Are Pawns the Weakest or the Strongest?
Pawn promotion is a sort of a reward given to a chess player who can reach the opponent’s side of the board using a pawn. That pawn can now become another chess piece (except King) of the same color regardless of whether the chess piece is already captured. This commonly happens in two scenarios. In Portable Game Notation (PGN), pawn promotion is always indicated using the equals sign format (e8=Q). In older books, pawn promotions can be found using a forward slash: e8/Q. How to play chess? EN Passant and Pawn Promotion. Learn two special rules for the pawn movement. EN Passant and Pawn Promotion. What is En Passa.
Well, you never know!
Pawns have 2 superpowers: Pawn Promotion & En Passant.
A pawn when reaches the first row of the opponent’s side, can become any other chess piece – Knight, Bishop, Rook, and even a Queen (not King though). In chess, this is called a Pawn Promotion!
Today, we will learn how you can promote a pawn & use this superpower to win at chess!
How to Promote a Pawn?
Pawn Promotion is one of the special moves in chess.
It happens when a Pawn reaches the opponent’s back rank (first row of the opponent) and then it is replaced by any piece a player decides to, except The King.
To promote a pawn –
- Lead your pawn up to your 7th rank,
- Move your pawn forward (or diagonally) &
- Replace it with the piece you want.
Note:
- Only pawns can be promoted.
- Promoting a Pawn is not restricted to the captured pieces. You can have 2 or more queens & so on.
- Pawns can’t be promoted to pawns.
Queening = Promoting your Pawn → Queen
UnderPromotion = Promoting your Pawn → Other than Queen (Rook, Bishop or Knight)
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Pawn Promotion?
Pawn Promotion is a special move where the Pawn can be promoted to a piece when it reaches the opposite side of the board (8th rank/back rank).
Why should you promote a Pawn?
Game Pigeon Chess Pawn Promotion Offers
To increase your army! Both players start with 8 pieces & 8 pawns & struggle to win, but what if you get two or maybe more pieces in your army? Promoting a Pawn helps you do that.
Can you promote a pawn to a second Queen??
Yes. You can have 2 or more queens or any other piece you want (except Pawn & the King)
Pawn Promotion is a very common strategy to win at chess in endgames!
Game Pigeon Chess Pawn Promotional
Therefore, passed pawns are so dangerous in endgames – be afraid of them & calculate properly.
Feel free to share this mini guide to a friend & drop your thoughts and questions in the comments.
Keep playing, keep promoting!
This mini-game (also called the Pawn Game) gives a good feel for how the pawns move, capture and defend themselves. Pawns provide the backdrop for chess. Structures such as pawn chains will emerge as well as important concepts such as the sacrifice. To play the game well requires counting ahead as pawns race each other.
This game is played with only the pawns. The pawns move as in chess, either one or two squares on their first move and one move thereafter. Captures are made diagonally forwards one square. Whoever reaches the opposite end first wins.
In the diagram, the side to move has a serious problem because any move loses. Only four pawns can move, and each these will be captured and thereafter the opponent reaches the far end. Being forced to make a losing move is called “zugzwang” (German for “forced move”). The position is a mutual zugzwang. Children absorb the zugzwang concept quickly.
En passant
The Pawn Game is an opportunity to demonstrate the concept of en passant. In the above diagram, Black to play can move one or two squares forward (e6 or e5). In either case, White can capture on e6. It may seem strange that White can still capture the pawn even if it is alongside. Hence the need for a special term en passant, which means “in passing” in French. This rule exists because before chess came to Europe, pawns could only move one square forwards. However, the Europeans allowed the pawn to move two squares forwards on their first move. As a historical compromise pawns can still be captured as if they had only moved one square forwards.
Game Pigeon Chess Pawn Promotions
Exploration
Play without and with the en passant rule.
Can Black copy White’s moves to try to maintain symmetry?
Can Black force White into zugzwang?
PROMOTION CHESS
Having played the Pawn Game version of Across the Board a few times, learners need to move up. Children need variety and new experiences to stimulate their learning. There is no need to achieve mastery at each step before trying something else. The next step is to add the kings to the pawn armies, all in their normal starting squares. The objective of the game is to capture the opponent’s king. Capturing takes place by moving a piece onto the same square as the opponent’s king. In Promotion Chess we introduce the concept of promotion. When a pawn reaches the other end it becomes a queen (for the purposes of this mini-game). The queen is very powerful at hunting down the king.
CROSS THE BOARD WITH PIECES
Rules Of Chess Pawn Promotion
Game Pigeon Chess Pawn Promotion Rule
Having mastered Cross the Board, the next natural step is to add the other pieces.