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The Passed Pawn

The Passed Pawn

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Basics of Pawn Endgame

Hi everyone! Recently, I was asked by aviation18 to post my blogs on the news. So for my first blog/news I decided to go over one of the most important endgame fundamentals, which is pawns in the endgame!

The endgame is arguably the most important phase of the game. One small mistake in the endgame can result in an unrecoverable position. So it's good to know at least the basics of the endgame. One of the most crucial parts of the endgame, especially, are pawns. During the endgame, pawns often become the main focus because they are able to be promoted to queens. 

In the example above, white is clearly winning because of their a-pawn. When a pawn has a clear file, and it can only be stopped by an enemy piece, this is known as a passed pawn. Passed pawns become extraordinarily powerful, especially in the endgame. a and h-pawns can become especially powerful since they are on the ends of the board.
The closer that a passed pawn approaches the promotion square, the more in value it becomes. By the time it reaches the second or seventh row, it has essentially become worth the same as a piece. In the above example, despite black having an obvious material advantage, white's passed pawn is about to promote, so black has to give perpetual checks for a draw. 

Rooks especially work well with passed pawns. They can provide support and protection for the pawn from across the board. They work best when put behind the pawn. It can get awkward trying to defend the pawn from the front because as the pawn advances, there is less mobility for the rook, which will eventually have to move for promotion. Even worse is trying to defend from the side, having to move the rook along with the pawn.

The position is still winning for white, but it becomes a lot more difficult to hold because the knight is given chances to attack, especially since the rook is stuck trying to outmaneuver the 
unique movements of the knight. It is best for white to try and get the rook behind the pawn.

Another important endgame skill to know is promoting the pawn in a king pawn endgame. Whenever one side has a pawn and kings. The king needs to take opposition. Opposition is when the two kings are standing in front of each other. Typically, the side with the pawn wants opposition with the opponent to move. This is because, in opposition, the opponent will have to give up critical squares in front of them.

here is an exception, however, with the a and h-pawn, which is if the opponent gets their king on the promotion square, even with opposition, it will end in a draw. This is because it is impossible to move the opposing king off of the promotion square without losing the pawn.
This is also true with the wrong colored bishop, which will also have the same result, ending in a stalemate or repetition.
The last basic thing that I'll give for passed pawns is that two passed pawns and a king anywhere on the board, separated by a file against one king is winning. It still requires precision, but often, if the king gets too greedy, it may allow for the other pawn to promote. Also, the king in Siberia can slowly come to escort a pawn, while the enemy king is lured by the other pawn.
That was a quick rundown of some of the basic essentials that you might need for passed pawns. Was this blog helpful? Do you have any crazy games with passed pawns? The following game was a crazy game between Bobby Fischer and Tigran Petrosian. 


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