |
 |
- This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.
The pawn (♙♟) is the weakest and most numerous piece in the game of chess, representing infantry, or more particularly pikemen. Each player begins the game with eight pawns, one on each square of the second rank from the view of the player. In algebraic notation the white pawns start on a2, b2, c2, ..., h2, while the black pawns start on a7, b7, c7, ..., h7.
Pawns are differentiated by the files in which they currently stand, for example one speaks of "white's f-pawn". Sometimes, however, pawns are still referred to using descriptive notation, e.g. "white's king's bishop's pawn". It is also common to refer to a rook pawn, meaning any pawn on the a file or h file; a knight pawn, any pawn on the b file or g file; a bishop pawn, which is any pawn on the c or f file, a queen's pawn (on the d file), and a king's pawn (on the e file). Also, a central pawn is a pawn on either the d or e file.
Contents |
[edit] Movement
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Initial placement of the pawns. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pawn movement. The pawn can move to the square in front if itself. A pawn on its starting rank has the option of moving two squares. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pawns are unusual in movement and use. Unlike all the other pieces, pawns may not move backwards. Normally a pawn moves by advancing a single square, but the first time each pawn is moved from its initial position, it has the option to advance two squares. Pawns may not use the initial two-square advance to jump over an occupied square, but it can be used to capture. Any piece directly in front of a pawn, friend or foe, blocks its advance. In the diagram at right, the pawn on c4 may move to c5, while the pawn on e2 may move to either e3 or e4.
[edit] Capturing
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The white pawn at d5 may capture either the black rook at c6 or the black knight at e6, but not the bishop at d6, which instead blocks its straight way forward. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Unlike other pieces, the pawn does not capture in the same way as it moves. A pawn captures diagonally, one square forward and to the left or right. In the diagram to the left, the white pawn may capture either the black rook or the black knight.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| En passant capture, assuming that the black pawn has just moved from c7 to c5. The white pawn moves to the c6 square and the black pawn is removed. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
An even more unusual move is the en passant capture. This arises when a pawn uses its initial-move option to advance two squares instead of one, and in so doing passes over a square that is attacked by an enemy pawn. That enemy pawn, which would have been able to capture the moving pawn had it advanced only one square, is entitled to capture the moving pawn "in passing" as if it had advanced only one square. The capturing pawn moves into the empty square over which the moving pawn moved, and the moving pawn is removed from the board. In the diagram at right, the black pawn has just moved c7 to c5, so the white pawn may capture it by moving from d5 to c6. The option to capture en passant must be exercised on the move immediately following the double-square pawn advance, or it is lost and may not be made later. The en passant move was added to the pawn's repertoire in the late thirteenth century to compensate for the then newly added two-square initial move rule. Without en passant, a pawn could simply march past squares guarded by opposing pawns; en passant preserves the restrictive ability of pawns that have reached the fifth rank.
[edit] Promotion
A pawn that advances all the way to the opposite side of the board (the opposing player's first rank) is promoted to another piece of that player's choice. The pawn is immediately (before the opposing player's next move) replaced by a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same color.
The choice of promotion is not limited to captured pieces. It is perfectly acceptable for one player to simultaneously have as many as ten knights or ten bishops or ten rooks or nine queens. While this extreme would almost never occur in practice, in game eleven of their 1927 world championship match, José Raúl Capablanca and Alexander Alekhine did each have two queens in play at once. While some finer sets do include an extra queen of each color, most standard chess sets do not come with additional pieces, so the physical piece used to replace a promoted pawn is usually one that was previously captured. When the correct piece is not available, some substitute is used: a second queen is often indicated by inverting a previously captured rook. In computer chess, of course, this issue does not arise.
Promotion is often called "queening", because the piece chosen is nearly always a queen. When some other piece is chosen it is known as "underpromotion" and the piece selected is usually a knight. This will typically be done to avoid the queen's causing a stalemate, in order to cause a forced mate, or in order to cause a fork which would give the player a net increase in material. For example, forking the opponent's king and queen, giving the player twelve points (with the player gaining a knight and his opponent losing a queen) instead of nine points (with the player gaining a queen).
