Pawn Promotion – How to Promote a Pawn?

Are Pawns the Weakest or the Strongest?

Well, you never know!

Pawns have 2 superpowers: Pawn Promotion & En Passant.

But today, we will talk the pawn promotion.

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 –

1.Lead your pawn up to your 7th rank,
2.Move your pawn forward (or diagonally) &
3.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)

Pawn Promotion is a very common strategy to win at chess in endgames!

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!