King and pawn versus king shows how to promote a pawn in the endgame of a king and pawn versus a king (when it can be forced).
[edit] Strategy
Pawns are the source of nearly all of the strategic depth of chess. If other pieces are temporarily badly placed, they can usually be regrouped more favorably. A poorly placed pawn, in contrast, cannot retreat to a more favorable position, it can only advance further.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Locked pawn chains | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Because pawns capture diagonally and can be blocked from moving straight forward, opposing pawns often become locked in diagonal chains of two or three, where each player controls squares of one color. In the diagram at left, black and white have locked their d- and e-pawns.
Generally speaking, the pawn structure determines the strategic flavor of a game. In the diagram at left, White has a long-term space advantage. White will have an easier time than Black in finding good spaces for friendly pieces, particularly with an eye to a kingside attack. Black, in contrast, suffers from a bad bishop on c8, which is prevented by the black pawns from finding a good square and/or helping out on the kingside.
On the other hand, White's central pawns are somewhat over-extended and vulnerable to attack. Black can undermine the white pawn chain with an immediate c7-c5 and perhaps a later f7-f6. An advanced piece, when attacked, has the option of retreating, but far advanced pawns are sitting targets.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Black has an isolated pawn at d5. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pawns on adjacent files are strong, because they can support each other in attack and defense. A pawn which has no friendly pawns in neighboring files is an isolated pawn. The square in front of an isolated pawn may become an enduring weakness. Any piece placed directly in front not only blocks the advance of that pawn, but can't be driven away by other pawns.
In the diagram at right, Black has an isolated pawn on d5. If all the pieces except the kings and pawns were removed, the weakness of d4 might prove fatal to Black in the endgame. In the middlegame, however, Black has slightly more freedom of movement than White, and may be able to trade off the isolated pawn before an endgame ensues.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| White's a4 pawn is passed. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A pawn which can't be blocked or captured by enemy pawns in its advance to promotion is a passed pawn. In the diagram at left, White has a passed pawn on a4. Black's pawn on g7 is not a passed pawn, because it has to get by White's h2 pawn before it can be promoted. Because endgames are almost always won by the player who can promote a pawn first, having a passed pawn is often decisive.
The diagrammed position might appear roughly equal, because each side has a king and five pawns, and the positions of the kings are about equal. In truth, White might have a won game merely on the strength of the passed pawn, no matter who makes the first move.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Black has doubled c-pawns. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sometimes, due to captures, a player may end up with two pawns in the same file, which are then called doubled pawns. Doubled pawns are substantially weaker than pawns which are side by side, because they can't defend each other, and the front pawn blocks the advance of the back one. In the diagram at right, Black is playing at a strategic disadvantage due to the doubled c-pawns. A chessplayer should not cling too firmly to this rule of thumb: there are situations where doubled pawns are the source of a positional advantage, although it can of course be converted to a disadvantage later on.
Even weaker than doubled pawns are pawns which are doubled and isolated. A single piece or pawn in front of doubled isolated pawns blocks both of them, and cannot be easily dislodged.
It is rare for a player to have three pawns in a file, i.e. tripled pawns, but it does happen in real games. Depending on the position, tripled pawns may be more or less valuable than two pawns which are side by side.
[edit] Etymology
Though the name origin of most chess pieces is obvious, the pawn's etymology is fairly obscure. Since chess became prevalent in mainstream society, many new uses have derived from the word. "Pawn" is often taken to mean "one who is easily manipulated" or "one who is sacrificed for a larger purpose." The word pawn actually is derived from the Old French word "paon" which comes from the Medieval Latin term for foot soldier, and is etymologically cognate to peon.
Because the pawn is the weakest piece, it is often used metaphorically to indicate unimportance or outright disposability, for example, "I'm only a pawn in the game of life."
[edit] Quotes
- "The pawns are the soul of chess." - Philidor
- "Pawns are born free, yet are everywhere in chains." - Andy Soltis
